avocado Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Gemelli with Zucchini Meatballs and Avocado Chimichurri Recipe

The AHA! Team — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 05:33:41 +0000

Recipe by: Dr. Michael Greger & Robin Robertson via Nutrition Facts – Gemelli with Zucchini Meatballs and Avocado Chimichurri Recipe Recipe by: Dr. Michael Greger & Robin Robertson from The How Not to Diet Cookbook Don’t let this recipe’s length intimidate you. It’s as simple to make as it is delicious. I like to make the meatballs and sauce ahead of time, so their flavors develop even more. When I’m not in the mood for chimichurri sauce, I substitute my favorite salt-free marinara. COURSE: Main Course DIFFICULTY: Moderate SERVINGS: 4 Ingredients ZUCCHINI MEATBALLS ▢1 (15-ounce) BPA-free can or Tetra Pak salt-free chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and blotted dry ▢3 garlic cloves, smashed ▢⅓ cup old-fashioned rolled oats ▢3 tablespoons nutritional yeast ▢3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds ▢1 tablespoon ground chia seeds ▢2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice ▢1 teaspoon white miso paste ▢1 ½ teaspoons dried basil ▢1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano ▢1 teaspoon onion powder ▢¼ teaspoon ground black pepper ▢1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed dry CHIMICHURRI SAUCE ▢2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled and pitted ▢2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice ▢1 tablespoon red wine vinegar ▢2-3 garlic cloves, minced ▢1 teaspoon white miso paste ▢½ teaspoon dried oregano ▢¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste ▢¼ teaspoon ground black pepper ▢¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro ▢¼ cup chopped fresh parsley PASTA ▢8 ounces whole-grain or bean-based gemelli or other pasta of choice Instructions FOR THE ZUCCHINI MEATBALLS: Combine the chickpeas, garlic, oats, nutritional yeast, flaxseeds, and chia seeds in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the lemon juice, miso paste, basil, oregano, onion powder, and black pepper. Pulse until thoroughly mixed. Transfer to a large bowl and add the shredded zucchini. Stir together until well combined. The mixture should hold together when pinched between two fingers. If the mixture is too wet, add a little nutritional yeast or ground flaxseeds to absorb excess moisture. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the zucchini mixture at a time and use your hands to roll the mixture into balls. Arrange the zucchini balls on the prepared baking pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned. FOR THE CHIMICHURRI SAUCE: In a food processor, combine all the chimichurri sauce ingredients plus ¼ cup of water and pulse to combine. Set aside. FOR THE PASTA: Cook the pasta according to package instructions in a pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain and return to the pot. Add the chimichurri sauce and toss gently to combine. Divide the pasta into shallow serving bowls and top each portion with 2 or 3 zucchini meatballs. To read the original article click here.

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Berry Chocolate Chia Pudding Recipe

The AHA! Team — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 08:44:06 +0000

Recipe by: Dr. Michael Greger & Robin Robertson from The How Not to Die Cookbook – Chickpea & Vegetable Tagine Recipe Avocado and almond butter add richness to this chocolate pudding. COURSE: Breakfast, Dessert DIFFICULTY: Easy SERVINGS: 4 INGREDIENTS ▢½ ripe Haas avocado, halved and pitted ▢1 ¼ cups strawberries or blueberries (or other berries of choice) ▢3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder ▢2 tablespoons almond butter ▢½ cup Date Syrup ▢1 ½ cups Almond Milk ▢¼ cup chia seeds ▢garnish berries, slivered almonds, cacao nibs optional INSTRUCTIONS Scoop out the flesh from the avocado and place it in a high-speed blender or food processor. Add the berries, cocoa powder, almond butter, Date Syrup, and Almond Milk. Blend until completely smooth and then pour into a bowl. Whisk in the chia seeds until they’re evenly distributed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Divide the pudding among four small dessert bowls, garnish as desired, and refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving. Note: Let this pudding sit overnight or at least 8 hours in the fridge before serving. To read the original article click here.

