July 31 is national avocado day! These fruits are a relatively recent player on the super foods all star line up. What’s so super about them? Avocados have a high content of healthy fats which boost your good HDL cholesterol. The fruit offers approximately 20 vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, including vitamins K, C, E, B, potassium, and lutein. Plus 10 grams of fiber per cup!

You can enjoy avocados in many ways: on sandwiches, in salads, as a fat replacer in baked goods (use mashed avocado to replace all or a portion of the fat in a recipe), as an ingredient in dips and salsas to name a few.

The only concern about avocados is the injury rate associated with preparation. A study conducted by Dr. Matt Aizpuru, published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, found  that ER visits related to avocado preparation have increased 10 fold in the last 20 years. Be careful when you cut an avocado; use a cutting board, hold the fruit with a towel or other barrier and cut away from your body.

Enjoy these recipes. Use caution when preparing and eat with abandon these exotic fruits that pack a power nutritional punch!

 https://lenoir.ces.ncsu.edu/2020/01/all-about-avocado/

Kevin X. Farley, Matthew Aizpuru, Susanne H. Boden, Eric R. Wagner, Michael B. Gottschalk, Charles A. Daly, Avocado-related knife injuries: Describing an epidemic of hand injury,The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Volume 38, Issue 5,2020, Pages 864-868