If you look at the food label (and hopefully you do), you’ll see that nuts are high in calories.
For example, there are 170 calories in a one-ounce serving of mixed nuts, or 180 calories in a quarter cup of walnuts, while three small chocolate chip cookies come in at 160 calories.
We tend to think that if something is high in calories, we should refrain from eating it if we are trying to lose weight.
And while that is true, it’s also important to factor in the quality of calories, not just the quantity.
Although nuts are high in calories (and excess calories can lead to weight gain), they have a lot of nutritional value and health benefits, making them a nutrient-dense food. Some of their health benefits include:
- Fiber.
- Monounsaturated fat, which lowers LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol levels, while maintaining the HDL, or “good” cholesterol.
- Protein.
- Vitamins E and B6, folic acid, magnesium, zinc, potassium and more.
- Phytochemicals that play a role in preventing heart disease.
Just a handful (about one ounce) five times a week is all it takes to pack a nutritional punch.
Did you know the peanut is not a nut? While we group peanuts in the nut category in the food and culinary world, botanically speaking, because they grow underground, they are a legume, which are edible seeds enclosed in pods.
Therefore, they are in the same family as peas, beans and lentils, according to the International Food Information Council.
Whereas nuts like cashews, almonds and walnuts grow on trees.
This is why peanuts and peanut butter are cheaper than other nuts and nut butters. They cost less to cultivate and harvest.
Tree nuts take several years to harvest versus planting peanuts in the ground each year.
Because peanuts and tree nuts have different proteins, people with an allergy to one aren’t necessarily allergic to the other.
That’s why you’ll see on a food label’s allergy warning “contains peanuts and tree nuts,” since they are technically two different food types.
It’s best to avoid salted or honey roasted nuts, but if you don’t want them plain, go with lightly salted; the sodium difference is usually around 50% less per serving.
We should not be consuming more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, and even less, at 1,500 mg per day, for those with hypertension.
Another thing to note: plant-based milks, such as almond milk, don’t have the same nutrient levels as the actual whole nut.
And for those prone to certain types of kidney stones, nuts and peanuts should be limited, so make sure to talk with your doctor or dietitian about your diet.
In addition to snacking on a handful of nuts, incorporate them in your meals too, such as adding cashews to a salad, adding walnuts to your bowl of oatmeal, topping peanuts onto stir fries or throwing in some nuts into the blender when making a smoothie.
There are lots of ways to enjoy them.
Shari Bresin is the Family & Consumer Science Agent for the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Extension Pasco County, An Equal Opportunity Institution.
