Don't Be Afraid to Go Nuts!

Does the idea of snacking on a baggie full of celery stalks for your afternoon snack leave you feeling more than slightly uninterested?

Getting through the stretch of time between light lunch and healthy dinner can be the downfall of anyone's weight loss program. Unless you plan in advance for a snack that you will like and that will satisfy you, you'll probably toss the celery and head for the vending machine.

That's where nuts - a food that combines protein, fiber and healthy fat into one small package- can come to your rescue.

A handful, depending on the size of the hand, can be the ideal snack portion: a quarter cup. You can keep roasted, unsalted mixed nuts on hand or choose any variation of nuts. Almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, pecans, and macadamias make great snack choices - alone or in combination. One of my favorites is the new Planter's Heart Healthy mix:

Canned nut mixes are convenient and tasty, but you can save yourself money, salt, and often calories and fat grams by buying plain unsalted walnuts, almonds, pecans, and even peanuts in bags in the grocery store produce or baking sections.

An average serving of nuts  (1/4 cup roasted almonds, for example) contains: 6.7 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams fiber, 205 calories, 9.5 grams protein, 18 grams fat, 1.4 grams saturated fat. And that's the one thing we have to pay attention to: serving size: a palm-full is not very much, so eat them slowly. The fat and fiber will fill you up faster than you think, but still remember you are just having a snack, not  a meal!

WebMD includes other low-calorie, celery-free snacks in their List of Top Ten Low-Carb Snacks.

 

An added benefit to making a small quantity of nuts part of your daily food intake can be improved cholesterol levels, making nuts a key to a heart-healthy diet, according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study revealed that people they followed who consumed 2.4 ounces of nuts per day had better cholesterol levels than people who consumed the same amount of saturated fat, but no nuts. Read more here to learn about these heart-friendly benefits!