Nutty News!
Recently the Mediterranean-style diet has been heralded
as an extremely heart-healthy way to eat.The main source of far,
which can constitute 35-40% of calories, is monounsaturated fat
from olive oil and nuts, and Omega3 fat from fish.
In the USDA food guide pyramid, 1/2 cup of nuts is equal to one
serving in the meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, and eggs and nuts
group. Ounce for ounce, peanuts and almonds provide about as much
protein as red meat.
Nuts are also rich in calcium and iron, magnesium, copper, zinc
and phosphorous as well as fiber--1 to 3 grams per ounce--few foods
offer as much.
When it comes to lowering "bad" artery-dogging. LDL cholesterol,
you might be surprised to learn that nuts can actually play a key
role in that effort. Scientists have discovered that incorporating
two to three ounces of walnuts, peanuts or macadamia nuts each day
into a low-fat diet helps reduce unwanted cholesterol
How? There may be a correlation with nuts' rich stores of cholesterol-busting
mono- and polyunsaturated fats and soluble and insoluble fiber.
Though nuts are high in fat, it is almost entirely monounsaturated
(about 90%), the kind that many clinical studies demonstrate can
bring down the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) level in the blood without
affecting the level of good (HDL) cholesterol.
