Calories in avocado

The calories in avocado should be considered but it remains a wonderful fruit. I strongly recommend you eat these "pears" regularly.

So you have heard of the benefits of avocado but you are perhaps concerned about the calories and rightly so, because they are full of very nourishing fat but will it add to your girth? That depends on your overall meal-plan.

But you like them and you have heard they are nutritious, yet still you are worried about the calories in an avocado. What are the facts?

• Your body must have fat and protein from your food every day; carbs are not essential for life.
• Avocado benefits include both of the two "essential fatty-acids" without which, you cannot live.
• Seed oils like sunflower and canola are generally solvent-extracted which is not beneficial.
• Avocados are rich in the mono-unsaturated fats, nearly three quarters of the oils which are supremely good for us.
• Avocados have zero cholesterol.
• They are rich in phytosterols that are vital for the prostate-gland and presumably others too.
  

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 17th April, 2024.

Fat phobia

The 1990s heralded a decade of misinformation from studies funded by the Soda Giant companies; it was an attempt to distract us from the health risks of sugar. The message they were seeking to get out was that it is was fat that was making us obese.

Ironically most of us are overweight, not because we eat too much fat but all the refined carbohydrates. It is the sugar, cookies and colas that are our downfall; and delicious soft bread rolls, white-rice and puddings too. They are rapidly turned into glucose.

The liver has to suck that glucose up very quickly, turning it into triglycerides, cholesterol and glycogen; storing the excess in adipose-tissue if it is not used by our muscles.

So the calories in avocado will also add to your weight-burden if you are already eating too many refined carbs.

The difference is there are no essential carbohydrates like there are in oils; substances that you can't live without.

We should all eat less starches and more of the nutritious fats because without the latter we would die; literally.

You note, I hope, that I didn't just say more fats.

I said more of the "nutritious" fats; the enormous avocado benefits include this absolutely essential food-group.

Supermarkets are full of the unhealthy oils and especially the trans-fats in margarine for example; and those that are solvent extracted at very high temperatures.

The calories in avocado contain zero hydrogenated-fat; and no cholesterol either.

Calories in avocado

Calories in avocado are high but the fat is of the highest and most nutritious calibre.

So here's the deal. An average Hass might weigh 8oz, about 200g. We are going to use ballpark-figures because the weight of an avocado varies enormously; as does the percentage of fat in different varieties.

Once you have removed the pip and skin, half an avocado might weigh about 3.5oz; or 85g.

Of that about 15% is fat; the amount varies according to the variety.

So half a fruit contains about 0.6oz (17g) of fat which has between 150 - 200 cal.

That is slightly more than a can of a cola or orange-juice, 142 kcal/330ml, a doughnut or bread roll (140) and the same as a pint of beer (180); but half of that in a slice of chocolate cake.

Of course I am sure you understand, there is a vast difference between the calories in half an avocado and those in a can of a cola. Those in the former are very nutritious and the net carbs have a low glycemic index; they are not immediately turned into blood-sugar. But the latter are shockingly high and are the reason we have become so obese.

Avocado calories

The dark-purple fruit above is a Hass, the world's most popular avocado. If you have your own tree, don't pick them until they turn almost black. These are the first from our garden this season.

The Fuerte, the green one is nearing the end of its season; I enjoy at least a half every day for nine-months of the year.

Yes that is right, 200 avocado calories; and I do not have a weight-problem. Well, I did until I tested positive for pre-diabetes; giving up sugar and refined carbs for ever turned out to be easier than I thought. In part because I turned to foods that provided satiety; including these "pears."

How is that? Because this is how I enjoy my calories in avocado. Notice the low carbohydrate count, although I might often have another half slice of bread with fresh raw-honey from our own apiary.

Interesting research shows that natural raw honey has a low glycemic-index but once heated and strained by bottlers it becomes very high^[2].

It's a wonderful hobby but how to start beekeeping is not for all.

Avocado filled with hummus

The calories in avocado don't need to frighten us if we are enjoying a lunch like that above. Half a fruit filled with quick-hummus is one of my favourites. I make it twice a week; it takes me just four minutes.

Research reveals that you must increase the calories if you are on a ketogenic diet from protein and fat of plant origin; that means avocado, olives and legumes like chickpeas.⁽¹⁾

Do you know what hummus is? A delicious mixture of garbanzo-beans (chickpeas), sesame paste and olive oil; with some lemon and parsley too.

The parsley with our meals and in hummus is not first and foremost a garnish. In many instances it's probably the most nutritious item on your plate, certainly if you are at a fast-food restaurant. Consider these benefits especially if you bruise easily; or have a heart condition. 

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Newsletter

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Here are the back issues.