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Avocado Pit Extract Could Ease Inflamed, Sun-Damaged Skin

AHA Publisher — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:00:32 +0000

Abigail Klein Leichman via Israel21c – It’s long been known that an avocado facial mask softens, hydrates and nourishes the skin and even helps heal blemishes and inflammation. But what about the part that usually gets tossed in the trashcan – the pit? Israeli startup AvoMed spent a decade researching and testing PFA (polyhydroxylated fatty alcohol), a bioactive compound extracted from avocado pits, as the basis for skin-care products to treat sun damage and inflammation. The company has patented an ecofriendly process to extract PFA from pits sourced from factories that produce guacamole, frozen avocado and avocado oil. Normally, the pits are an expensive nuisance for these factories because the pits pollute soil as they decompose and therefore require a special pretreatment. AvoMed’s line of PFA-based cosmetics for women and men are being developed with support from the Israeli Innovation Authority and based on studies at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Weizmann Institute of Science and Hadassah University Medical Center as well as Skin Axis Labs in the United States. According to the company, the natural cosmetics market was valued at $6.6 billion in 2021. Led by Chairman Oded Bashan and CEO Shai Bensaid, AvoMed has four registered and approved patents in Israel and the United States; four additional patent applications in the European Union, the United States and China are in various approval stages. The next step for this startup from Rosh Pina is raising funds through the Pipelbiz platform to scale up toward industrial production. To read the original article click here.

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Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Guacamole

