PDA

View Full Version : Avocados



Nurse in the Raw
08-04-2007, 06:01 PM
Found this article from David Klein that I thought was very informative.

Avocados are bursting with nutrients--vitamins, A, B-complex, C, E, H, K, and folic acid, plus the minerals magnesium, copper, iron, calcium, potassium and many other trace elements. Avocados provide all of the essential amino acids (those that must be provided by our diet), with 18 amino acids in all, plus 7 fatty acids, including Omega 3 and 6. Avocados contain more protein than cow’s milk, about 2% per edible portion. Since rapidly growing nursing infants obtain no more than 2% protein from mother’s milk, we can safely assume that children and adults do not regularly require foods richer in protein than avocado. Our bodies recycle approximately 80% of our protein; cooked protein is denatured and largely unusable, thus our protein need is far lower than what is taught by conventional dietetics. A small avocado will provide more usable protein then a huge steak because cooked protein in meat is deranged and mostly unavailable to our liver, the organ which makes all of our body’s protein. There is clear evidence from many sources that cooked fatty and high-protein foods are the prime culprit in our country’s high rate of cancer, as well as in colitis, Crohn’s disease and many other diseases. (I instantly healed up from a long illness, ulcerative colitis, seventeen years ago after I stopped eating meat and adopted a properly combined low-fat vegan diet of mostly raw fruits and vegetables, and I have since helped over 1,000 people recover from similar illnesses.) Ripe, raw organically grown avocados are naturally pure and furnish all of the elements we need to build the highest quality protein in our bodies.

The water content of avocado by weight averages 74%. Because avocado is a ripe, watery, enzymatically-alive fruit, it ranks as the most easily digested rich source of fats and proteins in whole food form. The ripening action of the sun “predigests” complex proteins into simple, easily digested amino acids. The fat content (by weight) varies from 7 to 26 % according to the variety, averaging 15%. Approximately 63% of the fat in avocados is monounsaturated, 20% is polyunsaturated and 17% is saturated. Avocados are the perfect source of dietary fat--appetizing in their raw state, digestible, and pure. Another plus is that avocados have no cholesterol.

Avocado is an alkalinizing food, i.e., the mineral end products of metabolism have an alkalinizing effect in the blood and other bodily fluids. Because the human body works to maintain a slightly alkaline pH, an alkalinizing diet is the most healthful way of eating. Meat, dairy and most raw nuts create acidity in the body--excess eating of these causes the leaching of alkalinizing calcium from our bones to buffer the acidity, leading to osteoporosis. Dr. Douglas Graham states:

“Current bone density testing has verified loss of calcium from the bones after the consumption of just one meat meal. A similar meal containing the same amount of protein from plants results in no calcium loss. Fruit and vegetable proteins, which supply the complete spectrum of human nutrients, must be considered superior to animal protein which are deficient or missing many of our essential nutrients such as fiber, vitamin C and a host of phytonutrients and antioxidants.”

Avocado eaters who eat a healthful vegan diet typically experience more lustrous hair, softer, smoother skin, more pliable nails, fewer joint problems, slimmer belly, less body odor, improved mental function and enhanced libido. Upon giving up animal meat and dairy, switching to a diet of 75% to 100% raw vegan foods with enzymatically-alive “plant meat,” and adopting a healthful lifestyle, a multitude of people have reaped amazing health benefits and joyous vitality.


How to eat avocado

* The Natural Way -- Using your claws (fingernails), peel off the skin. The skin of a naturally ripened avocado will easily spiral off in one to three pieces. Try this: slide a whole nude avocado through your lips and eat it slowly. There is no more sensual eating experience!

* The Modern Way -- Using a knife, slice an avocado along the north-south or east-west axis, then remove the pit. The halves can be sliced into smaller segments. The skin can then be peeled off, or you can scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Eat plain as a snack or scoop the flesh into a bowl or onto a salad.

* Avocado generally requires approximately one and a half to two hours in the stomach to be digested. It digests well if the eater is relaxed, hungry, energetic, has an empty stomach and follows proper food combining guidelines. If one eats avocado when tired, one may fall asleep.

* For optimum digestion, eat avocado alone or with any non-sweet-non-starchy fruit or any non-starchy vegetable food. Eating avocado with leafy greens, celery and/or cucumber will enhance the digestive process as additional digestive enzymes are secreted. People with weak digestion will generally experience enhanced digestion when eating avocado with non-starchy salads as opposed to eating avocado alone.

* Avoid eating avocado with or within 20 minutes of eating sweet fruit or drinking sweet fruit juice. The combination of little bit of lemon or grapefruit juice with avocado tends to digest well for most people.

* Wait at least 3 hours after eating avocado before eating sweet fruit.

