Go Nuts With Your Diet!

Welcome to Diet and Fitness Podcast, a free audio podcast sponsored by Diet.com. This is your fit, fun, and fabulous host, Lady Diet, ready to give you the skinny on the latest diet, fitness, health tips and news.

Go nuts with your diet! I don’t mean go CRAZY (although I do encourage being adventurous with new foods). Go nuts by adding nuts to your diet. Nuts are jam-packed with healthy benefits and flavor. They’re the perfect addition to many of your favorite dishes – salads, pastas, even desserts. Nuts can go with just about anything. In today’s podcast I’m going to discuss with you some of the main benefits nuts hold, and discuss some of the best ways you can go nuts with your diet.

First, let’s talk about the healthy factors that make nuts so great. You might be nervous to consume a lot of nuts because let’s face it - they contain a lot of fat. One ounce of pecans contains 20 grams of fat, for instance! Before you head for the hills, let me remind you that the majority of this fat is unsaturated, or the “good” kind of fat, which actually helps to lower cholesterol. Including nuts in your diet can actually reduce the risk of heart disease. In addition, vegetarians can smile because nuts contain lots of protein, fiber, and other vitamins.

Here’s the key to eating nuts, the critical point where nuts can either help your diet or hurt it… It’s all about portion control. Having a bag full of nuts can be dangerous to your diet if you and the bag are sitting next to each other all day. It’s easy to keep reaching in and snacking on nuts. A handful here, a handful there. Before you know it, the bag is gone! Well, How many nuts are in an ounce anyway? With all the different sizes of nuts out there, remember that an ounce really varies. An ounce of almonds is about 20-24 nuts. An ounce of pistachios is about 47-49. An ounce of pine nuts however is just under 160! The more nuts in an ounce, the more you’ll feel satisfied. For an easy way to conquer portions, count your nuts out ahead of time and put them in separate baggies for great on -the-go snacks.

So now you know why you should eat nuts and how many you should eat. But how should you eat them? Nuts are delicious on so many different dishes. My favorite way to add nuts to my diet is by sprinkling some cashews over my salad. In pastas, pine nuts, cashews, or even almond slices taste amazing and add a little crunch. Nuts also go great in desserts however. Sprinkle some crushed nuts like pistachios over your non-fat frozen yogurt or even on fruit salads. Nuts are great on their own or as part of a trail mix for extra energy when you’re hiking. Toast nuts to bring out even more flavor.

Here’s what to look out for when you’re grocery shopping. Go for nuts with clean, crack-free shells for the best quality. Remember however that pistachios are usually in open shells when they’re sold. Remember to store nuts in sealed containers in the fridge to keep them their freshest. If you haven’t added nuts to your daily diet, I hope my podcast today will encourage you to pick some up next time you’re at the grocery store. A warning though, allergies to nuts and peanuts (which aren’t nuts but actually legumes) are pretty common. Make sure you’re aware of all your allergies before consuming nuts. If you want some great recipes using nuts, check out Diet.com’s Recipe section and do an ingredient search for recipes involving your favorite kinds of nuts.

If you have any comments or suggestions about today’s podcast, or any fun health diet or fitness tip, please feel free to email me at LadyDietPodcast at dietdotcom.

This is Lady Diet, signing off…