Avocado Nutrition-10 Fascinating Facts

Avocado

Hey loves, I used to avoid avocado when I was trying to lose weight, because I so wrongly then thought it was fattening. Boy, was I way off, it’s a perfect, luscious diet food.

Here are some fascinating facts about what is now one of my favorite things in life, sooo good for your glowy Summer skin, and low carb to boot!

1.) An avocado is actually a fruit, an oily berry.

2.) Avocados are high in BOTH omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, the two most important ones, from what I hear. As you know, our bodies and brains need some damn healthy fats to function properly.

Omega 3 fatty acids are often missing in the average American/western diet, which can lead to crap health, in my scientific opinion, ha.

3.) There’s no cholesterol in avocados. Suck it, hatas.

4.) They’re full of fiber as well as low carb.

5.) Avocados are a complete protein.

They have “predigested protein.” That sounds gross, but it’s cool, man: The sun breaks the protein into easily digested amino acids while the avocados ripen in their happy fruity trees.

Avocado provides all 18 essential amino acids needed by the body to create a complete protein. Vegetarians and vegans, this is bliss.

6.) Avocados are full of the mineral magnesium, which is involved in over 300 metabolic functions of the body. A lot of people don’t get enough magnesium. Have you ever had leg cramps in bed? I read they can be caused by this. TMI?

7.) Some yummy real guacamole also helps give your body glutathione, the top anti-oxidant that helps the liver replenish all the other anti-oxidants. Sounds pretty important, because I’ve challenged my liver, dude.

8.) My plump green friends also have Vitamins A, B complex, K, E and Vitamin C, yo.

9.) Like olive oil, avocados boost levels of HDL (the “good” cholesterol). HDL cholesterol can help protect against the damage caused by free radicals. The shizz that causes cancer, no?

10.) This type of friendly cholesterol also helps regulate triglyceride levels, possibly preventing diabetes.

The combo of nutrients is also anti-inflammatory, which does everything from help prevent premature aging (wrinkles), prevent heart disease, etc., etc…

I’ll stop there, but basically, it’s a freakin’ wonder food.

A whole medium sized avocado has about 300 calories. I use about a third at a time, so maybe 100 calories or so, but sometimes I go crazy and eat a half or a whole one as a mini meal.

I add some low fat ranch dressing in the cup where the seed was, sometimes I sprinkle on Bac-Os on top of that and eat it straight out of the skin with a spoon!

Or I add just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, salt and fresh lemon juice.

Little known fact: Once the avos are just perfectly ripe, firm, but where you can indent your thumb easily into the skin, put them in the fridge. They last longer.

Another easy recipe: Avocado and your favorite salsa mixed together for no-work guacamole. I prefer a fresh salsa from the refrigerated section, but any kind is pretty awesome.

Or just avo, chopped onion, garlic and salt. Simple.

Your skin, heart, and mind will thank you for being so dang smart.

XOXO-

~ Heidi

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Posted in Skinny Mama Snacks, Sometimes it's the Little Things, The Girl to Mom Diet, Yummy Food | Leave a comment

You Can’t Outrun Your Shadow, So Dance With It

You Can't Outrun Your Shadow

You really can’t run faster than your shadow, it’s true. And in a double meaning, I believe we all have a “shadow side,” or a darker side, sadness and anger and negativity, sometimes- it’s only human. Rage, even. Sorrow.

If we try to shove it down and pretend it doesn’t exist, it can lead to depression or worse, I think. There’s an interesting new song from a singer named Alexander called “Truth.”

(The video is kind of intense on YouTube, he dresses sort of Jesus-y and there is blood involved, fair warning, but it’s a good song.)

Some of the lyrics go like this:

“The truth is that I never shook my shadow
Every day it’s trying to trick me into doing battle
Calling out “faker” only get me rattled…”

“Since this
I’ve grown up some
Different kind of fighter
And when the darkness come let it inside you
Your darkness is shining
My darkness is shining
Have faith in myself
Truth.”

I cry. I cry it out. Sob, even. Punch the air when I work out. There are a lot of reasons to be angry in this world. But so many more reasons to be grateful. So much beauty. Everywhere. In us.

You can’t outrun your shadow, but if you dance, your shadow dances with you. It has to, it has no choice.

Your darkness is shining. My darkness is shining.

Truth.

Love,

~ Heidi

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Posted in Fumbling Towards Ecstacy, Inspirational Quotes, My Dark Places | Leave a comment

Lego Mario

Lego Mario

My kiddo Bexon, age 5 (almost 6) was very seriously working on Legos this weekend and about 30 minutes later, he presented this creation to me. Wow.

This was not from a Mario Bros. set or a kit, he made this from just regular Legos, all on his own. Impressed, I asked him, “How did you know how to do that?”

And my lil’ guy replied, “Because I’m smart.”

Touché, little man, touché.

xo- h

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Posted in Bexon, Kid's Activities, Mommyhood | Leave a comment

Buffalo Chicken- Low Carb

Buffalo Chicken

Hey! I’m doing the low carb diet right now and here’s another fun idea for a Skinny Mama high protein snack or a light mini meal: Low calorie Buffalo chicken!

I love the spicy flavor kick. I feed eat at least every three hours, so for me, this is one of my easy, NO work snacks of the day.

All I did was use:

1.) A pre-cooked skinless chicken breast, 150 calories.

(Heated in the microwave for 50 seconds and sliced. You can obviously cook one from scratch, too, from the grill would be yummy.)

