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Avocado?

madisonsteelex
madisonsteelex Posts: 295
edited October 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I absolutely love avocado but I'm always afraid to eat it because of the fat content... do you think it would be detrimental to eat half an avocado today and go over my fat count by 1?
Should I just not eat avocado?

Replies

  • voluptuous_veggie
    voluptuous_veggie Posts: 476 Member
    Avocado is full of good fats...essential fatty acids to your diet. There is nothing wrong with fat, you just have to watch the types of fat you eat. Enjoy that avocado, and don't worry about it!
  • jmeeej
    jmeeej Posts: 125 Member
    Avocado is great for you. It's loaded with good fats and fiber.

    Your numbers on MFP are simply targets/goals that you should strive to hit. You're not going to be hit every single one every one exactly every day.

    Don't make tracking your food a chore. Enjoy :) Life is too short to stress over +1g of fat or 9 calories.
  • poseyj88
    poseyj88 Posts: 140 Member
    I eat avocado in moderation. The fat it contains are healthy essential fats, so are not saturated/trans fat and horrible. That being said, it is still fat. I think it is fine to eat a half an avocado and go over on your fat one day (remember, those are just guidelines, not hard and fast rules). I wouldn't do it everyday though.
  • Egger29
    Egger29 Posts: 14,741 Member
    Fats aren't bad for you. IN fact, Avocado is one of the best thing you can eat and best fat sources out there!

    Your fat count isn't set in stone either. Better it come from healthy sources like Avocado, nuts, Fish Oil and Olive Oil than not at all.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    nothing wrong with fat or avocados, so go ahead and eat them.

    "Avocado has sometimes received a "bad rap" as a vegetable too high in fat. While it is true that avocado is a high-fat food (about 85% of its calories come from fat), the fat contained in avocado is unusual and provides research-based health benefits. The unusual nature of avocado fat is threefold. First are the phytosterols that account for a major portion of avocado fats. These phytosterols include beta-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol and they are key supporters of our inflammatory system that help keep inflammation under control. The anti-inflammatory benefits of these avocado fats are particularly well-documented with problems involving arthritis. Second are avocado's polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols (PFAs). PFAs are widely present in ocean plants but fairly unique among land plants—making the avocado tree (and its fruit) unusual in this regard. Like the avocado's phytosterols, its PFAs also provide us with anti-inflammatory benefits. Third is the unusually high amount of a fatty acid called oleic acid in avocado. Over half of the total fat in avocado is provided in the form of oleic acid—a situation very similar to the fat composition of olives and olive oil. Oleic acid helps our digestive tract form transport molecules for fat that can increase our absorption of fat-soluble nutrients like carotenoids. As a monounsaturated fatty acid, it has also been shown to help lower our risk of heart disease. So don't be fooled by avocado's bad rap as a high-fat food. Like other high-fat plant foods (for example, walnuts and flaxseeds), avocado can provide us with unique health benefits precisely because of its unusual fat composition. "

    http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=5
  • BobbyDaniel
    BobbyDaniel Posts: 1,459 Member
    If you are going to go over on something, it being an avocado is one of the best things to do that with. I say enjoy it and if you feel guilty, do a little extra exercise later!
  • lorika1977
    lorika1977 Posts: 144 Member
    You're better off eating avocado than cheese for example - one of the best fats you can get. As said before me, fats are not bad, we actually need fats to function properly, just that most of the fats that we are getting are not good for us. You want to stick with raw and unprocessed fats from nuts, avocado or cook with coconut oil (the organic unfiltered one). Flaxseed oil is also amazing, but you can't heat it. It becomes toxic really quick - just cook without fat and add the oil at the end.
    Good luck!
  • madisonsteelex
    madisonsteelex Posts: 295
    thank you guys. I really want to make one of my homemade quesadillas for lunch and it's just chicken, a small amount of shredded cheese and avocado... but I was scared because I already had a salad and used a tsp of olive oil as dressing.

    I'll definitely still eat it.. I'm obsessed with them
  • lottycat
    lottycat Posts: 333 Member
    Avacado is good for you, and delicious! Enjoy. I stumbled upon a recipe for chocolate pudding made with avacado earlier this week. I can't wait to try it!
  • pbxr
    pbxr Posts: 100 Member
    I eat half a medium avocado on toast for breakfast many days & don't go over my fat goals for the day. But I'll echo what the others have said: fat from avocado is not to be feared. Enjoy! :)
  • live2dream
    live2dream Posts: 614 Member
    Unlike an artificially processed fat, your body knows what to do with the natural fats in avocado. It will use what it needs for energy and nutrients and the rest will move through as waste. Artificial processed fats however, are foreign to the body and may sit there longer while your body decides what the hell to do with it and ends up storing it as fat.

    I heart avocado...as well as coconut (another with super healthy fats that your body knows how to process!)
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    You're better off eating avocado than cheese for example - one of the best fats you can get. As said before me, fats are not bad, we actually need fats to function properly, just that most of the fats that we are getting are not good for us. You want to stick with raw and unprocessed fats from nuts, avocado or cook with coconut oil (the organic unfiltered one). Flaxseed oil is also amazing, but you can't heat it. It becomes toxic really quick - just cook without fat and add the oil at the end.
    Good luck!

    I'd go with olive oil over coconut oil. The saturated fats in coconut oil can help your overall cholesterol ratios (by raising your HDL's more than it raises your LDL's) but it's still a saturated fat, and it still raises your LDL cholesterol levels, and it still contributes to atherosclerosis (heart disease) like other saturated fats do. Give me an oil that doesn't raise my cholesterol levels at all, rather than raise all of my cholesterol levels at once, any day.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    thank you guys. I really want to make one of my homemade quesadillas for lunch and it's just chicken, a small amount of shredded cheese and avocado... but I was scared because I already had a salad and used a tsp of olive oil as dressing.

    I'll definitely still eat it.. I'm obsessed with them
    Wait, you're concerned because you used a tsp of olive oil? A tsp of olive oil has about 4 grams of fat in it, how little fat do you eat a day? It should be close to 30-35% of your calories a day, generally. Don't be afraid of fat, your body needs it to survive and function, and if you don't eat enough of it, your body will hang on to what it already has.
  • VeganGal84
    VeganGal84 Posts: 938 Member
    How does one eat just half? I've never been able to not eat the entire avocado.
  • bens_mommy
    bens_mommy Posts: 219
    I looove avocado, and like most people have said so far it's fantastic for you. The fats you should be looking out for are fats from fast foods, processed foods, etc. You need (NEED!) good fats to be healthy, so enjoy that avocado! I like making a home-made guacamole and then spread it on Triscuits and celery. Sooo good!
  • Punkedpoetess
    Punkedpoetess Posts: 633 Member
    Go for it, avocados are awesome. Love them and they are a great source of healthy fat.
This discussion has been closed.

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