Obesity
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Chestnuts
299. Watching your calories and fat intake, along with exercising, are key strategies in the battle to lose weight. Because chestnuts have only a fraction of the fat and calories of other nuts, they make a great alternative. Someone who ate a cup of warm, naturally sweet chestnuts will gain about 300 calories and feel better and more satisfied than someone who ate a sugary doughnut which has 400-500 calories with lot more harmful fat. Countries like Italy, France, Korea, China and Japan, where obesity is still rare, are places that still grow and eat chestnuts, but it follows that if they eat natural foods, like chestnuts, they are following other good dietary habits. Moreover, chestnuts contain healthy monounsaturated fat, the kind that lowers cholesterol, blood pressure, risk of heart disease and cancers.
Almonds
300. Most people avoid almonds because of their high fat content, but fat in almonds is healthy and a good source of monounsaturated variety and Omega-3 essential fatty acids that protects against heart diseases, diabetes and other lifestyle diseases and promotes overall wellness.
301. Nuts including almonds with skins are a good source of fibre and a number of nutrients – B-vitamins (thiamine and niacin), vitamin-E, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, copper and proteins. Nuts should be eaten raw as roasting them destroys some nutrients including vitamin E and thiamine.
302. A study in British Journal of Nutrition has highlighted that moderate intake (about 40-50 gms.) of good old almonds contributes to weight management and serves as an effective remedy to shed weight – because of the effect on hunger satiety due to their energy-dense nature which displaces less nutritious foods in the diet.
303. Another study by the University of Toronto has found that people who ate a handful (approx. 20-25) almonds daily for one month lowered their LDL or bad cholesterol level by an average of 4.4% and those who ate twice as much lowered the LDL by 9.4% on average.
