by Lisa Musick

We live just north of the Avocado Capital of the World -- Fallbrook!  There’s a festival to celebrate it, a highway named for it and a myriad of recipes to celebrate its diversity. Now, to add to the list of impressive characteristics, the California Avocado Commission has endorsed the avocado as a functional food.  A functional food is described as one that provides health benefits and/or disease-preventing properties beyond the basic salutary function of supplying nutrients. 

In a book written by Steven Pratt, M.D., of the Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California,

he features the avocado as one of the 25 superfoods specifically chosen for optimal health and well-being.  This comes as no surprise to guacamole lovers; the avocado is a staple in many recipes from appetizers to desserts.   From mashed to grilled to frozen to serving as a substitute for butter on your favorite toast, the avocado can help reduce blood cholesterol levels and decrease risk for heart disease.  

Everyone knows the benefits of a colorful salad – one with a variety of vegetables and fruits.  The danger comes only when we drench it in high calorie, high fat dressings.  Dr. Steven Schwartz, Director of the Center for Advanced Functional Foods Research and Entrepreneurship, has done extensive research on our favorite pitted friend.

The avocado, it seems, serves as good fat and increases the absorption of carotenoids – found in red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, carrots, dark leafy greens, tangerines – to almost twelve times as without it.  What does this mean for you and me?  Eat avocados with your salad as often as you can!  You’ll receive greater nutritional benefits – monounsaturated fats, Vitamins B6, C, E, and K, folate, potassium, lutein, and magnesium -- from the other salad constituents than without the avocado.  It’s interesting from a scientific sense because the avocado is a fruit and one of the few that contain a good source of fat.  Finally, says Dr. Schwartz, it reveals the increased benefits of a full and varied, healthful diet. 

Lisa Musick has been a resident of the Valley since 1989.  She is a health activist promoting sensible ‘heart healthy’ eating and exercise.  She is also an independent consultant with ViSalus Sciences and the Body-By-Vi Challenge.  Find her on Facebook at “Get Waisted”.