Nuts!!!

I have never been a real big fan of nuts…unless they were covered in chocolate. However, recently, I have been eating more nuts….plain.

My mom bought a huge bag of walnuts and I decided to eat a few with some cranberries. After looking at the nutritional information on the bag, I became a little concerned. ¼ cup of walnuts was 200 calories, 20 grams of fat, and only 2 grams of fiber. I remember being educated in classes about the benefits of nuts, but after reviewing the nutrition information here, I became a tad bit concerned, so I did further research.

Several have spoke out against nuts because of the high fat content, but in actuality, nuts provide several benefits to the body that may outweigh the fat content. One thing you should know about nuts is that they contain a nice amount of the “good fat” that our bodies need. In addition, nuts have been associated with reduced risk of certain cancers, hypertension, obesity, and heart disease.

Many research studies have shown that those in weight-loss programs who incorporated nuts in a low-fat (35% fat) diet were more successful in sustaining weight loss than those on a simple low-fat diet (20% fat).

So eating nuts is not a bad thing. They are actually very beneficial to your body. My advice would just be to not overdo it, and just eat them in moderation (a handful a couple times a day); especially when you are trying to sustain weight loss. Matter of fact, they are a wonderful protein source when doing a detox (see earlier posts) that can help fill you up.

-Jenelle