Nuts About Nuts

Increasing evidence shows that the best way to promote optimal health is to eat whole foods. Almonds are an excellent example of whole food nutrition, providing fibre, magnesium, vitamin E, and protein.

You can go totally nutty with these delicious edibles by adding them to salads or using them as a garnish to add crunch to your vegetable dishes. And don’t forget to use them as a nutritional enhancer in baked goods.

In addition to tasting good, almonds contribute significant health benefits, especially when eaten raw with the skins. In 2007 researchers reported in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry that eating almonds with their skins significantly increased levels of flavonoids and vitamin E in the body.

Weight and Cholesterol Management

Other research published in 2007, this time in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that regularly consuming almonds reduces low-density lipoprotein cholesterol without causing weight gain. For 10 weeks, participating women added a little more than 50 grams (2 ounces) of raw, unsalted almonds to their daily diet and then, for the following 10 weeks, they ate their regular diet without almonds.

Results showed that even though almonds added an extra 344 calories to the regular daily intake, the participants did not gain weight because they were actually consuming only 77 calories more than when they didn’t eat almonds. The women naturally ate less of the foods they were accustomed to eating because the almonds were so satiating. An additional part of the extra calories was offset because the fibre in almonds seems to block their fat from being fully absorbed.

Also, when the women ate almonds, they met daily recommendations for vitamin E and magnesium–nutrients that many of us don’t get in adequate amounts.

So, yes, you can have it all–great taste, good health, and weight control.