Before you decide to add avocado to your diet, we need to get something straight: there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Avocado is one of those foods with many different health benefits. When consumed in moderation, it can be considered a healthy food. However, when avocados are added too frequently or in large quantities, into our daily diets — as they tend to be in fad diets that encourage frequent consumption — they can cause side effects ranging from pain and heartburn on their own or even trigger conditions such as anemia and septic shock.

Let's examine the side effects of avocado in more detail.

What Are The Side Effects of Avocado?

As a food, avocados, while rich in healthy unsaturated fats, can be quite dangerous if eaten in excess. Due to their high-fat content is very calorie-dense and will quickly add pounds to your weight and inches to your waistline. Over time this will put you at risk for obesity and other health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

To make things worse, avocados are easy to overeat — especially since they have a creamy taste and a smooth texture. If you add too much to your diet, it can lead to gastrointestinal or heart side effects.

What Are The Health Benefits of Avocado?

The health benefits of avocado include improved heart health and reduced cholesterol levels, healthy aging, skin conditioning, prevention of muscle pain, and disease prevention, thanks to their antioxidant content. Avocados are also a good source of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, and B vitamins such as thiamine and folate, omega-3, and omega-6 fats.

Avocado contains high levels of healthy monounsaturated fat and some of the most powerful antioxidants naturally produced by plants, making avocados a fruit that can feel good on the body and the soul.

These nutrients contribute to the health benefits of avocado by reducing levels of bad cholesterol while increasing levels of good cholesterol. They also help keep your heart strong and healthy. In addition, avocados have soluble fiber, which maintains a healthy digestive tract and keeps you feeling full longer. You don't eat between meals or add too many calories to your diet.

Avocado Calories: How Many Can You Eat?

So how many calories can you eat? It depends on your needs. The number of calories you consume each day should be balanced by the number of calories your body uses each day. You can calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR); BMR is the minimum amount of energy required to maintain vital functions breathing, circulation, and keeping your heart beating. Your BMR usually accounts for between 60 to 80 percent of the total calories you burn every day.

To find out how many calories you need every day and whether or not avocado or other foods will fit into that plan, use a calorie calculator. There are dozens of calorie calculators online; some are free, and others charge a fee for their use. You can also find out how many calories you burn every day by using an activity level calculator, which allows you to input your daily activities, including exercise and other activities to determine how many calories you burn every day. If you're not a fan of keeping a log or calculator on hand, try using the 2,000-calorie rule instead. The rule has been proven a good general guideline for average calorie consumption based on a sedentary lifestyle and moderate exercise levels. If 2,000 calories are too much or too little for you, adjust it up or down to fit your needs.

How Many Calories Are in a Serving of Avocado?

A serving of avocado is one whole fruit, also known as an avocado pear, or half a Hass avocado. The calories and other nutrition information for each serving size can be seen in the table below:

Avocados, like other fruits and vegetables, are naturally rich in salt. If you're following a low-carb diet, it is good to check your sodium levels to avoid consuming too much salt. As you can see from the table above, each avocado has more than one-quarter of an adult daily recommended intake of potassium and just under four-fifths of the required daily variety of vitamin C.

The American Heart Association recommends that adults consume no more than one-third of an avocado or one whole avocado per day.

Cholesterol-lowering effects are thought to be due to monounsaturated fat content. Avocados also contain fiber and a healthy dose of potassium which helps lower blood pressure levels and prevent muscle cramping.