Forget forbidden fruits. Avocados shouldn’t be off limits in your quest for optimal health, wellness and weight loss. Avocados are a great source of vital vitamins and minerals.

Half a medium avocado (about four ounces) provides a whopping 500 milligrams of potassium, more than 1/3 of the RDA for folate (folic acid), 10% or more of the RDA for iron, magnesium, betacarotene, Vitamins C, Vitamin E, and B-6.  Listen to this pregnant moms; avocados contain more folate than any other fruit.

But that’s not all. Avocados possess powerful antioxidant and disease fighting phytonutrients.  For this reason, researchers are now considering them true “phyter-fruits” Improving your diet can be a satisfying experience when your taste buds are treated to the rich taste of this creamy fruit. Avocados fit great within an anti-inflammatory, paleo type diet. Don’t be fooled by the fat. Avocados contain heart healthy monounsaturated fats that should be included in every healthy diet. Far too few people who try to lose weight understand that they need to Eat Fat to Lose Fat.

*    Avocados rival many other anti-aging foods such as grapes and red wine. Avocados are truly a nutrient dense food.

*    Avocados contain more lutein than any other fruit. This carotenoid provides powerful protection against cataracts and macular degeneration, major causes of blindness in the elderly.

*    Avocados contain at least twice as much beta-sitosterol (a plant sterol that inhibits cholesterol absorption in the intestines) as corn, green soybeans, or olives, and more than four times as much as bananas, apples, grapes, plums, cherries, and cantaloupe.

*   Ounce for ounce avocados contain three times as much glutathione as bananas, apples, cantaloupes, grapes, plums, and cherries. This antioxidant may protect against cancer.

Novel ways to add avocados to your diet:

*    Brazilians add them to ice cream (see The Ice Dream Cookbook for dairy-free, low-sugar coconut milk ice cream made with avocado)

*   Cubans mash them with capers, pimento stuffed green olives, lime juice & olive oil & serve over poached fish

*    Jamaicans season them with lime juice & Scotch bonnet chiles to make chilled avocado soup

*    Colombians & Ecuadorians slice them into soups (see recipe below).

Creamy Broccoli-Avocado Soup

Prep: 30 minutes/ Cooking: 30 minutes/ Yield: 6 servings

Avocado adds a rich taste and creamy texture to green vegetable soups without milk or cream. I got the idea for this from the California Avocado Commission. I replaced zucchini in their recipe with broccoli, increased the volume of vegetables, and changed the seasonings. This soup goes well with fish, poultry, or meat with a bright orange, yellow, or red vegetable or fruit.

Ingredients

4 cups homemade Bone-Building Broth (from The Garden of Eating), homemade chicken broth or stock, or preservative-free chicken broth or Grass-fed beef bone marrow broth

1 medium onion (1-1 1/2 cups), thinly sliced or diced

2 to 3 small cloves coarsely chopped garlic

1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt (reduce by one-half if using salted broth)

½ to 1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotlé (smoked dried Jalapeno pepper powder)

3 to 4 packed cups broccoli, tops cut into small florets, stalks peeled and thinly sliced, tough part discarded

2 large ripe avocados, seeded, peeled, and chopped

1/4 cup minced scallions, parsley or cilantro leaves, or red or yellow bell pepper, garnish

Hot sauce or ground black pepper or lemon pepper, optional

1.   Combine 2 cups broth or stock with onion, garlic, sea salt, cumin, and chipotlé in a 2- to 3-quart pot. Cover and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

2.   Add remaining broth and broccoli. Bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until fork tender, about 15  minutes. Do not boil hard or overcook. Broccoli should remain bright green.

3.   Purée the broccoli, onion, and broth mixture with the avocados in a blender, Vita-Mix, or food processor in 2 batches, until smooth and creamy. Add additional water ¼ cup at a time as needed to make a smooth purée. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

4.   Return the soup to the pot and heat gently. Ladle into bowls, garnish, and serve. Add hot sauce or black pepper at the table if desired. Served chilled in hot weather.

5.   Refrigerate leftovers and use within 3 days.

1 cup: 149 calories, 4 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate (6 g fiber), 10 g fat, 37 mg calcium, 174 mg sodium

Variations:

*    Creamy Cauliflower Avocado Soup: Replace broccoli with cauliflower. Increase cooking time as needed to soften the cauliflower.

*    For milder flavor, omit chipotlé. Add 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper or lemon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, or 1 teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon fresh dill weed. Add hot sauce to servings if desired.

