This Nutty Diet Can Help Prevent Unwanted Weight Gain

Unsplash/Mira Bozhko

Trail mix fans, rejoice. We have the best nutritional news for you since… well, recently, when everyone realized that high-fat, low-carb diets are actually the key to a longer, healthier life.

The latest intel from Loma Linda University’s School of Public Health and the International Agency for Research on Cancer revolves around one of the densest, healthiest forms of fat: the nut. Over their five-year study, the researchers analyzed diet and lifestyle data of 373,000 people between the ages of 25 and 70 from a selection of 10 European countries. In their review, a nutritional epidemiologist from the IARC found that the study participants who included the most nuts their diets not only gained less weight than their peers who skimped on this food category, but also had a 5 percent lower risk of becoming overweight or obese.

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“To me, this confirms that nuts are not an obesogenic food,” senior investigator Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH, said in a statement. The study’s positive findings included the consumption of peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and walnuts.

Weight management aside, nuts promote a plethora of additional health benefits. They are loaded with important micronutrients and antioxidants, aid in lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and can reduce inflammation. Nuts are also extremely healthy for your heart, thanks to their density of good fats and omega-3 fatty acids.

So we give you permission (not that you need it) to stop fretting about how calorically dense nuts can be and start taking advantage of their major nutritional perks. Your body — and your taste buds — will thank you.