AHA Publisher — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 07:00:05 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – High-fat plant foods—avocados, peanuts, and walnuts—and olive oil are put to the test. In the preface of my book How Not to Die, after bemoaning the fact that although Big Pharma offered me countless steak dinners during my medical training, Big Broccoli never asked me out, I wrote that you’ll probably never see an ad on TV for whole natural foods because there just isn’t much of a markup, they aren’t shelf-stable, and you can’t brand them, patent them, or trademark them. Real food just isn’t as profitable as junk. But, I may have to eat those words. As I discuss in my video Flashback Friday: The Effects of Avocados on Inflammation, there was a TV ad for avocados—aired during the Super Bowl, no less—and it wasn’t for avocado-flavored Doritos or something like that. It was an ad for the actual fruit. Thanks in part to the billions of avocados sold every year, the Avocado Board has $50 million—not only for ads but for research, too. I’ve touched previously on its burger study, in which the addition of avocado blunted the spike in inflammation one gets within hours of eating meat. Amazing. The burger with more added fat and more calories from the avocado produced less inflammation, perhaps because the added fat and calories were in the form of a whole plant food, which tend to be packed with antioxidants that can inhibit the formation of oxidized fats that are formed when meat is cooked and when it hits your stomach acid. Do other high-fat, high-calorie whole plant foods have the same protective effect? What about peanuts, for example. Not to be outdone by Big Guac, the Peanut Institute funded a study with the understanding that most of us spend most of our waking hours in a postprandial state—that is, an after-meal state—and the fat from those meals that courses through our systems is “a well-recognized risk factor for atherosclerosis,” the number one killer of men and women, manifesting as “impaired endothelial function.” That means we may have crippled artery function within hours of eating something crappy, like a milkshake, about 1,200 calories of mostly sugar and heavy cream. Well, what if you drank that same milkshake with 3 ounces of peanuts thrown in? To mimic the nutritional profile of the added peanuts as closely as possible, the researchers tried to match up the added fat and protein by adding oil, egg whites, and even a fiber supplement to the control. So, as you can see at 2:07 in my video, the two milkshakes had pretty much the same amounts of calories, sugar, protein, fat, saturated fat, and fiber. So, on paper, it would seem the two shakes should cause the same reaction in the body, right? But peanuts are whole plant foods, so what you don’t see listed in a nutrient profile are the thousands of phytonutrients in the peanut milkshake that are missing from the non-peanut shake. Did the phytonutrients make any difference? As you can see at 2:44 in my video, within hours of consuming the non-peanut milkshake, all that saturated fat and sugar in the shake clamped down artery function by about 20 percent. Just one milkshake reduced the ability of our arteries to relax and dilate normally by 20 percent! Okay, but what if you consumed the same amount of saturated fat and sugar but with a little real food thrown in? There was no significant drop in artery function! The peanuts helped preserve artery function in response to the endothelial insult, a “cardioprotective effect” presumably due to the active phytonutrients in the peanuts and peanut skins. Walnuts may work even better. As you can see at 3:23 in my video, after you eat a salami and cheese sandwich with some olive oil, artery function plummets by about a third, but if you replace that olive oil with the same amount of plant fat in the form of whole walnuts, you don’t just blunt the effect of the salami and cheese—you reverse it. You end up even better than you started out. What about avocados? “Research indicates that energy-dense [calorie-dense] foods increase inflammation and oxidative activity, thereby contributing to the development of vascular [artery] disease. However, it is not clear whether the high kilojoule [calorie] load alone, irrespective of the nutritional content of the ingested food, produces the postprandial [after-the-meal] oxidative and inflammatory activity.” So, researchers compared the impact of “a high-fat, high-sugar, phytonutrient-reduced food (ice cream)” to the effects of the exact same number of calories of a “phytonutrient-rich whole food (avocado).” If it’s just the concentration of calories and fat, the ice cream and avocados should have the same effect. The researchers tested reactions to four different meals: (1) ice cream, (2) avocado, (3) just the fat and protein from the ice cream (to separate out the sugar), and (4) just the amount of sugar in the ice cream (to separate out the effects of the saturated butterfat). As you can see at 4:43 in my video, the four “food/food components” were ice cream, just the cream, just the sugar (without any fat), and about four avocados, which had, compared to ice cream, about three times the fat and the same amount of saturated fat and calories. What did the researchers find? If you eat the ice cream, just the cream (the sugar-free components), or just the sugar (the fat-free components), the level of oxidative stress in the bloodstream goes up. But, this was not observed after ingestion of a calorie-equivalent whole plant food. “Unlike ice cream, ingestion of the whole-food avocado, which has the same energy density [calories] and a similar amount of fat, did not produce a rise in oxidative or inflammatory activity. This suggests that the postprandial [after-meal] oxidative stress observed after eating foods such as ice cream may be due to their isolation from non-energy-producing food components such as antioxidants.” Sugar is okay in fruit form because it naturally comes prepackaged with phytonutrients. Similarly, the fat in whole plant foods like nuts and avocados comes prepackaged with “a rich matrix of phytochemicals [and] therefore does not demonstrate the same potential for oxidative damage.” Want to read more from How Not to Die? Please do! All proceeds I receive from my books are donated to charity. KEY TAKEAWAYS Adding avocado to a burger blunts the spike in inflammation that normally occurs within hours of eating meat. Despite the avocado adding more fat and calories to the meal, less inflammation is produced, likely because the additions are from antioxidant-rich whole plant foods that can inhibit oxidized fat formation. Most of our waking hours may be in a postprandial (after-meal) state, and the fat we eat may be crippling our artery function soon after consumption. When two milkshakes with virtually the same amounts of calories, sugar, protein, fat, saturated fat, and fiber, but one included peanuts, a whole plant food containing thousands of phytonutrients, were given to subjects, within hours of drinking the non-peanut shake, artery function was diminished by 20 percent. With the addition of peanuts, though, there was no significant drop in the ability of the arteries to relax and dilate normally, and walnuts may work even better. In another study, researchers examined reactions to: (1) ice cream, (2) avocado, (3) just the fat and protein from the ice cream (to separate out the sugar), and (4) just the amount of sugar in the ice cream (to separate out the effects of the saturated butterfat). Oxidative stress levels in the bloodstream increased with the ice cream, just the fat and protein from the ice cream, and just the sugar in the ice cream, but no increase was observed after eating the avocados. Whole plant foods, which are rich in antioxidants, come naturally prepackaged with phytonutrients and do not show the same potential for oxidative damage. To read the original article click here.

