07/01/2026
Considering what to pair with your green leafy vegetables? Add a green-light source of fat, such as nuts, seeds, nut or seed butters, or avocados. Not only will this add great flavor to your veggies, but it can help maximize your absorption of fat-soluble nutrients.
When people ate a healthy salad of spinach, romaine, carrots, and tomatoes along with a source of fat from plants, they got an impressive spike in carotenoid phytonutrients in their bloodstream over the next eight hours. With a fat-free dressing, however, carotenoid absorption flatlined down to negligible amounts. It was as if they hadn’t eaten the salad at all.
Adding some avocado to your salsa may triple the amount of fat-soluble nutrients, such as the lycopene in tomatoes, that flood into your bloodstream.
It doesn't take much fat from plants to make a difference either. For example, just three grams of fat in a meal may be enough to boost absorption. That’s just a single walnut or a spoonful of avocado.
✅ Try these tasty, nutrient-boosting ideas:
Enjoy a creamy tahini-based dressing on your salad.
Blend walnuts into your pesto.
Sprinkle sesame seeds over your sautéed kale.
Dark green leafy vegetables are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. What’s the best way to prepare them? See the video “How to Cook Greens” at see.nf/cookedgreens to find out.
Watch the video “Are Avocados Good for You?” at see.nf/avocadobenefits to learn more.
PMIDs: 15277161, 15735074, 10799382
