Avo-always Love You

Suppress hunger with this swap

Avocadoes are well loved by health enthusiasts and cooks alike – mashed, scooped, sliced or seasoned they’re a perfect addition to almost any meal.  Their versatility lends them to being grilled, blended or even substituted for oil in baking.  One third of an avocado has 80 calories, 3g fiber and 8g fat, plus nutrients like B vitamins, potassium and folate making them a true nutrition powerhouse.  

A new study published in the journal Nutrients, adds another notch to the avocado’s belt, suggesting that they may even suppress hunger without adding calories when substituted for carbs.  Say what??

Yes.  Researchers enrolled 31 overweight or obese adults in a three-pronged study where they ate; 1) a low fat meal; 2) a high fat meal including 1 avocado, or; 3) high fat meal with ½ an avocado.  Meals were kept about the same amount of calories by reducing carbohydrates when avocadoes were added.  Hunger and meal satisfaction were measured after meals by checking hunger hormones and verbally asking participants to rate their satiety afterwards.  Those participants in groups 2 and 3 reported feeling more satisfied than those who at the low fat meal.  Appetite hormone PYY was also observed to be elevated after eating the whole avocado and corresponded with participants overall satiety. 

The Dole way of swapping avocadoes for carbs: 

• Top your salad with avocado instead of croutons with our take of a Thai-tastic Greens Salad. 
• This Spinach-Avocado Hummus eliminates carbs from chickpeas and instead uses a combination of cauliflower, avocado and spinach!