You Will Feel Sad When You Realize the Actual Serving Size of Avocado
Is there such thing as “too much” of that creamy, buttery, green goodness? (Photo: Flickr/cyclonebill)
Avocado is everywhere — in smoothies, on toast, as the $1 add-on to your chopped salad at lunch. Before you realize it, you’re eating avocado at every meal.
But is there such a thing as “too much” avocado? Is it possible to eat too much of this delectable gift from the vegetable — ahem, fruit — gods?
While nothing “bad” will happen, per se, by eating a lot of avocado, keep in mind that the serving size is a lot smaller than you might realize — meaning you may be consuming a lot more calories than you intended to, says Keri Gans, registered nutritionist and author of The Small Change Diet.
“The serving size that I don’t think anyone sticks to is one-fifth of a medium-sized avocado,” Gans tells Yahoo Health. “Most people think you’re supposed to eat the whole thing, like with any fruit.”
But consider that an avocado packs around 250 calories. “So it’s not the same as eating a whole peach, which is 60 calories. There’s a difference — and if you are watching your weight, you probably don’t want to eat an entire avocado,” Gans says.
Avocados are super high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, and also contain other important nutrients like vitamins E and C. And fat is satiating, which is a good thing for weight loss and maintenance, Gans says. But because avocados are so high in fat, she advises people to consider it their portion of “added fat” in their meals.
“There’s room for fat in every meal So if you wanted to have avocado on your whole-wheat toast with egg whites for breakfast, you can put one-fifth of an avocado there,” Gans says. “If you want to take another fifth and put it in your salad at lunch, and you’re not putting other fat in your salad, there’s room for it there. And if you choose to have it at dinner — say you were having a veggie burger and wanted to put some healthy fat in your meal — there’s room for it there.”
You could perceivably end up eating an entire avocado in a day, but “you need to see where else you’re adding your fat,” Gans says.
Need some ideas for jazzing up your avocado game? Check out these four recipes in the video below:
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