* Do not eat avocado with any other kind of oily, fatty or high-protein food such as seeds, nuts, coconut, olives, yogurt, cream, cheese or meat. Wait several hours between eating these foods, although the ideal is 24 hours. It takes several hours to digest and utilize any kind of heavy/oily food, and the body can only digest one at a time

* Some people become sluggish and do not function well when eating heavy foods in the morning; it might be best to eat avocado mid-day and after.

* Avoid eating avocado if you are experiencing acid reflux, indigestion, sore throat, inflammation or fever.

* Overeating avocados can lead to sluggishness, hyper-acid stomach, and skin outbreaks.

* The quantity of avocados that is healthful for you is a function of your taste preferences and digestion. Generally, one a day, three to six days per week is a good baseline. For best results, tune in to your body’s senses and observe your energy levels, digestion and elimination.


Some avocado myths & facts

1. It’s a vegetable.

Fact: It’s actually an oily berry--a fruit.

2. It’s high in cholesterol.

Fact: It has no cholesterol. Only animal foods have cholesterol.

3. It’s high in fat.

Fact: By weight, avocados average 30% easily digestible oily fatty acids and approximately 70% water.

4. Its saturated fat content is dangerous.

Fact: Only about 2.5% of the edible portion of avocado is saturated fat, and unheated saturated fat from live plant foods is non-toxic.

5. It’s fattening.

Fact: It is the cooked starches, meat, dairy and processed sugar in people’s diets that feed their fat cells. Most active people who consume avocados as part high raw food vegan diet have no problem losing excess fat and staying lean.

6. It is a tree ripened fruit.

Fact: The avocado doesn't soften on the tree. After dropping or picking it must be allowed to soften for 4 to 17 days depending on the variety and ambient temperature and humidity.

7. It is best to ripen it in a bag.

Fact: Not necessary. Keep your weekly supply of avocados on your kitchen table, counter or somewhere else in plain sight. Pinch the tops and bottoms each morning and when they yield to pressure on both ends they are ripe. Refrigerate the ones you are not ready to eat.

9. It can’t be refrigerated.

Fact: Yes it can. Wrap ripe avocado in plastic or keep it in a plastic bag or container. If it is refrigerated for too long some spoiling may result. Remove unripened avocado from the refrigerator 2 or 3 days before you intend to eat them.

10. Keep the seed in to keep the guacamole from turning black.

Fact: That is an old wives tale! Wrap it in plastic to keep oxidation at bay.

lafsalot
08-04-2007, 06:17 PM
Great article!! Thanks for sharing ~ Cathy

Veganforlife
08-04-2007, 06:31 PM
VERY interesting. I loved the "...slide a whole nude avocado through your lips..."!!!

bunnybunny
08-04-2007, 07:11 PM
Ah, very nice. Glad I had an avocado for dinner tonight! :)

RAWk Angel
08-05-2007, 12:10 AM
This just reminded me to avo on my shopping list for tomorrow :)

Thanks for sharing this, it was a great read.

puzit19
08-05-2007, 12:21 AM
Thanks for sharing ^_^ learnt a bit here and there !
how to buy them for example ! i thought that if they arent sqquishy they r not ready and u shouldnt buy them... but now i will let them sit for a while in the kitchen ^_^ and put them in my sushi rolls !!! still cant find another way of eating them :) the avocados

spicyfull
08-05-2007, 01:02 AM
Thanks for Sharing............

Douglas
08-05-2007, 04:23 AM
Well I sure liked that Post it was really good. Thanks so much for that one. I have two sometimes three Avocados everyday. I just love them with my tomato salad. Doug in Calif 100% Raw and loving it...:eek:

samariah
08-05-2007, 02:06 PM
i love avocados. one of my fav healthy fats bc they feel so pure. just peel it and there it is unlike olive oil or even nuts which sometimes, at least for me, aren't guarenteed to be raw even when labeled so. avocados always make me feel great. i want to make a chocolate avocado mousse pie tonight i think or eventually.

lavendarJ
08-05-2007, 03:21 PM
Ahhh the avocado..I love it so. I can't wait to try Carmella's avocado fries.

styersky
08-05-2007, 03:35 PM
Thanks for the avocado info. Now I know why they make me feel so good and seem to help with weight loss also. Thought I would have 1/2 tonight, but now maybe I will eat the whole thing! THANKS!

RAWk Angel
08-05-2007, 03:42 PM
I just came home with 9 beautiful avos. I haven't really eaten them much, but I am finding out that each time I eat one, I like it more and more :)

EZ rider
08-05-2007, 03:59 PM
I love avocados and eat them everyday. I cut them in half the long way and then use a spoon to eat the avocado out of the bowl skin. I like to have my avocados late in the day after I have put my juicer away and I am eating solid raw vegetables. I find avocados are a great way to finish off my day of eating raw.