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‘Beat the Holiday Bloat’ Smoothie – Easy & Delicious

AHA Publisher — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 08:00:08 +0000

Dr. Don Colbert – Holiday celebrations and feasts can be a joyous event within the Holiday Season. It’s often a time we can engage with family and friends, give thanks, and enjoy delicious foods. It’s also often a time of feeling bloated. All those rich foods. All those extra servings and courses. How can you beat the Holiday bloat? Believe it or not, there are nutrients and foods that can actually help you beat the holiday bloat. Use them, and you’ll feel better, healthier, and likely enjoy the rest of the season more! Beat the Holiday Bloat Smoothie Ingredients: 1.5 cups almond milk 1 cup spinach, loosely packed ½ cup cucumber, sliced (appox. ¼ medium cucumber) ½ cup celery, chopped (appox. 1 medium stalk) ½ small avocado (peeled & pitted) 1 scoop Keto Zone® MCT Oil Powder OR 1 tbsp. coconut oil 1 scoop Keto Zone® Hydrolyzed Collagen Powder 1 scoop Divine Health® Fermented Green Supremefood® Optional: 2-3 drops liquid stevia or low-carb sweetener of choice, to taste Instructions: Into a blender, mix almond milk and spinach. Pulse to break down spinach and make room for the other ingredients. Add all ingredients except stevia. Blend for about 1 minute or until creamy. Taste it. If you’ve used flavored MCT Oil Powder and/or Green Supremefood, it may be sweet enough. If not, add stevia (or another low-carb sweetener), to taste. Nutrition Info: 375 Calories, 25g of Fat, 20g of Protein, 4g of Net Carbs Why the Holiday Bloat? Usually, when you feel bloated, the culprits are too much sugar, carbohydrates, sodium, or simply too much food. It happens. It’s easy to get carried away and overeat during a holiday. But, if you’re trying to stay in the Keto Zone® and eat a healthy diet, the indulgence can cause a host of issues in your body including (1): Increased blood sugar and insulin Increased fluid retention Inflammation Weight Gain If this describes your Holiday Season condition, it’s time to get right back on track. One of the best ways to do so is with a green smoothie! Why? It provides both a physical and mental shift back towards healthy eating. There’s no wallowing in guilt. There’s more. A secret weapon. Here’s what it is and why it works. Why Our Beat the Holiday Bloat Smoothie Works If you’ve overeaten carbohydrates or sugar don’t despair just yet. We’ve got a secret weapon in our detox smoothie: celery. Sugar can cause damage in the body. But, celery can help you stop the damage, reverse it, and get back on track. Beat the Bloat and Detox with Celery While I’m not encouraging you to ever overeat sugary desserts and then detox with a smoothie, we all live in the real world and know it happens. Rather than pretend it doesn’t, let’s focus on tools to get you back on track. First: celery. Why celery? Celery has a gentle diuretic effect (2) which quickly normalizes fluid retention without leaving you dehydrated. This beats the bloat. Next, it’s loaded with nutrients. In fact, celery is (3): A nutrition powerhouse. It contains calcium, copper, magnesium, iron, zinc, and potassium. In addition, a plethora of vitamins: including vitamin A, C, E, D, B6, B12, and vitamin K as well as thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid and fiber (4). Rich in Vitamin C, which promotes good immune function and works as an antioxidant to reduce oxidative stress. A blood pressure reducer. It reduces stress hormones and relaxes arteries to make them more elastic (5). A cholesterol-binder. Celery increases bile production which binds cholesterol in the gut and promotes excretion out of the body (6). A gentle diuretic. Cucumber, Avocado, & Greens to Beat the Holiday Bloat The other ingredients in our Beat the Holiday Bloat Smoothie are not exactly slouches. They bolster it to the next level and provide a full-nutrition meal with healthy fats and protein. Cucumber also promotes gentle diuresis, helping you beat the bloat from extra foods and sugars (6). Avocado is full of vitamins and minerals along with health-promoting omega-9 fats and cholesterol-binding fiber (12) . Spinach provides many phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. It’s deep green hue is an indication of health-benefiting chlorophyll (7). Keto Zone® MCT Oil Powder is a convenient and non-greasy form of the best MCTs available. They are easy-to-digest, great for heart health, and produce ketones your brain can use as a super-fuel (8, 9). Keto Zone® Hydrolyzed Collagen Powder promotes healthy hair, skin, nails, joints, gut function, and more. Additionally, collagen provides amino acids seldom found in modern diets (10). Divine Health® Fermented Green Supremefood®, a blend of fermented organic vegetables and wheatgrass, provides concentrated vitamins and minerals. The fermentation process “opens up” these natural superfoods to get more nutrients out. Plus, Fermented Green Supremefood contains healthy bacteria to support digestive and whole-body health (11). BOTTOM LINE: Ready to feel better this Holiday Season? Forget about bloat and fill your body full of amazing nutrition instead. Try our Beat The Holiday Bloat Smoothie today! To read the original article click here.

