Often covered in salt and high in calories and fat, nuts may not seem like the healthiest snack. Unsalted nuts, however, have many health benefits when eaten in moderation and as a substitute for fatty proteins and junk food snacks. A good portion size is 5 to 10 nuts, or 1.5 oz., which is equal to 42.5 g.
Weight Control
Whether you're trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, nuts are good choice because they do not make you gain weight when eaten in moderation. Even though a handful of nuts may have more calories than a handful of chips, nuts do not have the saturated fat that chips do. Nuts have unsaturated fats, which are considered "good" fats. Nuts are also high in fiber. Substituting nuts for other snack foods may mean you eat less because the fiber in nuts helps you feel full sooner and fiber helps that full feeling last longer.
Heart Health
Nuts promote heart health because nuts help lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the blood. LDL is the bad cholesterol that causes heart disease when the levels are too high. Because so many nuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids, nuts prevent the dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to heart attacks. The vitamin E in nuts may help prevent the development of plaques in your arteries that cause heart attacks and coronary artery disease. Eating nuts can also prevent blood clots because of the l-arginine, which may make your artery walls more flexible for a better blood flow.
The Best Nuts
Since researchers have not studied all nuts to the same degree, it's hard to name a best nut, but walnuts, almonds and macadamia nuts stand out based on the research at the time of publication. Walnuts are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fats lower LDL cholesterol. Almonds are high in protein, fiber, vitamin E and magnesium. Magnesium helps your body regulate blood sugar, produce energy, and build and maintain muscle tissue. In an April 2008 study published in "The Journal of Nutrition," researchers from the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Pennsylvania State University found that a diet rich in macadamia nuts reduced LDL-cholesterol in men and women with mild cases of high cholesterol.
Calories and Fat
The amount of calories and fat vary widely from nut to nut and also depend whether the nut is salted, roasted, unsalted or raw. Roasted chestnuts, for example, only have 69 calories and 0.6 g of total fat per ounce, while 1 oz. of dry roasted almonds has 169 calories and 15 g of total fat. Halved walnuts have 185 calories and 18.5 g of total fat per ounce. Dry, roasted cashews have 163 calories and 13.1 g of total fat per ounce. Both dry roasted macadamia nuts and raw macadamia nuts have 204 calories and about 21 g of fat per ounce. Dry roasted pistachios have 161 calories and 12.7 g of total fat per ounce. Peanuts, which are actually a legume, have 166 calories and 14 g of total fat per ounce in the dry, roasted variety.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Nuts and Your Heart: Eating Nuts for Heart Health
- "Fitness" magazine: The 10 Best Foods for Flat Abs
- "Fitness" magazine; Is the Lower-Calorie Choice Always Better?; Charles Stuart Platkin; July 2007
- MayoClinic.com; Cholesterol: Top 5 Foods to Lower You Numbers; May 2010
- "The Journal of Nutrition"; A Macadamia Nut-rich Diet Reduces Total and Ldl-cholesterol in Mildly Hypercholesterolemic Men and Women; A.E. Griel, et al.; April 2008
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