Calories in an Avocado.....Too many for weight loss?

calories-in-an-avocado

How many calories in an avocado, and what is the quality of those calories?  How should the avocado be prepared?  There are about  250 calories in a California avocado and about 320 calories in a Florida avocado. Of course average size of an avocado varies greatly. In general the Florida Avocados are about twice as big. The picture on this page is  of a Florida avocado that I bought. It was the same price as the smaller avocados this time of year.

avocado with fruitAs you probably already knew and can be seen in the chart below, the quality of the calories in an avocado is excellent if the avocado is eaten raw. Yes, you should eat the avocado raw. Much of the vitamins and pytochemicals will be destroyed if the avocado is cooked. Just because an avocado is really good for you does not mean that you should eat as many as you want. When it comes to these vitamins and phytochemicals, once the body gets enough, it excretes the rest.  They cannot be saved in the body forever.  Why eat more than one avocado?  Even if you really love avocados, it is still better to eat just one a day.  I like an avocado with lime and salt and pepper.  I also love guacamole, but I always eat way too many chips and there is usually too much mayonnaise in the dip.  Another factor to think about is will the calories in an avocado fill you up? How long will it be before you get hungry? With some fiber and some natural fat avocado will keep you satisfied for a while.  I think of avocado as a meat substitute even though it does not have a lot of protein. 






Calories in an Avocado Chart

  California Avocado Florida Avacado One half California Avocado One half Florida Avocado California Avocado One Serving Florida Avocado One Serving
measure 5 oz 10 oz 2.5 oz 5 oz 1 oz 1 oz
weight (g) 140 280 70 140 28 28
water (g) 365 800 182.5 400 73 80
calories (kcal) 250 320 125 160 50 32
Protein (g) 5 6 2.5 3 1 0.6
Total fat (g) 25 30 12.5 15 5 3
saturated fat  (g) 3.5 5 1.75 2.5 0.7 0.5
monounsaturated fat  (g) 16 14 8 7 3.2 1.4
polyunsaturated fat  (g) 3 4 1.5 2 0.6 0.4
Cholesterol (mg) 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carbohydrate (g) 10 30 5 15 2 3
Total dietary fiber (g) 7 15 3.5 7.5 1.4 1.5
Calcium (mg) 15 30 7.5 15 3 3
Iron (mg) 1.5 2 0.75 1 0.3 0.2
Potassium (mg) 900 1380 450 690 180 138
Sodium (mg) 15 10 7.5 5 3 1
Vitamin A (IU) 870 1740 435 870 174 174
Vitamin A (RE) 85 170 42.5 85 17 17
Thiamin (mg) 0.15 0.3 0.075 0.15 0.03 0.03
Riboflavin (mg) 0.15 0.3 0.075 0.15 0.03 0.03
Niacin (mg) 0.25 5 0.125 2.5 0.05 0.5
Accorbic acid (mg) 10 20 5 10 2 2
Vitamin E (mg) 2.75 7.4 1.375 3.7 0.55 0.74




Calories in Avocado list (pdf)


 

Here is what Bob Bergh ,Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA,  has to say:

 

“It is unfortunate for both avocado growers and the consumer public that weight-conscious people often shun the avocado because of the mistaken idea that eating it will tend to increase one's weight. In fact, three experiments that tested this possibility all found that adding avocado to the diet resulted in a small average weight loss (see Cholesterol section later in this paper).

For weight stabilization, the avocado appears to have several benefits:

1)  Its high nutrient density (preceding section) can make the diet more wholesome and better balanced, thus promoting better general health and well-being, which can minimize fattening food cravings.

2)  Furthermore, its high fat content makes the diet more palatable, which encourages filling up on the wholesome food in such a sound diet.

3)  Its high fat content gives a quicker feeling of satiation, which (especially when accompanied by bulky vegetables and fruits) helps reduce overeating.

4)  Avocado weight control appears to extend beyond the above explanations; a speeding up of the human basal metabolic rate has been hypothesized (D. Colquhoun, M.D., private communication).”

  

He goes on to say:

 
“However, different health groups and even dietitians keep warning about the avocado's high calorie content. How valid is that concern? The number of kilocalories in an avocado fruit vary with its botanical origin, variety, size, and degree of maturity; in California, the average is about 300 Cal (Slater et al., 1975). Also varying with several factors are the number of calories that a person needs per day; for an age of 19-50 and a "moderate" activity level, a 71 kg man needs about 2800 Cal and a 57 kg woman about 2100 Cal (UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, 5/91). That calculates at 9 and 7 avocados each-so much that satiation is likely well before the daily calorie "allowance" is reached.

Among the many foods (Rinzler, 1987), avocados have been rated as only moderate in calories per servings, with such items as beans, bread, pasta, rice-less caloric than most nuts and seeds, most cheeses, sugar, butter, etc. A lengthy analysis in Fit health magazine (8/82) concluded that somehow the avocado has gotten blamed for "fictitious calories ... avocados have received the undeserved reputation of being fattening'"

Contributing to this misconception has been the tendency of even some nutritionists to accept the "fat is fat" oversimplification, overlooking both the avocado's predominance of monounsaturated fat and its very high nutrient density. Contributing further is the public's tendency to accept the oversimplification that "if it tastes rich, it's bad for you;" what's "good" for us is supposedly only the less appealing foods like carrots, lettuce, spinach.

In any case, it has been repeatedly found that increased avocado consumption did not cause weight gain.”







Related Resources at Ideal-Weight-Charts.com


Compare to other  Calories in Vegetables


Compare to other  Calories in Fruit