Eating Almonds As A Weight Loss Snack Food

If you are a lover of nuts, then you have cause to rejoice. New studies indicate new fantastic reasons to sprinkle a few almonds over a healthy salad or a bowl of cereal. The best thing about almonds is that they are a tasty way to lose a few extra pounds.

Why Almonds Can Be Helpful For Your Dieting Plan

Nuts are full of protein, fat and fiber that the human body craves in order to feel satisfied between meals, reducing the urge to snack on more fattening foods.

Experts determined that individuals who ate a diet that included almonds were more likely to lose the extra pounds than the individuals who chose a diet with the same number of calories and higher in carbohydrates.

Research also indicates that individuals eating a diet low in carbohydrates lost more weight than those eating a diet that is low in fat, even though the people following the low-carb diet consumed three hundred more calories per day.

24 Week Weight Loss Study

For twenty-four weeks, experts tracked the progress of sixty-five adults who are overweight and obese, with as many as seventy percent of those adults having Type 2 diabetes. One of the groups consumed a liquid diet of one thousand calories per day, which included three ounces of almonds.

Another group followed the same liquid diet, but instead of almonds, ate a mixture of complex carbohydrates, including baked potatoes, wheat crackers or air-popped popcorn. Although different in fat content, the diets were equal in protein and calories.

In addition to the liquid diet, participants in this study were also allowed salads with vinegar or lemon juice dressing. The dieters who ate almonds experience a diet that contained thirty-nine percent of the daily recommended allowance for fat. Of that thirty-nine percent total fats, as much as twenty-five percent is monounsaturated fats that provide healthy heart benefits as well.

On the other hand, the dieters who did not eat the almonds only consumed eighteen percent total fat; however, only five percent of that comes from monounsaturated fats. Many experts speculate that the fat contained in almonds may not be absorbed completely and that the early research indicates that almond cell walls work as a sort of physical barrier to keep fat away.

Almonds Can Help You Feel Fuller For Longer

Another thing that makes almonds such a great diet food is that it keeps you feeling fuller for longer. Foods that contain fat, protein and fiber are essential for a feeling of fullness and satisfaction that will help you maintain that feeling for extended amounts of time.

Almond Nutritional Benefits

Almonds are an excellent source of vitamin e, containing as much as twenty-five grams, which is 70% of the recommended daily allowance.

In addition, almonds are also high in fiber, magnesium, iron, zinc and potassium. Almonds are a great source of monounsaturated fat. Almonds actually contain a greater amount of calcium than any other nut.