Love your avocado

If it's ripe then it's right.

A few weeks ago I started eating an avocado everyday. The benefits of avocado are countless, and I've been experiencing many of them myself. I feel so good, my skin feels softer, my stomach works better, and I'm full for longer with less food. However, when I mention this to friends, I get to hear very often that they don't like avocado. To me this is pretty incomprehensible. I daresay if you don't like avocado, then you haven't eaten it in the right way.

First of all, you don't just eat it like a pear; you have to do something with it. Even more importantly, it has to be ripe. Ripe enough that you can squish it with a fork. It has to feel soft on the outside. Then you cut it in two. Take out the seed by stabbing it with a point knife and then just pulling it out. Then you simply use a spoon to scrape the avocado off its skin. Once you have it on a plate then you simply squish it with a fork until you get a paste. Now, this paste needs a little bit of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon. And then you taste it. You will see that it tastes quite different now, and to this base you can add pretty much anything. Spring onions, fresh dill and mint, tomatoes, just mix it all lightly with the avocado and you have a wonderful blend which you can use as a side dish, as a dip, or as salad dressing. You can also just mix the base with garlic and sour cream, which is pretty much guacamole. For those who can read Turkish, my friend Özlem has a wonderful blog about love and avocado. She has lots of great recipes there.

In addition to avocado, I am eating much more nuts, seeds, whole grains, and non-meat protein sources like beans, compared to a few weeks ago. In fact I used to be very cautious about nuts and beans earlier, since these are heavy on calories. However, they keep you full so much longer that you actually end up eating less. When I started these changes I immediately started to feel much better. Before that, my diet was based mainly on salads, vegetables, and lean meat, with almost no carbohydrates outside of breakfast.  I felt hungry very often, and I still did not lose weight. I think my diet simply did not provide enough nutrition and recovery for the four runs, one swim, and three pilates sessions of the week. After the changes I started to feel incomparably more happy, full, and content all the time. On top of that for that last two weeks I even started to lose weight!

I am also paying attention to make my diet more alkaline. I am not at all being strict about this, but with just little adjustments it seems possible to achieve a much better balance. Most vegetables and fruits are good for an alkaline diet, especially the green ones. I am eating much less meat nowadays, and I get more of my proteins from beans and seeds. I am also trying to eat more fish and eggs, instead of meat and chicken. There is some debate about whether or not alkaline diet can actually affect the pH balance of your body, but for sure it keeps your stomach much happier and calmer, and it contains only healthy and non-processed ingredients. If you want to learn more about alkaline diet, I can recommend my friend Aysegul's excellent blog about nutrition for athletes to those of you who can read Turkish.

The newest addition to my diet is a shot of wheat grass juice every morning. Oh I know what some of you are thinking: is this really necessary? Of course not. But I am curious, and I simply enjoy this a lot. Trying out new things also puts me in contact with interesting people all the time, and I love learning from them. You can simply google wheat grass juice to read about its benefits; they seem endless. I am lucky enough to have a provider that is literally next door, and I have already started to worry about how I will manage when I move back to Norway... If this all sounds like I have completely changed my diet, then be assured that it is not the case. I am simply taking the advice from several sources and combining them as they make sense to me. The best part: I get to drink a lot of coffee and a glass of wine daily. 

Do more of what makes you happy!