According to Slimming World rules, avocados have syns. 10 syns per 100g to be precise. It seems like a lot.
The avocado pear is one of the most nutrient packed fruits around. It has vitamins B, C, E and K for a start. It also has a bunch of other things that I can’t remember and probably couldn’t pronounce anyway.
The reason Slimming World syn it, one would imagine, is that it is approximately 67% fat. Good fats and good healthy acids, but fats still the same. Some of it is saturated fat (approx 14%) but fat is fat none the less.
I think Slimming World syn it heavily to put people off eating large quantities of it. I mean, if you mash it and add some nice tomatoes and chili, you’ve got the start of a lovely guacamole. It’s very tasty and technically healthy, but it is high in fats so you probably shouldn’t eat much!
This is where it gets controversial. Some people syn it, some don’t. The people that don’t syn it aren’t just the fatties that fail. Some are target members or people that are well on their way to target. There is always a bit of an interesting discussion when someone admits to it.
I have decided to be one of those people who don’t syn it. Not because I like to be controversial or to open up one of those endless debates where I want to tell stupid people to shut up, but because I don’t eat that much of it and it is a really good source of friendly fats which will help keep my wrinkles at bay.
I only ever buy one avo at a time because they are notoriously difficult to catch at the perfect ripeness. Quite often I’ve only just caught it so I have one serving out of it because I can’t eat a whole one at once. My servings are between a quarter and a half at a time so technically 2.5-5syns.
Whilst it’s not a huge amount of syns, it does still eat into your allowance, and that bothers me. I would rather spend the 5 syns on an avocado than on a 2 finger Kit Kat or something. It’s healthier in the long run. But I don’t want to use syns on something so healthy.
(That is only in part a lie. I would always chose the Kit Kat first, unless I am trying to make healthier choices and stuff which is super rare!!)
I like a little bit of avo on my salad, or a little with some scrambled egg, but that’s about it. Well, aside from the aforementioned guacamole that I would demolish with a bag of tortilla chips and totally balls up the dieting efforts!
With all this in mind, I am officially not synning avocado. Is that wrong? Which side of this argument do you fall?
P.S. In my “exhaustive” research into the positive side of avocado (yep, I read Wiki and some random titles of articles that sounded too boring to read), I have discovered that there is a big fat lie surrounding them… Avocado does not mean ‘testicle’ in ancient Aztec (or Nahuatl if you want to be very technical), just as ‘guacamole’ does not mean ‘testicle sauce’. Avocado translates back to avocado, and guacamole means avocado sauce. Sorry!
Blonde On The Move's Blog 
I like avocados!
We love avocados! That is usually one of the first foods I give my babies. All of my 5 oldest kids would eat a whole avocado to themselves or more if I let them. But that would get expensive so we usually split 2 or 3 between everyone. We eat them plain scooped out from the skin. They are so healthy! I don’t know about slimming world or what syns are but I think an avacado every now and again would be way more beneficial that not! I wouldn’t stress about not counting them, it’s not like you are eating candy and not counting it 😉
Nope… candy gets counted very strictly! Avo is just lovely and so nutritious that I refuse to limit it any more than I do already. Sounds like your babies have good taste from the get go!!
Love this, and your thoughts. I’ve recently had the same conversation with a fellow Slimming World member. The health benefits from an avocado 🥑 are so worth it and they are good fats which are body needs! I must admit I have them at least once a week and don’t syn them! Being an ex SW consultant, I believe it’s because Slimming World is a low fat low sugar diet! But when you look at joe wicks he eats loads on his plan! As we know Slimming World does work it’s a great plan, my blog is new and looking at it now all the great food you can it is brilliant compared to say WW, a little in moderation I’d say. I couldn’t be with out the little fellas! 🥑 worth the self sabotaging 😊
If you’re an ex consultant and you don’t syn them, I feel better about not!! If someone ate one at every meal then I would say it would cause a gain, but one divided by two meals in a week is ok, I think! 🙂
Yes… but probably ex consultant isn’t the best to ask for opinions, I really love the flexibility of SW and was so sad to leave for moving reasons 😂 but I’m back on it and loosing well. Like we’ve said they are very good for you it’s a tweak and if it works still it’s ok, but that’s not a SW rule. There’s a trend of diets changing isn’t there at the mo back to healthy fats! I do wonder if SW will change, although I doubt it because they are the biggest in the uk! My meals on my blog are all very low or no Syns and up to now not a 🥑 in sight 😉 my weigh in today 🙄
I’ve just had a nosy at your blog, and you had me subscribed at “Chicken Wings”. They are a real weakness of mine!! Well done for getting back on it and I don’t think SW will make any drastic changes any time soon. I think ditching the red/green day approach shook up a lot of people and it will take a long while for us to get over that!!! 🙂
Yeah your right it was a big shake up end of the SW world for some! Hope you enjoy my blog. I’m obsessed with food and taste all my recipes are tried and tested, I sometimes cook things and think they are not good enough! So only the tasty ones get in, thanks for the comments feel free to share my recipes! 😊
Didn’t mean 😂. Meant. 😥 for leaving
Haha! I’d worked that one out already!! 😊