Avocado Benefits: The Keto Dieter’s Best Friend

The avocado is keto friendly

If I had to recommend one food item for the Ketogenic diet, I would recommend the Avocado. It would have to be considered one of the healthiest superfoods on planet earth. Fruits are generally not advised on the Ketogenic diet, but avocados are the exception.

Yes, the avocado is a fruit, but it’s good for keto. It doesn’t have much protein, so it’s not a complete food source, but when supplemented with a protein source like cheese, keto-friendly nuts, eggs or meat, it adds a powerful dose of healthy fats and nutrition to your diet.

The avocado should be on everyone’s keto diet grocery list. It’s featured prominently in practically every Keto Diet Beginner’s Guide that I have seen on the internet. I think it’s safe to say that the avocado is THE #1 keto food staple.

It’s also ideal for those first starting out on keto because it can help you get adapted to burning fat as fuel.

So what makes the keto avocado so good for keto?

Avocados contain more potassium than a banana. According to the USDA, 9 out of 10 Americans, (290 million people) aren’t getting enough potassium each day.

Most people are low on potassium, especially females. Less than one percent of adult females are reaching their recommended daily goal of 4,700 milligrams of daily potassium.

There are only 422 milligrams of potassium in the average banana, but a whopping 708 milligrams in just one cup of sliced avocados!

Avocados are a great example of why counting calories are not important on keto. One medium-sized avocado has about 250 calories. However, since 17 grams of the carbohydrates are actually fiber, it doesn’t have s significant impact on blood sugar and insulin.

Remember it’s insulin that signals your body to store fat

Bananas are not as healthy as most people think. They are loaded with fructose sugar which can lead to the conversion of sugar into fat (lipogenesis) and contribute to fatty liver disease.

One of the best ways to reduce the risk of developing fatty liver disease is to replace high sugar/fructose foods with foods that contain healthy fats like avocados.

The average banana contains 27 grams of carbohydrates with 14 grams of fructose sugar with only 3 grams of fiber. Compared to the avocado that contains 2 grams of protein and 15 grams of healthy fats.

The avocado contains 9 grams of carbs, but 7 of those are fiber, so it only has 2 “net” carbs. The benefit of avocado on keto is you have a low carb food that is also a nutrient dense food. Avocados pack a lot of nutrition inside a small package.

The nutritional content of an avocado is:

• Vitamin C
• Potassium
• Vitamin B5
• Magnesium
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin B6
• Magnesium
• Manganese
• Copper
• Iron
• Zinc
• Phosphorus
• B1 (thiamine)
• B2 (riboflavin)
• B3 (niacin)

What really makes the avocado special is the fat it contains

One of the primary benefits of the avocado on keto is that it contains heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acid (alpha-linolenic acid). In fact, 77% of the calories in an avocado are from fat, making it one of the fattiest plant foods in existence.

Avocados are the perfect food for ketone production because it supplies the body with plenty of fat to use as energy. Also, most of the fat in avocado is in the form of oleic acid.

The monounsaturated fatty acid is the major component of olive oil and it is responsible for some of its health benefits. Oleic acid has been shown to reduce inflammation and raise good cholesterol (HDL).

One cup of avocado contains approximately 13.6 grams of oleic acid

This study shows that increasing HDL is associated with a substantial coronary heart disease risk reduction of 2% in men and 3% in women.

Additionally, avocados consist of approximately 12 percent polyunsaturated fat with 2.51 grams (per cup) of linoleic acid. This novel study suggests a benefit of linoleic acid for diabetes, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol.

Avocados can help you stick with your keto diet

Another benefit of avocados is they can make you feel full (satiated) so your hunger is diminished. Yet another study found on PubMed demonstrates that eating the keto-friendly avocado can influence satiety over a subsequent 3 and 5 hours period in overweight adults.

The keto friendly avocado can also prevent the “Hangries”

When you get irritable and hangry in between meals it can signify a problematic health condition. You can read more about what causes one to be come hangry here. But snacking on an avocado when it occurs can be an excellent short term solution.

Avocado oil is also the best oil to cook with.

An additional benefit of the avocado is that avocado oil has a very high smoke point (520 degrees). It doesn’t oxidize as easily as most oils. So you can use avocado oil to seer your keto-friendly ribeye steak and it won’t smoke up your house as much as other oils.

Lazy keto is eating too many of the unhealthy, oxidized types of fats.

Avocado Keto Recipes

So eat your avocados, they are delicious and versatile. Cut up some slices, sprinkle some salt on them and use them as a side dish with meat or eggs.

Another benefit of avocado on keto is the versatility in various recipes. One of my favorite avocado recipes is avocado brownies. Here is a link to an excellent recipe.

A simple but delicious keto avocado recipe is to eat avocado is by slicing them up and putting them in your salads.

You can also mix them in with your deviled eggs and make delicious avocado deviled eggs. Also, be on the lookout for avocado mayonnaise.

One of the benefits of avocado on keto is fat adaptation.

One of the reasons avocado is good for keto is its use to boost the keto adaptation process and prevent the keto flu. When I give people a simple keto explanation I advise them to eat salted avocado before each meal. The extra fat makes them feel full and primes the pump. It gets the body adapted to burning fat (keto adapted).

One of the dangers of the keto diet when first starting out is cramps due to low electrolytes. You can read more about the keto flu here and how to prevent it, but rest assured, avocados and salt are part of the remedy.

One of the primary health benefits of avocados is the healthy oils that it contains. Increasing fat intake is essential for the ketogenic diet, but not just any fat, there’s good fat and bad fat, and Avocado oil is definitely classified as good fat.

Also, be sure to add avocados to your keto Costco shopping list.

If you know any other keto avocado recipes drop me a line and I’ll add them to this article. Enjoy your keto avocados!

• The Keto Egg Fast
• Keto Diet Food List: 32 Foods You can eat on Keto
• How to Choose Healthy Fats for the Keto Diet
• Do You Have to Count Calories on Keto?
• 7 Reasons Why We Get Hangry and How to Prevent it