Bio: Rachel Albert-Matesz is a Phoenix, Arizona-based freelance food and health writer, cooking instructor,  healthy cooking coach, chef, blogger, co-author of The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004) and author of The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces (Planetary Press, 2008). For more information about her books, classes, phone coaching, and other services, visit her blog: www.TheHealthyCookingCoach.com

Grilled Onion Rings

Prep:  15 minutes     Yield:  4 to 8 servings

Grilled onions are unusually sweet, slightly smoky, and versatile.  Serve them in salads, over burgers, salmon fillets, lamb chops, or stuffed in omelets.  Leftovers are great served over or under poached or fried eggs for breakfast, with a side of leftover cooked kale, collards, broccoli, or Brussels sprouts or over a green salad with leftover meat in a pack lunch!  If you don’t have a covered grill or porch (for winter grilling), cook the onions in a grill pan or George Foreman-type grill indoors. If you are looking for a recipe for onions, these grilled onion rings are not only healthy but delicious.

Basic ingredients:
4  medium-large red onions
Olive oil, to coat
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, to mre if desired
1 tablespoon coarsely ground rosemary, sage, thyme, dried parsley or your favorite blend, to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon finely ground sun-dried, mineral rich sea salt (Celtic®, Real Salt®, or Malden Salt®) (optional)

1.    Cut ends off of onion, then peel back and remove skin.  Slice onions into rounds, about 1/3-inch thick.  (Thin slices are apt to stick, burn, or fall through grill grates.)
2.    Brush both sides of onion slices with olive oil and dust with herbs, spices, and sea salt if desired.  Place on grill grates and cook approximately 6 minutes per side, or until onions darken around edges and rings start to separate.
3.    Remove from grill and serve warm, or refrigerate in a Pyrex bowl with a lid and serve cold or at room temperature in a salad on omelet. Use within 3 to 4 days for optimal freshness, flavor, and nutrition.

Variations:

*    Onion Rings in a Grill Pan:  Lightly brush grill pan with olive oil; warm on moderate heat and until piping hot.  Cut onion rings 1/4-inch thick.  Lightly brush with oil and dust with herbs and spices as desired. Cook for approximately 4 to 5 minutes per side, until slightly charred, soft, and rings start to separate.  Hope you enjoy this grilled onions recipe!

Thanks to my friend Chef Rachel for this awesome recipe.

Source of recipe: The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, 2004)

Available on this site: http://www.thegardenofeatingdiet.com/

Have you had your onions today?
Onions have been held in high esteem throughout recorded history and used in nearly every cuisine around the globe.  They are one of the oldest known vegetables, probably among the first cultivated crops, are easy to grow, do well in a wide range of soils and climates, are less perishable than many other vegetables, and have grown wild in many regions of the world.  Food historians estimate that man has been sowing and reaping onions for at least 5000 years and that our ancestors feasted on wild onions for thousands of years before the invention of farming and writing.

Let onions be your medicine
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, noted for saying “Let food be they medicine and medicine be thy food,” considered onions as medicine. Asians have similarly held onions in high esteem. Dr. Henry C. Lu, author of Chinese Foods for Longevity and Chinese System of Food Cures, promotes the health benefits of onions and says that onions have been used in China for at least 5,000 years—to increase urination, expel phlegm, treat coughs, colds, wounds, ulcers, constipation, trichomonas, vaginitis, non-bacterial enteritis, and hypertension.

Wash your mouth out with onion
According to food historian Martin Elkort, author of The Secret Life of Food, an
old wives tale lists onions as an ideal mouthwash!  “Chewing raw onions for five minutes kills all germs in the mouth, making it sterile; a good thing to know next time you get a cold.”

Ode to the onion
What  shall we make of this lore?  Can an onion a day really keep the doctor at bay? Surprisingly, it may.  Modern research supports a surprising array of ancient allium-related health claims.  According to researchers in the United States and India, onions also kill the germs that cause tooth decay.

What’s the secret?
Onions contain at least 25 identified active disease combating compounds that, like garlic, posses antibacterial, antifungal, and immune enhancing properties— which may explain their efficacy in warding off colds, relieving upset stomach, and other gastrointestinal imbalances.  Onions appear to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, inhibit growth of cancer cells, reduce stroke risk, and aid in preventing heart disease.

An onion a day
Many people don’t appreciate the nutritional value of onions. One medium onion contains only 38 calories and as much vitamin C as each of the following: 2 apples, 1 banana, 1 tomato, or 1 orange.  Onions are among one of the 10 most popular vegetables in the U.S.  Prevention Magazine named onions one of the 25 superfoods for combating heart disease and cancer.  So, an onion a day….. is a decent way to increase your odds for a healthy, well-rounded existence.

Onion prowess
The onions most assertive compounds appear to be sulfur and quercetin, antioxidants able to neutralize free radicals in the body, protecting cell membranes from damage.  Onions beat red wine and tea when in quercetin content. (Yellow onions top red onions in the antioxidant race.)  Unlike wine, onion addiction won’t reduce your reflexes or get you arrested, so you can safely indulge—-any time!   (I do, daily!)

Raw or cooked?
Both have benefits.  Cooking softens the bite, sweetens the pot, multiplies your options, concentrates the volume and nutrients, and allows you to eat more onions in a single sitting.  Cooking does reduce sulfur compounds slightly…. though it leaves the quercetin  intact.