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Are Avocados a Weight Loss Food?

AHA Publisher — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 07:00:23 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – Studies funded by the Avocado Board suggest avocados may facilitate weight loss, but compared to what? What are the effects of avocado on metabolic syndrome, “a clustering of risk factors”—high blood sugars, high blood triglycerides, high blood pressure, and obesity—that sets you up for diabetes and heart disease? “Avocado consumption is associated with better diet quality and nutrient intake, and lower metabolic syndrome risk,” as I discuss in my video Are Avocados Fattening?. Researchers found that avocado eaters only had half the odds of metabolic syndrome. The study was funded by the Avocado Board, though, so it’s especially important to dig into how the researchers designed the trial. The data came from a snapshot-in-time cross-sectional survey of about 17,500 people, who were asked if they had eaten any avocado in the last 24 hours on two separate days. Two percent said yes, so the health stats from the few hundred folks who reported they had recently eaten avocado were compared to the health stats of the 17,000 individuals who said they had not. The proportion of people with metabolic syndrome among the avocado group was only half that of the non-avocado group. Those in the avocado group were also slimmer with significantly trimmer waists and lower body weight, despite no significant difference in caloric intake, as you can see at 1:10 in my video. The authors treated this as some kind of mystery that “needs to be further investigated,” but the study only looked at how many calories were eaten on the day of the surveys, not over time. You could, though, see how people could lose weight eating avocados since they, like all fruits, aremostly water, along with fiber, which has no calories at all. So, a schmear of cream cheese on a bagel would add more than twice as many calories as the same schmear of avocado. That brings up an important point: Maybe those who eat avocados simply tend to have healthier diets in general. If you are spreading avocado on your toast, you may be spreading on less butter or margarine. Indeed, avocado eaters also reported eating more fruits and vegetables in general and less added sugar, as you can see at 1:58 in my video. No wonder they were healthier. It’s right there in the title of the Avocado Board-funded study: “Avocado consumption is associated with better diet quality…” So, in effect, the study says that those who eat more healthfully are slimmer and have a lower risk of disease. Well, duh. But, this could be in part because they were eating avocados, have nothing to do with avocados, or even be in spite of eating or not-eating avocados. You don’t know, until you put it to the test. What is the effect of avocados on body weight? A study found that an avocado extract caused a reduction in body weight, but the study was on the body weight of rats and used an avocado leafextract. Who eats avocado leaves? Well, evidently, in Nigeria, avocado leaf tea is an herbal remedy used for high blood pressure. Does it actually work? Researchers tried it on some hypertensive patients, and it seems avocado leaves “have a toxic effect on the liver that could cause liver damage.” Well, I guess technically “it can be used in the treatment of hypertension,” but only if you don’t care about the pesky “hepatotoxicity.” Thanks, but no thanks. Aren’t there any human studies on avocado fruit and body weight? There was a study decades ago in 1960 on avocados and cholesterol in which the subjects did not gain weight when avocados were added to their diet. I was able to find a reference to the study in the California Avocado Society 1960 Yearbook that lamented how difficult it is to “impress the housewife” as to all the unnamed benefits of avocados. Now, it’s true that body weights didn’t change much after avocado feeding, as you can see at 3:50 in my video, but the researchers didn’t just add avocados to their diet—they substitutedavocado in place of some of the animal fat they had been eating. So, essentially, they swapped out lard for avocado. No wonder there was no weight gain! Now, in one subject, they did just add avocado. He started out at 154 pounds and, after three weeks of added avocado, didn’t have any weight gain. Could avocado be so satiating, so satisfying, that when you add it to your diet, you just naturally end up eating less of everything else? You don’t really know, until you put it to the test. Researchers conducted a randomized controlled study to evaluate the effect of Hass avocado intake on satiety and subsequent caloric intake. Adding half an avocado to a lunch meal did improve satisfaction and reduce hunger, but they just added an extra 112 calories of food so it makes sense that the subjects felt less hungry. The question is, did the study participants feel soless hungry that they ate 112 calories less during supper to compensate? The answer is no. In fact, they didn’t eat significantly less at all, as you can see at 5:02 in my video. What about over time? In another study, researchers added an entire avocado to people’s daily diets for six weeks and found no significant weight gain. They triumphantly claimed their study “dispels the myth that avocados are fattening”—but this was like that lard study. Yes, the researchers added an avocado, but they also removed the same amount of fat in the form of margarine, mayonnaise, and oil. Now, this is a healthy swap—removing junk and adding nutrition and fiber—but if the calories in and the calories out are the same, it’s no wonder there was no difference in body weight. In fact, one could have just as well concluded that avocados are as fattening as margarine, mayonnaise, and oil if you’re eating the same amount of fat. Maybe the housewife was unimpressed because she just knew a little something about proper study design. Nuts are another healthy whole food source of fat, and it turns out adding them to one’s diet does not lead to expected weight gain. See Nuts and Obesity: The Weight of Evidence. KEY TAKEAWAYS A study funded by the Avocado Board released data from a snapshot-in-time survey, suggesting avocados may facilitate weight loss and be associated with lower risk of metabolic syndrome—i.e., high blood sugars, high blood triglycerides, high blood pressure, and obesity. A closer look at how the trial was designed, however, reveals the survey subjects were simply asked if they had eaten any avocado in the last 24 hours on two separate days and the researchers only looked at caloric consumption on the day of the surveys, not over time. Avocados, like all fruits, are mostly water and have fiber, which has no calories at all. So, it isn’t a leap that avocado eaters may lose more weight or tend to have overall healthier diets. Indeed, avocado eaters have reported eating more fruits and vegetables in general, as well as consuming less added sugar. In a randomized controlled study, researchers evaluated the effect of Hass avocado intake on satiety and subsequent caloric intake. Adding half an avocado to lunch improved satisfaction and reduced hunger, but that makes sense, given that the meal was supplemented with an extra 112 calories of food. During the next meal, however, the subjects weren’t so sated that they ate 112 fewer calories to compensate. In another study, subjects ate one avocado a day for six weeks without any significant weight gain. However, though the researchers added an avocado to the participants’ daily diet, but they also removed the same amount of fat in the form of margarine, mayonnaise, and oil. So, as the same amount of fat was being consumed, the researchers could have concluded that avocados are as fattening as margarine, mayonnaise, and oil. To read the original article click here.

