The delicious superfood has stolen our hearts — and our Instagram feed — and we look for any chance we can to add it to our regular meals. We’ve made it into a mousse, added it to chocolate, even turned it into a hair mask for an at-home treatment. Spoiler alert: there’s practically no way we’d ever pass up the fan-favorite fruit.
And for good reason. Loaded with healthy fats, avocados are low in saturated fats, contain more potassium than a banana, and have a healthy dose of fiber to keep you regular. Because of that, the fruit has been praised for its ability to lower cholesterol, prevent cancer, and help you lose weight.
And new research even goes on to show that adding more potassium in your diet (like in the form of bananas and avocados) can actually help you keep your arteries from hardening. Read: it can prevent you from having heart disease or stroke—in case you needed another reason to whip up that avocado toast this morning.
But while avocados are certainly getting the praise they (very rightfully) deserve, there’s another development on the horizon that could change the way you consume them.
As it stands now, the daily recommended serving is just one-third of an avocado. And if you’re anything like us, you know how tough it is to stop after just one-third of the delicious food—and how heartbreaking it is to see it turn brown just seconds later. But, there may be a way around that soon (and no, it’s not this nifty gadget that ripens your avocados almost immediately).
Isla Bonita, a Spanish company, is presenting a low-fat avocado that has 30 percent less fat than a traditional avocado, but would you opt for it?
“[Avocados] are full of healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (the good fats) aka those found plentiful in the Mediterranean diet, which has been linked to reduced heart disease (7 countries study). Compared to unhealthy saturated and trans fats, we need a certain amount per day,” says Emma Cronin, Sporteluxe’s resident nutritionist. “However fat is still fat and for people calorie counting or trying to lose weight, too much fat, even the healthy type, can really increase daily calorie intake.”
That means, Cronin explains, that you could technically eat more of the low-fat avocado for the same amount of fat and calories as you would a lesser quantity of a traditional avocado. Now the question becomes: should you?
Not necessarily, Cronin says. Keep in mind that healthy fats are just one part of the reason we love avocados. Maybe cutting back on the natural kind of avocado could mean we savor it just a little more—and reap all the health benefits that come with it.