Trying to lose some of those excess fats without starving? Research found that adding nuts can enhance diet without gaining unwanted weight.
A number of research have cited eating nuts to be beneficial in the diet, but because of its high caloric content, many would rather crash it on their list. Because of this, researchers from the Yale University conducted a comparative study based on the question: Does the nut benefits tip the scales more than their caloric content?
Spearheaded by Yale's director Dr. David Katz, the team included 112 study participants who are at high risk of developing diabetes, which involve those who are overweight and had increased blood sugar and blood pressure levels. A randomized trial designated a participant to take either 6 months eating walnuts then 6 months without walnuts or vice versa.
"Our primary outcome was diet quality, and that differed significantly between walnuts-added and walnuts-excluded," Katz said . "The implication of that is that (a) walnuts displace less nutritious foods when added to the daily diet; and (b) the net effect is a significant improvement in overall diet quality."
Without taking into consideration the daily calories, improvements on participants' diet were manifested. "Weight did not go up in any group. So that confirmed that people were adding something good, and bumping out something less good for their health," Katz stated.
"Nuts work because they can make you feel full," Harvard University T. H. Chan School of Public Health's professor of epidemiology and nutrition Dr. Eric Rimm explained. "And people are more likely to self regulate the calories they eat when they feel full."
On the other hand, those who did and did not seek calorie counselling revealed no significant difference. However, the group that received counselling appears to have a slightly reduced waist circumference. It may also suggest that simply calculating total calories may not be adequate. "Advice about weight control really has to be based on foods, and helping people understand they need to hear their body's signals about when they are full," Rimm said. "Simply taking a diary and adding up calories probably is not going to work as well."
