& how to add them without putting on weight!
Nuts are an important food group and including them daily has been shown to have numerous benefits:
1. Reduced cardiovascular risk:
Including a small handful of nuts daily helps with reducing total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol – this is because the healthy fats help to reduce the production of unhealthy cholesterol (LDL), and the antioxidants contained in the skins of nuts are also great for keeping blood vessels healthy and flexible. Studies have shown a 20-30% reduction in risk of heart and vascular diseases.
2. Improved blood sugar regulation:
The healthy fats in nuts are a great way to lower the glycemic load of a meal that contains carbohydrates – a higher glycemic load meal causes a larger rise in blood sugar levels. Nuts are also a great snack if you have insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes as they have no impact on blood sugar levels but also keep you full, and the healthy unsaturated fats in nuts can even help to improve your body’s sensitivity to insulin.
3. Nutrition powerhouse
A handful of mixed nuts is a great source of unsaturated fats, vitamins and minerals (especially vitamin E, magnesium, copper and selenium), fibre, moderate in protein and also full of antioxidants. These antioxidants, called polyphenols, also help to protect your cells from damage. Nuts are all unique – for example almonds are higher in calcium but brazil nuts are higher in selenium – so it is important to include a variety of different ones for health benefits.
4. Healthy fats
Nuts contain a healthy balance of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and like most plant foods only a small amount of saturated fats. In particular, walnuts are a great source of plant based omega-3 (alphalinoleic acid, or ALA) which has been shown to be just as important as marine based omega-3 (‘fish oils’) and help with reducing inflammation and further improving heart health.
5. Fibre & gut bacteria
More recently research has focused on how the fibre in nuts impacts gut bacteria and therefore our health too. Some of the fibre in nuts acts as a prebiotic (food for healthy bacteria to break down) and just adding nuts into your diet can increase the number of friendly bacteria in your gut, along with explaining some of the health benefits above and lowering intestinal inflammation too.
So how many should you eat if you are watching your weight?
Often, people worry about adding nuts into their diet because they are very high in fat, and therefore higher in energy too. But 20-30 g of nuts (a small handful) as part of a balanced diet can actually help you with controlling your weight – because they have a combination of fibre, fat and protein they can make a satisfying snack and help control later portions for meals. And particularly the fibre in whole nuts means that we don’t actually absorb all of the fats in nuts – 10-15% of the fat is excreted while eating nuts can improve metabolic rate too. We prefer raw and unsalted as it is easy to overeat salted nuts (because salt drives passive consumption!).