2.)  Two tablespoons low fat ranch dressing- 50 calories.

3.) One ounce crumbled blue cheese, 100 calories.

4.) Two tablespoons Frank’s Red Hot Wings Buffalo sauce- 23 calories. (The best one.)

That’s pretty much it, I added a few grape tomatoes this time, but you can add celery for dipping and crunch and or/even a bunch of lettuce to make it a big salad.

What’s pictured above was about 350 calories, add a large amount of lettuce or celery for 50 more calories and it would only be 400 calories for the whole meal.

(Both leafy greens and celery are thermogenic foods, meaning they burn the calories in themselves just for you to digest them- so, they’re basically free.)

This hearty snack is super satisfying. The only caution is to check your ranch or blue cheese dressing bottle for the carbs, some brands add a lot of sugar. Surprisingly enough, you may be better off with the full fat one, depending on the brand.

If you don’t like blue cheese, you can just use ranch, it’s delicious that way, too.

Enjoy!

XO-

~h

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Posted in Skinny Mama Meals, Skinny Mama Snacks, Yummy Food | Leave a comment

I Almost Got Killed Over Baby Wipes and Splenda

Girl to Mom

This has been an eventful week. Take, for instance, the simple errand I ran on Wednesday.

I needed to get some sensitive skin baby wipes (even though my son isn’t a baby, we still use them for wiping his face and hands sometimes and yes, even his heiny after the toilet paper, to make sure everything is extra clean).

Plus, did you know baby wipes are great if you ever need to freshen up under your arms during the day on the go? Ok, so I use them, too. And they also make my tush extra clean, I’m not ashamed. I’m pretty sure Dr. Oz recommends “wiping wet” even for adults.

But I digress from the fact that I WAS ALMOST IN A BOMBING.

So I’m driving down a major street in L.A and I come to a big intersection that’s all blocked off with police cars. This is not so unusual, it could just be a car accident or road work.

It’s an inconvenience, though, because I needed to pass through that way to get to my shopping destination. I had to veer over three lanes to make a right and lot of other cars were in the same boat, so traffic was messy.

I wasn’t planning on stopping at a grocery store that’s part of a large outdoor mini mall, but since I had to make the right, I decided to cut my losses and stop at a store where the wipes and Splenda might be a little more expensive. It’s not my normal haunt.

As I pulled into the grocery store parking lot, I noticed two weird things:

1.) The lot was almost empty of cars and…

2.) On the other side of the large mini mall, there were tall cranes set up and yellow caution tape surrounding it.

Huh, I thought, maybe they’re shooting a movie. It’s pretty common around here and they do block off areas for things like productions.

I had a strange feeling, but I went into the grocery store anyway and asked the first employee I saw, “Do you know what’s going on over there?” She shrugged her shoulders and said she just got to work, she didn’t know, either.

I figured if it were a big deal, they would’ve sent the grocery store employees home and closed up, right? Nope.

I picked up my two items and went to the register, asking the cashier if she knew what the ruckus was. “They found four pipe bombs across the street,” she replied. Continue reading

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Posted in Crazy Story, Mommy Mistake, Scary | Leave a comment

Baby Goat and Bunny

Baby Goat Kisses Bunny

A little moment at the petting zoo that touched my heart, not even a fence could keep these kids apart.

A baby goat is called a kid, right? I did learn something in school. :-)

xo- h

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Posted in Adorable Animal Pictures, Adorable Animals, Baby Animals, Cute Animals | Leave a comment

My New Favorite Jeans

Levis 535 Leggings

Hey, I don’t know about you, but I like my jeans with a bit of merciful stretch in the denim, because this Mama’s Got Back.

You remember that song “Baby’s Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot? That song is 20 years old, now. Ahhh! He sang “I like big butts and I cannot lie…”

My joke is that Sir Mix-a-Lot’s wife probably sings “I like big nuts and I cannot lie…”

Or maybe that’s Sir Mix-a-Lot’s squirrel. Sorry. *ducks*

I’m only 2 weeks into my pre-Summer diet, so I’m not at my goal weight yet, and here’s my not-remotely-Victoria’s-Secret-supermodel booty right in your face to tell you about my new fave jeans that may save you money, too.

I found these at Macy’s in the junior’s section. I find that everything in junior’s is less expensive than the women’s section, you may just have to go up a size number or two because things tend to run smaller there.

Some things look too young and trendy there for a gal my age, but Levi’s are Levi’s, ya know? I try not to purchase anything for myself designed by Madonna’s daughter.

Don’t even worry about the size numbers, it’s about how you feel in them. Just cut the tags right off and forget about it, girl, nobody has to know.

These are Levi’s 535 leggings, but they’re not really leggings in my view, just normal jeans with a lot of stretch. They’re not pajama jeans. I find this style works well if you’re an “apple” shape like, me, meaning you gain most in the tummy area.

I add a faux snakeskin belt to keep them up when they give a bit and adjust the belt loops as needed, depending on the time of the month or day, my feeding schedule, natch.

These have been on sale lately at Macy’s, down from $49, which is still not bad, to only $35. I like a darker blue wash and for some reason I picked the shorter legged ones for Summer, but they come in medium and long lengths, too.

I love them! What are your favorite jeans?

XOXO-

~ H

P.S. Post not sponsored by Levi’s, Macy’s or my butt. ;-)

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Posted in Deals and Steals, Fashion, GtoM Love It!, GtoM Shops! | 2 Comments