Summertime is always the best of what might be.
~ Charles Bowden
It’s easy to lose weight in the summer. The days are longer; it’s easier to get outside and exercise; and the abundance of fruits and vegetables make it easy to eat light and healthy. Having a salad each day is a great way to get more fiber and make use of all the summer goodies available. Try adding fruit, such as figs, nectarines, or strawberries, to a green salad. Or, try tasty additions such as grilled chicken and veggies, feta cheese, seeds, avocado, nuts, sun dried tomatoes, or balsamic vinegar, and watch your next salad go from drab to fab.
Eat Avocados and Lose Weight?
Do you avoid avocados because of all those extra calories? Don’t. A recent weight loss study showed that a group of women who ate half an avocado at lunch with a salad or other meal, stayed full longer and snacked far less in the afternoon. The people eating the avocado felt 23% more satisfied and had a 28% lower desire to eat over the next 5 hours. Most were able to hold out until dinner. Subsequently, they lost more weight than the control group that didn’t eat the avocado at lunch.
The Bottom Line:
When you eat low fat food at lunch, you tend to be less satisfied, and that makes you vulnerable to raiding the vending machine or looking for some other fattening treat. Lunch should be your main meal, and if you make good choices, and include some healthy fat, you won’t have a need to snack much and you won’t want a big dinner. Skimping on food during the day often leads to overeating at night.
Fats are necessary to feel satiated, and eating healthy fats, such as avocados, can help you lose weight naturally. Avocados are a great source of valuable nutrients, including oleic acid, vitamin e, folate, antioxidants, and potassium. Avocados can even help lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
