Mr. T never had an avocado before he met me. I grew up in California and itโs practically a staple there, but he spent much of his childhood in Alaska. They have them, but they ainโt cheap. Plus, his mom is not aย fan of the โcado, as we lovingly refer to it.
Now, though, itโs one ofย Mr. T’sย favorite fruits. And itโs definitely mine. I love them, adore them, I want to marry them! I always have 2 or 3ย on handย โ they are great on sandwhiches, salads and tacos (the three things I know how to make), and I often serve T Juniorโs lunch with a side of diced avocado. But they arenโt fat free. Oh no, dude. Far from it.
One quarter of the soft, green fruit is 1.5 Weight Watchers points, which is determined by a mathematical formula using calories, fat and fiber. When you only get a certain number of points in a day (22 for me), every single one (and a half) counts, so you want to make sure what you are putting in your body will fuel you, not just satisfy a craving. This is the beauty of Weight Watchers.
Anyway, a whole avocado is about 250 calories, 22.5g of fat and 5g of fiber, according to the California Avocado Commission. However, they are full of the โgoodโ fat and lots of vitamins (and delicious), so Iโm not eliminating them from my diet.
Iโm just so comfortable with the avocado.
Normally, I buy the same fruits and veggies every week: bananas, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and, of course, those darn โcados. In the summer, we tend to get grapes and watermelon (for T Junior; I am not a fan), and in the fall, we add apples. And, Iโm sorry to say that my broccoli and green beans are of the frozen variety (they keep longer, okay?).
Last week, I bought a pear because they were soft (I donโt care for crispy pears) and, much to my delight, discovered they are only 1 point! And, even better, I had one for an afternoon snack and it held me over till dinner time. But soft pears will be scarce soon, so I better find something else to snack on.
CHALLENGE!
The challenge this week is one I was supposed to do a few years ago at a Weight Watchers meeting and never actually did. Itโs not that I didnโt want to, I just didnโt have anyone holding me to it.
Try one new vegetable and one new fruit this week.
It has to be a fruit and a veggie youโve never eaten before. The pear does not count for me. Who hasnโt had a pear before?
If you have a blog, post pictures to document what you came home with. What are the nutritional values? Did you cook it, mix it in something or eat it raw? What did it taste like? Was it good, bad, ugly? Did you have to cut it, peel it, crack it open with a sledgehammer?
Previous Challenges
If youโd like to join us in our Summer of Weight Loss, here are our previous challenges:
Take before pictures (front and side)
Pick a weigh-in day
Take your measurements
And donโt forget to send me an e-mail to let me know you want in! (kerrie at sanitydepartment dot com)
SOWL Participants
Jill at Run with Jill
Kadie at There She Runs
Talitha at Me & The Bug
LB at Muddy Runner
Shannon at It’s Trickey
Kelly at In a Field of Daffodils
TMB at Racing with Babes
Lorian at Running Guarantees Sanity
Kasey at Blonde Mom Runs
Kelly N.ย at 2010-Revived Runner
Tim at 26.2 Quest
Robyn at Ramblings of a Wannabe Writer and Runner
Jill E. at Running to Sanity
Lisa (aka Running Kiwi) at From Fat to Marathoner
Mel at 2nd Chances
Stephanie at Girls Just Wanna Go Run
Alma at The Average Woman’s Running Blog
Genesis at Eat Always, Sleep Seldomly, Run Whenevers
Steph at Steph’s 50 Marathon Challenge
Stacie at Impossible is Nothing
Kadie D. at Sense of Achievement
Lindsay at Chasing the Kenyans
Heather at Almost Running
Sophia at Tortuga Runner
Nicole K.
(Please let me know if I missed you or if you’d like to play along!)
18 comments
hmmm a new fruit or veggie? I'm a vegetarian so I'm obsessed with vegies- I love Kale, have you tried it?
You know, I have never had an avocado on its own, or in a salad/sandwich/taco… but I do enjoy some guacomole. ๐
Sounds like a great challenge but it's been a LOOOOOONG time since I had a new fruit or veggie, I like to try new produce. I did try kholrabi last year but I have a hard time finding ones I haven't tried.Have you figured out what you are going to try?
Avocados are one of my weaknesses…Baby F gets them as a side dish regularly. Oh and with a squirt of fresh lime – divine! A new fruit or veggie we never eaten before? That's tough! We eat so many fruits/veggies around here…I think I might have to go hit the International Dist or Little Saigon to try to find something unusual. The only bad thing is that I might not get to find out the English name. We'll see…
Weigh the avocado!! I eat an entire avocado for 3 points ๐
ww is great about making you count the cost of foods that aren't technically bad, but do add up!I am still in-but am out of town, so I'll get my blog caught up next week probably.
I'm not an avocado fan, but I hear they're good for marathoners cuz of the “good” fats. I'd still prefer the “bad” brownie fats. ha. Down 2.6 since Jul 1. Yay.
As a veggie lover, I don't know if there is something I've yet to try. This is a tough one!!
I am also a big fan of the 'cado! So funny to read this right after I had avocado with my dinner. Even though I'm not doing the SOWL, I think I'll participate in this challenge – I don't try new foods very often and there are lots of fruits and veggies that I've never had. Can't wait to see how this turns out for me…
no way, cados are 250 cals each? aw man, that means ive been having a 600 cal lunch…holy smokes…i might need to ease up on the cados from now on. but like you said its all good stuff…ill have to head to the grocery store when i get pack to p-town…im not sure theres a fruit left out there I havent tried…ill wander the produce section of winco and look helplessly lost and confused ๐
@Manderz – Thanks for the great [email protected] – I don't know yet. I think Mr. T will enjoy this one, so maybe I'll let him pick. ๐
Hey, Ker, have you heard of the movie “Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death?” It's a FANTABULOUS spoof of so many things, feminism being the primary one. It's not gory or anything — just complete camp.Basically, this feminist scholar goes missing … in California's dreaded Avocado Jungle, a region the military has been trying to recapture for forever because the natives have created a scarcity in the avocado market. And so on. Bill Maher plays a guide who takes the heroines into the jungle to rescue the lost scholar … but of course he knows nothing about what he's doing. There's a scene where he's pretending to narrate as they're boating along a river … and you soon realize he's narrating from The Jungle Cruise.It's SO worth watching … and I even have it if you wanna borrow it, lol.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibal_Women_in_the_Avocado_Jungle_of_Death
we eat a lot of avacados as well, usually diced up with a tomatoe as a side. yum!
I'm not a 'cado girl, but know they are healthy for you in moderation. Love your weight loss challenge!Winks & Smiles,Wifey
I am with you on the avocado. I LOVE taking one, mashing it up with a bit of lemon juice, s&p & sometimes a bit of garlic & coating a plain cooked chicken breast with the mix. It's super yummy. :)Yay for one pound… everyone pound counts!
I finally started this challenge here and here . Just have to blog about the new fruit last. Thanks for the challenge! I know I'm behind but I just got started July 13th. ๐
Another entry for this challenge here! Just one more and this one is complete. I love to cook and try new foods.
OK, to finish off this challenge I finally posted about my new fruit here! I'm 2 challenges behind now and Wednesday is coming fast. ๐