When it comes to healthy eating, you can’t go past the avocado. These creamy, pale green little gems are not only delicious but packed full of vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. When trying to lose weight, we often shy away from foods that list ‘fat’ as one of their components.
While certain types of fat are best avoided, the ‘good’ ones, are an essential component in any diet. And it just so happens that avocados are bursting with them, along with a generous helping of other goodies.
Healthy fats help carry all the vitamins found in food and drink to the places in your body where they are required. Better still there’s increasing evidence that indicates that consuming healthy levels of unsaturated fats can assist in losing weight by helping the body to recognise its ‘full’ signals. This in turn helps to prevent overeating (it’s very hard to keep stuffing yourself when your body is telling you to STOP!).
Avocadoes contain a special kind of monounsaturated fat called oleic acid which helps to switch on the part of the brain that makes you feel full. This means that after eating, we feel satisfied and comfortable, and usually end up eating less as our brain switches on during consumption and starts pumping out full signals.
Monunsaturated fat can also help keep blood sugar levels stable, preventing rapid spikes and even more rapid falls. This is extremely good for weight loss and overall health and wellbeing as sudden peaks and troughs in blood sugar can wreak havoc on your diet. Minimising them usually helps lead to a consistent diet without cravings for sweet and salty, high calorie foods.
These yummy fruits are also high in fibre, potassium, vitamin C, K, E along with potent antioxidants which is one of the reasons they are so good for your skin (avocado face mask anyone?) Pregnant women would also do well to include an avocado regularly in their diet due to their high levels of folate. A diet rich in folate can help prevent neural tube defects and while pregnant women get the majority from their antenatal vitamins, an extra helping from a natural source is always a good thing.
Ingredients
- 2 large, ripe avocados
- 1 large vine-ripened tomato, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 tbsp basil, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fetta, crumbled
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/4 tsp tabasco sauce
Directions
- Cut the avocadoes in half and remove the seed.
- In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, basil, fetta, olive oil, lime juice and tabasco sauce and place in fridge to marinate.
- Before serving, scoop tomato mixture out of bowl and divide evenly amongst avocado halves
- Spritz lemon juice over the top and serve immediately.
If you are ready to lose weight then the Lose Baby Weight plans offer a healthy and safe exercise and diet routine.
And don’t forget to check out our current promotions and discounts page to see what specials we have on this week on our Healthy Mummy product range
