Breakfast Avocados

Ok, so I seem to have started a love affair with the avocado recently.  For the past couple of weeks I can’t get enough.  Asking myself why I am craving and loving them so much I found out they’re not too bad for me, so I’m polishing off about 2-3 a week right now.  

I'm eating them like this - on toast with pumpkin seeds: 

This is Tuesday's breakfast - and yes I'm annoyingly taking pics on my phone of my food, but no filter or anything, so you can see what it really looks like

Bread – toasted
Salted Butter – spread on hot toast
Avocado – sliced and popped on the buttered toast
Pumpkin Seeds – sprinkled on top the avocado, on top of the butter, on top of the toast

If you’re on a budget (as I am) I’ve included the prices I paid here, and for nutritional and calorie info take a look below:

Bread –Kingsmill 50/50 medium sliced 79p per loaf (Aldi) To reduce the cost go for an own brand supermarket wholemeal loaf.  I just really like the taste of this one, but you can do much better cost and health wise! 

Butter –Salted 88p (Tesco everyday value range) Cheapest of the own brand Tesco salted butters and I really don’t know why we should pay any more – butter is butter.

Avocado –Medium x 2 pack £1.80 (Tesco, not organic just simple non branded) To reduce the cost you could buy one large (for approx. £1) and use only half each time, wait until closing time and check the reduced stock that has today's sell by date or just go down the market or outside the local 24hr shop where they usually sell a bowlful (about 5) for next to nothing.  You will find these are not all ripe, are overripe, or don’t have as much taste, BUT they are damn cheap.

Pumpkin Seeds –150g bag £1.25 (Tesco whole foods range) To reduce costs, I’m sure you can buy these cheaper in bulk elsewhere, however I have little to no food storage space, so a small bag is fine and honestly seems to last forever even though Im using a big old handful each time.

ALSO – Did you know you can grow your own avocados indoors?  Check this video out and give it a go.  I’m going to try next time I eat avocado for breakfast and will be sure to post pics and updates when mine grows  

NUTRITION INFO:

This breakfast is not hard to make and takes no time, it tastes lovely, plus it fills me up and that’s saying something!  Altogether calorie wise it’s about 500 calories.  (I worked this out using www.myfitnesspal.com, inputting the brands and the weights of each ingredient). 

 

In my opinion, if you aim for 500 kcals per meal and eat 3 meals a day you have a little left for snacks or leeway on a bigger lunch or dinner, before hitting an average daily limit of 2000 kcals (ladies).  For guys you’re looking at 2500 kclas per day average.

If you’re not counting the calories – the fact is this healthy breakfast can fill you up AND you’re getting your starchy carbohydrate in the bread (approx. 7% RDA per slice), plus a portion of your fruit/veg and good fats from the avocado (by the way avos contain about 10-15% of your RDA fats – and the majority of fat in an avo is monounsaturated – the good fat).  You will also get a good chunk of dietary fibre in an avocado – that’s probably the bit that fills you up in the morning.  Avocados provide approx. 30-35% RDA fibre. 

Avocados also provide you with approx. 13-20% (depending on size) potassium.  This is an essential mineral (essential meaning the body cannot make it itself so relies on external food sources to provide it).  Potassium is used by the body in electrolyte regulation, aiding the kidneys excrete sodium, its aids nerve function, muscle contraction, maintaining a normal blood pressure and has a protective effect on heart function.  Potassium also regulates water and mineral balance in your body.  Bananas are what I usually think of when thinking of potassium - bananas, oranges and tomatoes are other good plant based sources of potassium if you are interested.

Before we get onto the benefits of pumpkin seeds let me tell you avocados also hold Vitamins – B6, E and C.

The pumpkin seeds really surprised me.  They taste great and give a good crunch as a topping.  PLUS they are amazingly full of good nutrients. They are high in potassium and fiber (as are the avocados) and they are high in protein – in fact if you’re not eating meat stock up on pumpkin seeds in all ways, shapes and forms.  100g pumpkin seeds give approx. 38% RDA protein.  They are also high in magnesium at 65% per 100g.  Magnesium works with potassium and zinc and is vital in maintaining a healthy nerve function.  Guess what – pumpkin seeds contain the zinc too.  The zinc content can have a beneficial effect on the prostate gland, it supports energy metabolism keeping us fuller for longer and is necessary for a healthy libido….

Last but not least pumpkin seeds also contain Tryptophan – this is an amino acid that converts to serotonin in the brain.  Correct levels of which keep us in a good mood, reduce anxiety and stress and improve sleeping patterns.

What more do you want from a simple breakfast/lunch/snack?

Go ahead and try it.  Eat and enjoy.

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