Although nuts are an excellent source of protein, they are also full of fats, which can sometimes deter people looking to lose a few pounds.
However, research shows that you can eat almonds and lose weight at the same time.
In a large study, researchers found that including almonds in a calorie-restricted diet helped people lose weight and also improved cardiometabolic health.
Looking at the effects of supplementing low-calorie diets with almonds or high-carbohydrate snacks, it was found that body weight was reduced by about 7 kg on both diets.
Over 1.9 billion people worldwide are overweight, of which 650 million are obese. The study shows how nuts can complement a healthy diet for weight management and cardiometabolic health.
Nuts like almonds are great for snacking. They are rich in fiber, protein and full of minerals and vitamins, but also contain a lot of fat, which can be associated with weight gain.
Nuts contain healthy unsaturated fats that can help reduce inflammation, improve cholesterol levels and promote a healthy heart.
Researchers examined a diet supplemented with almonds and a diet without nuts to determine any effects on weight and cardiometabolic health. Both the nut and nut-free diets resulted in approximately 9.3% weight loss during the study.
However, the almond-supplemented diets also showed statistically significant changes in atherogenic lipoprotein subfractions, which could lead to long-term improvements in cardiometabolic health.
Additionally, nuts have the added benefit of keeping you feeling full for longer, which is a benefit in weight management.
In the study, 106 people completed a 9-month nutritional program that consisted of a 3-month calorie-restricted diet for weight loss and then a 6-month calorie-controlled diet for weight maintenance.
In both phases, 15% of energy expenditure on the nut diet came from unsalted almonds or 15% of energy expenditure on the nut-free diet came from carbohydrate-rich snacks, including baked granola bars or rice crackers.
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