Did you know that there’s a super food, that’s so powerfully good for you that it can give you 2 extra years of life?
Sounds amazing right?
Now what if I told you that this food is so tasty you’d LOVE to eat it every day?
AND, what would you say, if I told you, you probably have it in your cupboard already?
You’d say, “Ok, just tell me what it is already. I’m staring in my cupboards right now.”
Cue the drum roll…. This food is NUTS!
I mean actual nuts—like almonds, pecans, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, etc.
Gives You 2 Extra Years of LifeA study came out in 2021 looking at which foods correlated with living a longer life. Then, researchers identified how many extra years of life you got, if you ate these food. And it turns out that nuts happen to be a Health Superstar that can give you up to 2.2 extra years of life.
If 2 extra years of life doesn’t impress you, how about the news that nuts can help you cheat death? That’s right. Nuts can keep your from dying…
Cheat Death and save your heartOne study found that people who ate nuts most days had about 30-50% less risk of DYING from a heart attack. Given that cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer in America, that’s great news.
And would you be impressed that nuts may even be as good or even better than medication for lowering cholesterol? The leading cholesterol-lowering medication, it’s estimated that statins reduce your risk of dying from a heart attack by about 20%–Nothing to sneeze at. But, that means that NUTS might have better results than statins. Wouldn’t that be cool if your doctor gave you a. prescription for cashews! You’d go to the pharmacy and pick up your monthly snack bags.
But, we’re not done yet. Nuts not only lower your bad cholesterol, but they can lower your risk of diabetes too. That’s why we recommend that ALL of our clients —especially those with high cholesterol and high blood sugar eat them as a snack every, SINGLE day.
Monounsaturated Fats are the BombI grew up in the 1980’s–back in the “olden times” as my kids would say. And back then, FAT from foods was bad. And not just kinda bad, it was the devil. But, our scientific knowledge of dietary fats has evolved over the decades. Now we know that the kind of fat in food matters. And the mono-unsaturated fat found in nuts is super healthy for you. Olive oil and avocados have lots of monounsaturated fat too.
Nuts Have a Lot of CaloriesNow I know what you’re thinking, that sounds great that they’re healthy for me and I love them… but aren’t they a lot of calories? Why yes, yes they are.
1/4 Cup is a ServingNuts are concentrated calories. They pack 170 calories in one small serving. That’s why the serving size is only ¼ cup. We actually recommend keeping a ¼ cup measuring cup in your nut container to keep you honest.
30% Calorie CouponBut there is something surprising about the calories in Nuts. Your body is actually really bad at accessing the calories in them. We’re talking about the whole nut here. Not ground-up nuts like peanut butter or almond butter. It seems that your body is really good at accessing all those calories. But your body can’t access up to 30% of the calories in whole nuts. That’s like getting a 30% off coupon on calories when it comes to nuts.
A Nutso Way to Lose WeightAnd research shows that people who start eating nuts even lose some weight. That’s because nuts are so filling that people eat less in general if they eat nuts as a snack. Plus, they may replace other less healthy snack foods with nuts. One study even had people eat one serving of nuts before each meal, and even those people lost weight. But, we always recommend keeping it to one serving of nuts.
All Nuts and Seeds WorkNow let’s get down to brass tacks… What kind of nuts should we put in our ¼ measuring cup? And the truth is that it doesn’t matter what kinds of nuts you eat. All nuts count. All nuts have high levels of mono-unsaturated fats.
And if you prefer peanuts, those count too.
And if you’re allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, luckily pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds count too.
We tell our clients, that it doesn’t matter what kind of nuts you eat, but just in case it does matter, then eat mixed nuts. Walnuts are the only nuts with Omega-3 fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory, so if you like those, be sure to put those in your mix.
And, remember that part about your body being bad at absorbing all the calories in nuts? It turns out that your body is good at getting almost all the calories from pistachios. So, you may want to be sure you don’t eat pistachios all on their own.
Make it a Daily HabitThe hard part about eating nuts is just getting the habit going. So make it easy on yourself and identify your snack time. Make snack time the time of the day that you’re the hungriest. For most people, this is the snacky witching hour– 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Lunch has been hours ago and dinner may still be a while.
Make It Easy and ConvenientSome clients measure out their nuts beforehand and pre-package them in little baggies. And others keep their baggies of nuts in their car. They eat their snack on the way home from work to keep the after-work munchies at bay. Another hack to making this habit is to keep the container of nuts on your desk or on the counter until the habit is on autopilot. And, as we suggested keep the measuring cup in it of course.
So you all-in? Convinced that nuts are the best snack in the world?
At Real Healthy Habits Health and Nutrition Coaching with Registered Dietitians, we coach you to put your healthy habits on Autopilot–so you don’t have to use willpower and motivation all the time. And, NOW mostinsurance cover coaching with a registered dietitian. Fill out our Contact Form and we’ll check your insurance coverage and get you scheduled.