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Avocado Grilled Cheese Recipe

AHA Publisher — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 07:00:02 +0000

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CN – Grilled cheeses are pretty darn awesome. But I’m not talking about the processed yellow cheese sandwiches of your youth. This Avocado Grilled Cheese is a totally delicious, grown-up version. It’s made with two types of cheeses, feta crumbles (feta is one of the healthiest cheeses) and Pecorino Romano, decidedly not plain ole American cheese. It’s also super creamy thanks to the addition of benefit-rich avocado. And it gets an extra protein boost from the chicken tenders — try my Turkey Bacon-Crusted Chicken Tenders for that ingredient. In fact, no rival grilled cheese will pack as much of a macronutrient punch, with each serving providing 29 grams of healthy fats, 28 grams of protein and 36 grams of energizing carbs. When you need a lunch or dinner that’s simple to make, tastes amazing and the entire family will love, this avocado grilled cheese is it! In a high-powered blender, mix avocados, garlic and lemon juice, and purée till smooth. This creamy spread is going to infuse your avocado grilled cheese with a ton of flavor. Next, melt butter in a pan and add the bread slices, gluten-free or sprouted wheat berry. On one side, top the bread with the shredded chicken and feta cheese. On the other bread, add the Pecorino Romano cheese and fresh tomato slices. This avocado grilled cheese looks great already, but it’s about to be even better … When the bread slices are golden brown on the bottom, about 3–5 minutes, remove the sandwich halves and place them on a plate. Choose a side and spread the avocado mixture all over it. Delicious! Then, move quickly and carefully and bring the sandwich halves together to avoid spilling (although don’t let that yummy filling go to waste!). This avocado grilled cheese is great for a simple dinner — just pair with a side salad. You can even omit the chicken if you don’t have any on hand or want to keep this vegetarian, or even replace the chicken with turkey bacon. Once you try this avocado grilled cheese, you’ll never go back! Avocado Grilled Cheese Recipe DESCRIPTION Grilled cheeses are pretty darn awesome. But I’m not talking about the processed yellow cheese sandwiches of your youth. This Avocado Grilled Cheese is a totally delicious, grown-up version. INGREDIENTS 2 ripe avocados 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled 1 teaspoon lemon juice ⅓ cup feta cheese crumbles 6 chicken tenders, cooked and shredded 3 ounces shaved Pecorino Romano 1 medium tomato, sliced 4 slices gluten-free or sprouted wheat berry bread 1 tablespoon butter INSTRUCTIONS Heat a large skillet over medium heat. In a mixing bowl add avocados, garlic and lemon juice, mixing until well combined. Add butter to skillet and once melted, add bread. Build sandwich in skillet: on one side add feta cheese and chicken, on other side, add shaved pecorino and tomatoes. Remove each sandwich half to a plate after 3–5 minutes, once bread is golden brown on bottom. Place avocado spread on one side of grilled cheese. Carefully and quickly bring two sandwich halves together to form your grilled cheese. To read the original article click here.