SmilingRawDancer
08-05-2007, 05:10 PM
Does anyone have a good recipe for an avocado chocolate smoothie?
I'd love something chocolatey that isn't made with bananas:eek:

I guess I'll go experimenting :)

peas-on-my-head
08-06-2007, 05:12 PM
I am growing an avacado tree! Its very easy--just put a couple of toothpicks in a clean pit and suspend in a glass filled with water!

I think im gonna start adding more avacadoes into my diet... that article was very convincing!:D

Wendee
08-06-2007, 05:19 PM
Oh! thanks for that

I adore alligator pears! they are my favorite food!

they are 2.00 each here, too expensive to buy several

at a time.

Last week they were .79 cents each.:confused:

Eveleaf
08-06-2007, 05:20 PM
Alas - avocados make me gag. I've never liked the taste. Do you know any creative ways to eat these?

Nurse in the Raw
08-06-2007, 06:46 PM
Mix them in a vegetable soup. It makes the soup creamy and you can't taste the avocado. Spaghetti sauce is another way to hide avocado.

jeannieh99
08-06-2007, 07:29 PM
I was told that growing avacado tree like that would not produce fruit (just be ornamental). Being ignorant to growing anything, I don't know if that is true or not. I'd love to grow an avacado tree that would really produce avocados.
Jeannie

Stina
08-06-2007, 07:52 PM
Everyone tried chocalate mousse? To live for!

two avocadoes
juice of half to one orange (or thin with water)
two heaping spoons of raw cocoa (more or less to taste)
options:
splash of vanilla
pinch of cinnamon
wee pinch o'cayenne (highly recommend that actually!)

your favorite sweetner: honey or agave or maple syrup
sometimes I do a little of one of those and supplement it with stevia

spin it up in a food processor or perhaps a blender.

It is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And you could make a shell with nuts and dates and then do it pie style!

sfdreams
08-06-2007, 08:08 PM
Great Article! Thanks for posting it. I actually pasted and saved it on my computer to peruse thoroughly later.

Unfortunately, the stores here often have very squishy, overripe avocados for sale--yuck! But guacamole is my all-time favorite food, and I love avocado straight as well.

I am with Jeannieh99--I thought the tree that you grow from the avocado does not produce fruit. But hey, I also thought that keeping the pit in the guacamole help to protect it from oxidation!!

Thanks Stina for the chocolate mousse recipe! Alissa has one in her book, but I think it is different from this--and it definitely uses carob, not cocoa. Is commercially obtained stevia raw?? I want to grow it--it would be less expensive for sure! Right now, I am not worrying about using honey etc. because the weight is melting off at a rapid rate. But sometime, I think I will have to scale back and use stevia, or cut back on sweeteners.

Thursday, I am going on the hunt for good avocados. Wish me luck!!

Blessings to all.

styersky
08-06-2007, 09:17 PM
In the avocado article there was one comment I did not understand:

"* The quantity of avocados that is healthful for you is a function of your taste preferences and digestion. Generally, one a day, three to six days per week is a good baseline. For best results, tune in to your body’s senses and observe your energy levels, digestion and elimination. "

Why do you think only 6 per week? Any comments on that. I would like at least one per day and sometimes more.

EZ rider
08-06-2007, 09:23 PM
I would like at least one per day and sometimes more.
I eat two per day and sometimes more then that. In fact I have had as many as 6 in one day. I have never experienced any adverse effects from the avocado.

RAWk Angel
08-06-2007, 10:57 PM
The chocalate mousse recipe sounds heavenly!!!! I am going to have to try that this week :)

barose
08-06-2007, 11:58 PM
I was told that growing avacado tree like that would not produce fruit (just be ornamental). Being ignorant to growing anything, I don't know if that is true or not. I'd love to grow an avacado tree that would really produce avocados.
Jeannie

I would love to have an avocado tree, but its just too cold where I live (strange micro climate in the hills and too much fog at night).

the_lab_rat
08-07-2007, 01:54 AM
An avocado tree grown from a pit can produce fruit, but I think it needs a 2nd tree for cross-pollination. I think if there's only 1 tree, it won't get pollinated. I read that somewhere...

Aurelie48
08-07-2007, 11:44 AM
That was GREAT info. Thank you SO much for sharing.

styersky
08-08-2007, 07:37 PM
I have made the mistake of eating an avocado and tomato salad followed by strawberries. I was miserable. I NOW remember reading the article on avocados that one should not mix sweet fruits with avocado. For me that is really true. Don't understand why, but it is a fact for me!

Blossom
08-09-2007, 09:03 AM
I used to feel bloated after eating advocado in salads, but since I went raw 5 months ago I have an avocado pudding every night with no problems my fave is choc pudding~ soft dates,choc powder, advocado, mixed in blender. I often add other things and fruit like raspberries with no problems and I love Alissa's Lemon pudding made with advocado, so light and refreshing:)