The World Does Not Need Diet Avocados

Diet Avocados? Really?

Do we really need them? Obviously no, we don’t.

Why? Because there’s nothing wrong with avocados in the first place, and these ‘diet’ ones won’t be an improvement on flavour or by any other means.

Unfortunately, many people are still incredibly afraid of fats. All fats. The myth that fat makes you fat is still pervasive, and has resulted in this monstrosity.

While it’s true that fat has more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrate, it’s important to note that we NEED fat in order to survive. Not only are fats important for our cell membranes, for keeping us warm, and for our nervous system to work effectively, but there are essential fatty acids that we need for human health.

You may remember the message that started in the 80s that started the huge ‘low fat’ trend. What this fails to acknowledge is that not all fats are equal, and that they behave differently in the body.

Before I go further, I just want to clarify, there are no ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats in the same way there are no ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. Nutrition is never black and white. But there’s no denying that there are certain types of fat that are more beneficial to be consumed in smaller amounts than others.

(Side note: ok, I’ll admit you can argue trans fats are ‘bad’ fats, but that’s beside the point here as they’re almost completely out of the food supply now)

Saturated fats, such as those found in cheese and meat, have been shown to raise blood cholesterol levels, thereby increasing the risk of heart disease. Unsaturated fats, on the other hand, such as those found in avocados, have been shown to reduce risk of heart disease. This doesn’t mean that you should cut out all sources of saturated fat and only eat unsaturated fats, just that ideally the fat content in your diet should be more unsaturated than saturated.

But avocado contains unsaturated fats anyway, so it’s not as though you can even make the argument that they’re ‘bad’ for you in that respect.

Avocado is a fruit, for fuck’s sake. It appears nothing is safe from the diet police anymore, even fruit. It implies that avocados are not “healthy”, that it is too high in fat, that we should be avoiding it; which is not true at all.

This is just another classic example of diet culture scaring you out of eating certain foods, and demonising foods that are perfectly fine. These people have no interest in making you healthier, this is purely a way for them to make money off of our insecurities and fears.

Not everything has to be ‘diet’ or ‘low fat’ in order to be healthy.

There is nothing wrong with eating avocado, nothing at all. And if you don’t want to eat avocados because you don’t like them that’s cool too.