If you have a craving for onions now, try Chef Rachel’s Healthy Onion Ring Recipe.

Bio:  Chef Rachel Albert-Matesz has been a natural foods chef, cooking instructor, and freelance food and health writer for more than 20 years. She has led 900+ cooking classes in 5 states and had more than 225 articles published in national and regional publications.

She is the author of The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces (Planetary Press, 2008) and co-author with Don Matesz of the award-winning book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004. She leads group and private classes, cooking parties, healthy shopping tours, coaches clients by phone and in their kitchens, and speaks to groups in the Phoenix metro area. For recipes, cooking tips, and a schedule of classes, visit her blog www.TheHealthyCookingCoach.com

I’m not talking about the Red Sox and Yankees and a beer at the bar.

I’m talking wild game, for dinner, as an important part of your diet.

Wild animals and birds that eat real grass and vegetation and aren’t fed antibiotics, fat hormones and inflammatory manufactured foods.

I have a getaway home in Yellowstone Park, Montana. My Dad is a park ranger there. My brother feeds his family for the year on what he hunts.  Elk meat is less than 1% fat.

You would have a hard time convincing me that this is not how one should eat. As a matter of fact, there’s about two and a half million years of proof behind it.

Wild game meats make an excellent alternative to traditional meats like beef for a variety of health reasons.

I’m a big fan of a paleo type of diet.

Why?

It’s anti-inflammatory. Not only will you lose weight, you’ll live longer.

Here’s all you need to know about nutrition…Eat wild and organic plants and vegetation and the animals who eat these wild plants and vegetation.

That said, here are  some reasons for recommending that you add game and grass-fed organic meat to your diet…

• Wild game is low in fat which makes it an extremely attractive option for people trying to lose weight.
• Many people are often pleasantly surprised by the mild taste much game meat has. Buffalo, ostrich, rabbit, wild turkey and elk are probably the least ‘gamey’ and are becoming increasingly available in restaurants.
• Wild game is usually close to ten times lower in fat and cholesterol than traditional cuts of domestic meat.
• It’s a combination of more lean body tissue, fewer calories, less saturated fat and a higher percentage of cholesterol-reducing polyunsaturated fatty acids (good fats).
• Wild game contains more than five times the amount of polyunsaturated fat per game than is found in domestic livestock. Great omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.
• Wild game is 100% natural, free ranging and devoid of antibiotics, steroids and hormones.

You might be surprised to hear that ostrich meat is lower in fat content than chicken breast.

Here are some tips for cooking wild game…

Cook low and slow. I repeat…cook low and slow.

Braise, roast and/or baste frequently. If you can, use fruits to marinade. I use a pomegranate molasses or cherry juice.

Not only does it taste better and become healthier, it protects the meat if you are grilling it.

Wild game, in my book, is a true superfood.

It should be a part of your anti-inflammatory diet. You can even get grass-fed game and meat delivered to your home. Here is a great article on the best wine parings for wild game.

Here is a great video on how to grill an elk tenderloin, enjoy!If you’re thinking to yourself, “That’s an amazing grill!” I agree.

Here it is Grillery.com

Low-glycemic fruits won’t give your blood sugar that undesirable sudden spike.

Fruits are rich in vitamins needed to support a healthy body. Citrus fruits and many other fruits contain vitamins C, A and E and work as anti-oxidants, protecting the body from the damage caused by free radicals.

Fruit aids in digestion, working as a natural laxative. The fiber in fruit encourages the body to rid itself of toxins and waste. Fruit is a much better source of all-important fiber than are grains, which can inflame the body.

Phytochemicals work with nutrients and dietary fibers to protect against diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. They also give fruit their naturally bright color.

It’s important to eat a wide variety of colored fruits to ensure that your body gets a variety of phytochemicals, all of which offer their own individual nutritional benefit. This is known as the “Rainbow Diet” principle.

Fruit also has a positive impact on brain function. Plenty of fruit can actually improve memory. The natural sugars in fruit stimulate the brain so we can think faster and recall information more quickly.

Fruit is also low in sodium so it helps reduce the chance of gaining water weight.

Ample fruit consumption helps fill the stomach faster, encouraging fewer high calorie foods to be consumed. As a result, fruit promotes weight loss and cleansing.

• Cherries
• Grapefruits
• Kiwi
• Grapes
• Oranges
• Prunes
• Pears
• Plums
• and apples are great lower-glycemic fruits.

But don’t just revolve your choices around the glycemic index. Fruits like blueberries are truly a superfood as is pomegranate. They have a higher glycemic index but are amazingly healthy and should be eaten.

Where people get in trouble is when they confuse store bought orange juice with a a raw orange. The latter is really the only healthy choice.

Fruits are perfect, as nature intended, for health, wellness and weight loss.