Is Guacamole Healthy for You to Eat?

Guacamole

Guacamole—it’s become a go-to treat for those who love dips and burritos. It’s easy to make, and if made right, it can be really tasty. In fact, it’s so delicious that you may be wondering, “Is guacamole good for you? Is guacamole healthy?” It has healthy stuff in it, but when you combine it all together, how good is it for you?

We did some research, and we think we’ve got some answers for you. We’ll provide you the possible health benefits of guacamole, nutrition facts, and even give you a healthy guacamole recipe that you can make at home. So, is guacamole good for you? We’re about to find out.

Guacamole Nutrition Facts

 

Guacamole Nutrition
One thing to note is that the guacamole represented in the table above shows the approximate nutritional values of fresh, homemade guacamole. The store-bought varieties may vary, especially in terms of sugar content, fat content, and calories.

As you can see, guacamole has a considerable amount of vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, and folate. Guacamole is also a very good source of dietary fiber, something health conscious people have to include in their diets.

The vitamins and minerals found in guacamole can be of great benefit to the body and its various systems. These are just numbers, but how do they affect your health? How do these vitamins and minerals contribute to your overall health? What bodily functions do they help? The answers may surprise you.

Guacamole and Its Possible Health Benefits

As you could see from the table above, guacamole packs in many vitamins and minerals, although in a relatively small amount. But how do these vitamins help your body? What do they do specifically? The answer is they do a lot.

1. Rich in Dietary Fiber

Guacamole is filled with dietary fiber. For every 100 grams of guacamole, you would be taking in 18% of your daily requirements of fiber.

A 100-gram serving is less than half of your average grocery store guacamole container. Dietary fiber helps the digestive system in numerous ways.

It breaks down carbs at a slow rate, thus releasing limited quantities of insulin, which in turn can help keep your blood sugar normal.

Dietary fiber can also help you feel fuller, which can lead to consuming less food, and thus, possibly help with weight loss.

2. Good For Heart Health

Guacamole also has multiple nutrients that are good for heart health. Soluble fiber may reduce the absorption of bad cholesterol in blood and its accumulation on the artery walls, thereby preventing clogging of arteries and facilitating smooth flow of blood.

Potassium (which guacamole also has in large amounts) helps keep the heart beat regular and helps reduce cholesterol levels.

3. Remove Toxins From Body

Potassium also helps the kidneys excrete excess sodium, which can help with lowering blood pressure. This also helps create more urine, which in turn can help the body rid itself of sodium and other excess minerals.

4. Improves Immunity

The large amount of vitamin C available in guacamole is very beneficial to the immune system as many of the associated cells require the vitamin to function properly.

Vitamin C can help shorten the duration of the common cold, as well as keep the immune system in healthy condition to battle serious illnesses like cancer and heart disease. Vitamin C, according to some studies, has been directly linked to the prevention of heart disease.

5. Prevents Osteoporosis

The large amount of vitamin K may be able to help prevent osteoporosis as noted by a study done in Japan.

Vitamin K is also rather good for the heart, and according to the International Journal of Oncology, vitamin K may also help slow down the growth of cancer cells.

Overall, you can see why we think guacamole is a great food for your health, but there is one thing that always crops up when speaking about this delicious snack. “Isn’t guacamole fatty?” As our chart notes, there are 111 calories in 100 grams of guacamole. That’s bad, isn’t it?

Is Guacamole Fattening?

Is guacamole fattening? In a word, yes. Guacamole, even in a fresh, homemade state still has a lot of calories and a good amount of fats. That being said, there are a number of silver linings revolving around that.

According to SELF Nutrition Data, guacamole has 9g of fats per 100g; however, only 1g out of that is saturated fat. The distribution of remaining fats is not clear.

However, considering this food is made from avocado, we can perhaps say that the remaining 8% is all good fat comprising poly and mono unsaturated fatty acids and omega-3 and -6 fatty acids. This is because avocado, according to SELF Nutrition Data, has all these good fats.

As we said previously, while guacamole may be fattening, it has a ton of nutritional value that can help everywhere else. The fat from guacamole is from plants, which is a little easier for the body to process and get rid of than animal fat.

Secondly, the high amount of dietary fiber found in guacamole may help fill you up and make you less hungry. This means you might consume less food after having guacamole, and that may offset the amount of food and calories that you gain by eating guacamole.

Another way you can offset the fat and calories is by making the guacamole as healthy as possible and using healthy snacks to dip into it.

Healthy Guacamole Recipes

Easy Guacamole Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 2 large ripe avocados, peeled
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

Take the peeled avocados and place them in a medium bowl. Mash roughly with a fork. Add fresh lime juice, minced garlic, and kosher salt.

Thoroughly mix them together. Stir in chopped fresh cilantro and enjoy.

Healthy Guacamole Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 4 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¹/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice

Directions

Place olive oil and garlic into a bowl or mortar, and mash with a spoon or pestle to a paste.

In a medium-sized bowl, mash the avocado by hand or with a fork. Stir in garlic paste and remaining ingredients.

Refrigerate in an airtight container unless you want to consume immediately.

These are just two easy and healthy ways you can make guacamole at home, but there are plenty of other recipes that may fit your health and diet needs better.

Guacamole: A Lot of Upsides!

Is guacamole fattening? Yes, but it is without a doubt very good for you at the same time. Like with any food, moderation is the key.

Although most of it could be good fats from avocado, if you want to make sure the fattening elements of guacamole aren’t catching up to you, just watch your calories for the rest of the day after enjoying it. Also, get in a good workout. While it may be good, especially when homemade, we don’t suggest eating it every day.


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Sources:
“7 Health Benefits of Guacamole,” DoveMed, August 23, 2015; http://www.dovemed.com/7-health-benefits-guacamole/
“Guacamole Nutrition Facts & Calories”, SELF Nutrition Data; http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1992387/2
“Is Guacamole Fattening? 10 Things You Should Know,” Magicofhealthyliving, December 20, 2012; http://magicofhealthyliving.blogspot.ca/2012/12/Is-guacamole-fattening.html
Montalbo, R., “Is Guacamole Really Fattening?” InfoBarrel, March 26, 2012; http://www.infobarrel.com/Is_Guacamole_Fattening
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1578086