Avocado benefit: Weight control

Avocado benefit: Weight control
 
Contrary to popular assumptions, the avocado can be a helpful part of a successful weight-management program. It brings several advantages.

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      Its monounsaturated fat speeds up the basal metabolic rate, as compared with saturated fat. #
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      Its high fat content gives a quicker feeling of satiation ("fullness"), thus helping to reduce overeating.
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      Its high fat content makes an overall sound diet more palatable, reducing the temptation to binge on foods high in sugars or saturated fats.
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      Its rich supply of vitamins and minerals also makes the diet more wholesome and satisfying and thus more conducive to overall health and to moderation in consumption.

The high fat content of most avocados (up to 90% of its calories) will make some people dubious about its positive effects on weight control. Not only does fat have over twice as many calories per unit weight as does carbohydrate or protein, but also if excess calories are consumed, the body apparently burns about three times as many calories when storing calories from carbohydrate or protein as it burns when calories from fat are stored. Recent evidence, however, suggests that calories are not the whole story for body weight, with timing of both consumption and exercise as factors and with calories from fat also a possible added handicap.

So, what is known from experiments with the avocado? The next part of this article will discuss in detail results from the three studies of known changes in cholesterol resulting from the addition of avocado to the diet. In each of the three studies, there was an average small weight loss associated with avocado consumption. In the most pertinent experiment (Grant, 1960), a mean of just over one California avocado a day for a mean of 33 days increased average daily calories by a calculated 24% and fat by 54% but resulted in a weight loss averaging approximately 1 kg (2.2 lbs). This remarkable result (under exceptional and tightly controlled hospital conditions) should not be taken as a universal guarantee; individual results will vary depending upon complex individual metabolic histories and interactions. What can be said is that eating avocado has been shown to be fully compatible with good weight control.

Very few people will have rapid weight loss as a result of increasing their consumption of avocado; however, the more slowly one loses weight, the less likely one is to regain it. It has become clear that an effective solution to the widespread overweight problem will not come from simply eating less. Indeed, such 'dieting' can actually make things worse by causing muscle loss so that the usual 'yo-yo' weight rebound leaves one fatter than ever and subsequent weight loss more difficult to achieve than ever. Goodrick and Foreyt reported in the October, 1991, issue of the American Dietetic Journal that even a combination of behavioral self-management training plus sharply reduced calories gave a discouraging 90% eventual relapse level. Part of the reason is genetic: we tend to inherit our body fat amount and distribution. Part of the solution is more exercise which, of course, is good for us for other reasons.

The emerging picture is quite complex. In the February, 1990, issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Bouchard reported from Canada that women who were small eaters (mean of 1488 calories/day) as compared with similarly exercising 2393 calories/day eaters, actually weighed 10 lbs (22 kg) more on the average, plus having 22% more body fat. The explanation is probably a combination of average differences in both genes and food consumption: i.e., reducing calorie intake can lower an individual's metabolic rate and thus defeat its purpose. We need to eat enough healthful food to keep our metabolism high, and to provide the sated feeling that eliminates binge eating.

Calorie-counting, dieting, advertised gimmicks and quick weight loss are recipes for failure; whereas exercise plus healthy food habits as a permanent way of life can bring success. The situation is analogous to that of personal philosophy: Focus on happiness and it will probably elude you; focus on wholesome living and happiness is a likely by-product. Similarly, focus on weight loss and it will probably elude you; focus on wholesome eating and weight control is a likely by-product.

This insight was expressed years ago by Wood (1983) in a book hailed by one health magazine as the finest method for weight reduction known to them. Wood emphasized 'playful' exercise, but his introduction begins: "The solution to our national overweight problem is to encourage people to eat more." He counseled eating fresh plant food "heartily." And his recommended list of "ingredients for a healthy diet" included the avocado.