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Cold Cucumber Avocado Keto Soup Recipe (or Dip!)

AHA Publisher — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 07:00:20 +0000

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CN – Avocados were first used by the Aztecs and since have been highly sought after for their health benefits. Avocados are high in healthy mono-unsaturated fats such as oleic acid. They also have anti inflammatory properties and are high in potassium, magnesium, and fiber. As such, they make a perfect ingredient for any keto meals. But few of us incorporate them into recipes besides the ubiquitous guacamole. Here, however, is a delicious and refreshing soup recipe called Cold Cucumber Avocado Keto Soup. Tried out by many readers, it even works well as an avocado dip for chips or cut-up veggies. Why does it work well for the keto diet? Well, each serving offers 25 grams of healthy fats alongside 11 grams of protein and just 5 net carbs. Those are nearly perfect macros for the ketogenic diet. How to Make Creamy Cucumber Avocado Soup Place all the ingredients on your counter. Get out a cutting board and a good sharp knife. Peel the cucumber and chop roughly and place into a high-powered blender or food processor. Next, scoop out the meat from a full avocado after removing the seed. Place into the blender. Chop up five stalks of celery and add to the blender. Lastly, add the squeezed lemon juice, water, sea salt and black pepper. Blend thoroughly and pour into two soup bowls. Top with shredded raw cheddar cheese or goat cheese, along with fresh herbs. Enjoy! Creamy Cucumber Avocado Soup Recipe (or Dip!) DESCRIPTION Go beyond guacamole and use the mighty avocado for this delicious (and easy!) Creamy Cucumber Avocado Soup. It can also substitute as a great dipping sauce. INGREDIENTS ½ cucumber, peeled 1 ripe avocado 5 stalks celery 3 tablespoons lemon juice ½ cup water 1 teaspoon sea salt ½ teaspoon black pepper 2 ounces raw cheddar cheese or goat cheese fresh herbs, such as basil or parsley (optional) INSTRUCTIONS Place all ingredients (except the cheese) together in a high-powered blender or food processor. Blend thoroughly and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes Serve chilled and top with fresh cheese and fresh herbs. NOTES If you choose to use this as a dip for chips or fresh veggies, use less water in the recipe so it’s nice and thick. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Axe click here.

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Keto Smoothie Recipe with Avocado, Chia Seeds & Cacao

AHA Publisher — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 07:00:45 +0000

