At risk of sounding ~basic~, I have been a big fan of avocados lately. This super food – and especially the variation of avocado toast – has become “basic” as anything seems to when it becomes wildly popular among college-aged girls.
Basic or not, I’m embracing it this summer while I attempt to return to the healthiest version of myself before the start of my sophomore year (the freshman 15 is no joke, people).
Avocado has endless health benefits: it’s a healthy fat that is low in carbohydrates & high in fiber, and it's even thought to assist in weight loss. In addition to the nutritious value, avocado is easy to incorporate into a variety of meals because of its transformative flavor.
Okay, I’m sure I’m sounding very basic right about now considering I’ve already written two paragraphs about how fantastic avocados are so I’m just going to get to the point.
One day, I decided to eat avocado toast for all three meals to test just how beneficial and satisfying avocado can be. Each meal was very different despite having the same basic components (avocado and toast, duh). So here's how eating avocado toast for breakfast, lunch and dinner treated my appetite, my energy and my mood:
Breakfast: Traditional Avocado Toast with Sunny Side Up Egg
I decided to start my experiment with an easy, simple version of avocado toast that I often have for breakfast. After all, I'm usually pretty lazy and half-awake when I make breakfast so I wanted to keep it realistic.
My first meal of the avocado-filled-day consisted of wheat toast with about half an avocado mashed on top, a sunny-side up egg and salt and pepper to taste.
I felt full when I finished eating – not the kind of full after I eat four bowls of cereal and feel like I'm going to explode, but the kind of full where I was satisfied and didn't feel the need to eat anything else. I felt alert, energized and ready to start my day (and I didn't even have my usual cup of coffee).
So far, avocado was treating me well and I was off to a good start.
Lunch: Avocado (Toast) Sandwich
Okay, so I cheated a little for my second meal. I was out and about so I didn't exactly have time to make a lunch version of avocado toast so I stopped at East Hill Market for one of their "famous" avocado panini. I mean, hey, isn't a panino basically just two pieces of toast with some stuff in the middle?
The sandwich consisted of what appeared to be at least a whole avocado, roasted red peppers, olive spread, jalapeño and provolone cheese in between two pieces of toasted sour dough bread.
I still wasn't starving when lunch time rolled around, but I had committed to eating avocado all day for the purpose of my writing so that's what I was going to do. The sandwich was delicious and certainly allowed avocado to shine.
I was very full at the end of meal two. I used to think that vegetarians must be perpetually hungry, but halfway through this experiment I was convinced that they must be just fine if they just eat endless avocados.
Dinner: Chicken Caprese Avocado Toast
I'd be lying if I said I was excited to eat avocado toast for the third time in one day, so I tried to get a little more creative for dinner. I started with a base of wheat toast and avocado mash and topped it with grilled chicken, tomato, mozzarella and basil. I finished it off with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a side salad.
This superfood was starting to seem a little less super by meal three – it was still satisfying, but I was by no means considering going for round 4 with an avocado toast dessert.
Overall, I would not recommend living solely on avocado toast. My energy and mood throughout the day were decent, but it's not like I saw a substantial difference in my stamina during my workout or experienced some sudden weight loss.
I learned three things from my little experiment: avocado is very photogenic, I think I would spontaneously combust into an avocado if I ever attempted this again, and everything (including avocado toast) is much, much better in moderation.