Avocado in salads

• Half an avocado, filled with homemade-hummus
• Sugarsnap peas
• Cabbage and carrot salad with olive oil and lime-juice dressing
• Half an egg
• Low-GI bread and butter

Many of the great phytochemicals in salads are called carotenoids; there are plenty of them. They are fat-soluble.

Here is the interesting part; research in the Journal of Nutrition found that adding avocado to a salad increases the absorption of those carotenoids by a massive four-times^[3].

Avocado fat

Three equivalent menus all designed to lower cholesterol, some with and others no avocado, were evaluated.

Research reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that the addition of one whole avocado per day to one of the plans lowered the so-called bad LDL quite significantly.

Google it if you want the details; in fact, by nearly double the protection of the other two weight-loss plans.

The addition thus of an avo actually gives heart protection, and the oleic acid is particularly good for the vital covering of your nerves.

What's interesting in this study though, is that it wasn't the oleic-acid that lowered the LDL and total cholesterol, but some unknown factor in the whole food.

The other diets had similar amounts of the nutritious oleic-acid added by using olive oil.

And it all happened in just five-weeks.

Perhaps that is why my cholesterol is "dangerously low". I'm kidding of course, there is no such thing, but by eating avocados for nine months of the year one is able to enjoy your food without having to fuss about the butter and cream, or the fat on your meat.

Potassium in avocado

Less than two percent of folk in the Western world get the required 4,000 mg of potassium per day. It's vital in lowering blood pressure, particularly in light of our high-sodium diets, and so has a profound effect on heart attack and stroke.

One average avocado contains 975 mg of potassium.

Growing avocado trees

Can you imagine the sheer pleasure of picking a basket of avocados like the one at the top, twice a week? You do need a biggish garden; here is our Hass tucked away behind the garage. As you can see it's not a big tree, now 40 years old, and yields at least 500 fruit every other year, and 100 during the in-betweens.

Actually since adding the leachate from our worm-farms which enhances flowering, the avocado trees are bearing nearly identically every year.

Growing avocado trees is for all those living in a mild climatic-area.

Body mass index

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a useful tool for deciding if you have a weight-problem, too light or heavy. Whilst a very healthy food, the calories in avocado do need to be considered in the overall context of your menu.

A healthy BMI is around 25. I'm at 26 and am not concerned. Above 30 you are certainly obese and can expect a host of problems, from diabetes and heart disease to arthritic knees, hips and ankles.

Is your reading above 35? Make sure your insurance policies are intact. There is misery coming for your family, but you will probably be spared. 

My next book is going to be called "Caring for the Temple." We Christians have a consuming interest in promiscuity and adultery, whilst not diminishing their seriousness, we conveniently forget the effect of gluttony; one of the aptly-named seven deadly sins.

Used since early Christian times, Believers were warned about the sins of wrath, sloth, and pride; and lust, envy and gluttony that lead to death. Not just going to hell, but a literal premature physical-demise.

If we Christians really believe that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, perhaps we would and should take better care of ourselves; but Brother Ass is very stubborn.

Meantime, this theme runs throughout my other books. Have you read any of them?

Prostate gland

I suspect you're reading this page because you are concerned about your weight and the calories in avocado. One small thing to improve the wellness of your prostate gland is to make sure there are also red grapes and berries on your nutritious breakfast menu.

You've long known that a glass of red wine is good, right? A substance called resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant, has been shown to have properties that help in the reduction of chronic inflammation and tumour prevention.

Read more about the benefits of resveratrol in mulberries one of which is weight loss, and another prostate gland well-being.

Even if madam does not have a prostate, it is a vital consideration if she is the chef. Ignore this little gland and it will ruin your sex-life and seriously shorten hubby's years; it is the most common terminal malignant tumour in men.

Prostate gland troubles are often silent until it rears its ugly head and then it's often too late. Assume the man in your life will get it unless you ring in some of these simple changes in his food; what could be simpler than a tomato a day, and regular helpings of grapes, berries and avocado?

Satiety of avos

Interesting research shows that avocados, because they are so nutrient-dense, give one a sense of satiety and their inclusion in a meal makes folk less likely to snack for the next four hours.

That's why they are definitely included in our modified Banting diet[5] and oddly were the one fruit totally banned from many former programmes. Type in this search engine for more information.

The green journey

This green journey, a fascination with Blue Zone longevity^[4] and the preservation of the planet for our children is really something of a spiritual journey; a voyage of discovery within.

Have you yet stepped on the green journey tram? You won't be disappointed, and ultimately you will be miserable if you don't. But timing is everything; not too soon, but not late either lest you miss the bus altogether.

USEFUL LINKS @ Calories in Avocado

• Avocado fat home page.
  

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