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CN – Have you heard about the keto diet? It’s possibly the best diet for weight loss, and it can even reverse insulin resistance and reduce cardiovascular risk factors, according to recent research. No wonder more and more people are starting to go “keto.” My keto smoothie is an easy way to get started. It includes protein foods and healthy fats, while being very low in carbohydrates. All of the ingredients in this smoothie are nutritious, heart healthy and keto-friendly — plus, they’re delicious! What Does “Going Keto” Mean? “Going keto” means putting your body into a state of ketosis, which is a metabolic state that occurs when most of the body’s energy comes from ketone bodies in the blood, rather than from glucose (or sugar). On the keto diet, you are tricking your body into thinking it’s fasting by eliminating glucose that is found in carbohydrate foods. Your body begins burning fat for energy rather than carbohydrates, so after going keto, most people lose excess body fat rapidly, even when consuming lots of fats and adequate calories through their diet. The ketogenic diet, like any other low-carb diet, works through the elimination of glucose. Our bodies normally run on glucose for energy, but once glucose is no longer available from food sources, we begin to burn stored fat for energy instead. This process will not only help you to shed those extra pounds, but it also helps to control the release of hormones like insulin, which plays a role in the development of diabetes and other health problems. Nutrition Facts One serving of this keto smoothie recipe using cacao powder and without toppings contains the following, including only 6.1 net carbs (total carb grams minus fiber grams): 394.5 calories 40.1 grams fat 11.64 grams carbohydrates 5.5 grams fiber 3.68 grams protein 2.52 grams sugar 22 milligrams sodium 189.5 milligrams magnesium (45.1 percent DV) 6.85 milligrams iron (38.1 percent DV) 328.5 milligrams phosphorus (26.3 percent DV) 2.45 milligrams vitamin E (16.3 percent DV) 2.49 milligrams niacin (15.5 percent DV) 0.17 milligrams thiamin (14.2 percent DV) 0.16 milligrams riboflavin (12.3 percent DV) 36 micrograms folate (9 percent DV) 96 milligrams calcium (7.4 percent DV) 0.73 milligrams zinc (6.6 percent DV) 229 milligrams potassium (4.9 percent DV) 0.073 milligrams vitamin B6 (4.3 percent DV) 2.5 milligrams vitamin C (2.8 percent DV) How to Make A Keto Smoothie A keto smoothie is made up of healthy fats and protein, all foods that are naturally low in carbohydrates. Using a high-powered blender, add in these heart-healthy, keto diet–friendly foods. My keto smoothie recipe starts with 1 to 1¼ cups of full-fat coconut milk as the base. Coconut milk contains a beneficial fat called lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid that’s easily absorbed and used by the body for energy. It serves as a great keto diet food. Next add in 1 tablespoon of chia seeds (soaked in 3 tablespoons of water for 10 minutes), which contain essential fatty acids, plus vitamins A, B, E and D and minerals including iron, magnesium, niacin and thiamine. And then add 1 tablespoons of your favorite nut butter to the mix, whether it’s almond butter or even sunflower seed butter. (I recommend that you avoid peanut butter.) For the next ingredient for this keto smoothie, you have a choice of either 2 teaspoons of cacao nibs, cacao powder or cocoa powder, or 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder. Protein powder made from bone broth is packed with protein, low in carbs and low in sugar. You can get the benefits of bone broth easily by adding it to your keto smoothie. Cacao nibs or powder is also healthful and packed with nutrients that fuel the body. The last two ingredients for my keto smoothie are ½ frozen avocado and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Adding avocado to this smoothie will give it a delicious creamy texture and its an excellent source of healthy fats, which is especially important when you’re going keto. Now all you have to do is blend the ingredients until they are well-combined, adding water if necessary, and you’re done! If you want to add some bulk to the texture of your keto smoothie, or if you don’t have a frozen avocado on hand, add in some ice, too. Top your keto smoothie with cacao nibs and cinnamon, and enjoy! Keto Smoothie Recipe with Avocado, Chia Seeds & Cacao DESCRIPTION My keto smoothie is an easy way to get started on the keto diet, or just as a great breakfast. It includes protein foods and healthy fats, while being very low in carbohydrates. All of the ingredients in this smoothie are nutritious, heart healthy and keto-friendly — plus, they’re delicious! INGREDIENTS 1–1¼ cups full-fat coconut milk ½ frozen avocado 1 tablespoon nut butter of choice 1 tablespoon chia seeds, soaked in 3 tablespoons of water for 10minutes 2 teaspoons cacao nibs, cacao powder or cocoa powder OR 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder made from bone broth 1 tablespoon coconut oil ice (optional*) for topping: cacao nibs and cinnamon ¼ cup water, if needed INSTRUCTIONS Add contents into a high-powered blender, blending until well-combined. Top with cacao nibs and cinnamon. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Axe click here.

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