I don’t know about you, but my family’s Thanksgiving feast left my digestive system in a bad way–I barely wanted to touch food when Friday rolled around. But when I was ready to eat again, I found myself gravitating to nuts, of all things. A couple walnuts as a snack, slivered almonds on my chicken salad, a spoonful of peanut butter as a pre-bed treat … you get the picture.
Initially, my post-holiday diet strategy struck me as strange: nuts are high in fat and calories, after all. But then it occurred to me that they actually make the perfect anecdote to a holiday food hangover. For starters, they contain an ideal mix of healthy monounsatured fat, complex carbohydrates and protein–the exact combo that thwarts cravings and stops blood sugar from surging. Their high fiber content helps, ahem, move everything in your digestive system along so you don’t feel bloated and lethargic. And on a completely unscientific basis, there’s something about eating them that just makes me feel healthy … and feeling less like a glutton has motivated me to say no to seconds (okay, thirds) on pumpkin pie, candied sweet potatoes, eggnog and all the other scrumptious items that made this holiday an indulgent one.
Even better? When I dug a bit deeper, I discovered that I needn’t worry that my new nut habit is going to pile on the pounds–in fact, it may do just the opposite. Among the evidence, a recent study from Harvard University found that people on a diet that included 35 percent of calories from monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), including nuts, lost an average of 11 pounds over six months; by 18 months, that group continued to keep the weight off, while another group of dieters within the study who didn’t follow a high-MUFA nut regime actually gained five pounds each.
And that, friends, makes me feel so much better about the handful of almonds I just popped in my mouth.
–Camille
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Camille
