Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Hajar Larbah [1]

If you follow Keeping Up With the Kardashians, you're likely familiar with Kourtney Kardashian's healthy lifestyle. The mom-of-three has a pretty strict diet and workout routine [2], starting her morning with apple cider vinegar and probiotics to aid with digestion, and a curious sweet avocado pudding she says gives her energy before exercise [3].

As a huge avocado lover myself, this "power meal in a cup" sounded worth a try. I decided to eat the recipe every morning for a week to see if it really could power me through my early morning workouts and make my sweet tooth disappear with its dose of healthy fats and fibre [4].

The Recipe

This is Kourtney's 5-minute recipe according to her app [5]:

• 1 organic avocado, pitted and peeled
• 1 cup organic coconut milk
• 2 tsp Manuka honey

Blend all ingredients until smooth and eat with a spoon.

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Hajar Larbah [6]

The Experiment

The smooth pudding tasted pretty good, and I enjoyed eating my breakfast slowly with a spoon as opposed to my usual smoothie on the go — it really does make all the difference when it comes to savoring every bite and feeling fuller [7].

After eating the pudding on day one, I actually felt very nauseous. I train immediately after waking up, and the only thing my stomach can handle before is usually coffee — I should have known having the pudding pre-workout would create some problems. For the rest of the week, I decided to have it as a post-workout instead of overnight oats, and that's when I started to reap the benefits.

I was expecting to feel hungry within an hour or two after, just because of the lack of carbs, but my body shocked me. The healthy fats [8] kept me going all the way until lunch. That's because our satiety hormones [9] are released much more in response to fats to help tell your body you're done eating. And like Kourtney says, the pudding gives you energy. I didn't experience my usual mid-morning crash and even found myself reaching less for a cup of coffee.

The best part was that by the end of the week, my morning sugar cravings vanished. I never felt the urge to reach for sugar [10], and my skin was showing it, since sugar can cause breakouts [11], inflammation and dullness. Avoiding sugar also meant I was eating healthier [12] and fewer calories.

The Pros and Cons

The health benefits of the avocado pudding were what really kept me focussed. The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits of manuka honey [13] fuelled my body in preparation for flu season. The high-fibre content of the avocado aided in digestion to keep away dreaded belly bloat [14].

I love lots of texture in my food so the smoothness of the avocado pudding did get a bit boring after day three. On day four, I added chia seeds [15], hemp seeds, and grain-free granola on top. I don't know if that's Kourtney-approved, but it definitely made me stick to the experiment.

Although I loved the taste of Kourtney's avocado pudding, I think overnight oats [16] and avocado toast with eggs take the breakfast throne for me. Maybe it's because I'm a creature of habit or maybe it's because I couldn't really get used to the texture of the dish, but at least I know the toast with smashed avocado and a fried egg allows me to get healthy fats in with a source of carbs to fuel up. I'd prefer the pudding as dessert so I'm inspired to freeze it and keep it handy to snack on every once in a while instead.