Background
For the past 20 years, a low-fat diet has been almost universally recommended for weight-loss. However, quite promisingly, newer research has shown that a calorie-controlled, higher unsaturated-fat diet may produce better weight-loss results. Recent research clearly shows that a higher unsaturated-fat, peanut-rich, weight-loss diet reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 14% compared to baseline, whereas a low-fat diet does not. This clearly means that the type of weight-loss diet you choose is very important for your long-term health.
According to the recent research and studies, a peanut-rich diet is a truly balanced diet and provides a healthy range of “good”, unsaturated fat, fiber, carbohydrate, and protein. This moderate fat diet also allows satisfying foods such as peanuts and peanut butter. Even more importantly, it helps you achieve weight loss and reap cardiovascular benefits.
What is a peanut diet?
A peanut diet typically consists of popular food sources of monounsaturated fats, such as peanuts and peanut butter that may promote better adherence to a calorie reduced diet intended for weight loss.
In general, a peanut diet is taken as follows:
- A handful of peanuts as a between meal snack
- Peanut butter or peanuts every day
- Mediterranean style easy to prepare meals
- Moderate fat intake; not so low that the diet becomes restrictive or dull!
- Olive oil based salad dressings - no diet foods required
- A filling eating plan that will keep you satisfied
What are the benefits of a peanut diet?
A moderate-fat diet with peanuts has benefits during weight loss and weight maintenance because it improves the following risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD):
- Maintains “good” HDL cholesterol levels
- Lowers triglycerides
- Lowers ratio of “bad” to “good” cholesterol (total and non-HDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol)
- Reduces risk from sudden cardiac death
- Lowers risk from type 2 diabetes in women
- Suppresses hunger
- Promotes weight loss
- Protects against cancer
Overall, the peanut-rich diets reduced the risk of CVD by 14% compared to baseline, whereas a low-fat diet did not.
It has also been said that eating a handful of nuts more than 5 times per week can significantly reduce risk of coronary heart disease in men and women by 18-51%.
Researchers from the prestigious Harvard Medical School in USA have now confirmed in the International Journal of Obesity that eating peanuts and peanut butter as part of a Mediterranean, moderate-fat diet can help you to lose weight and keep it off more effectively than the typical low-fat diet. Studies have also shown that snacking on peanuts and peanut butter is a quite effective way to curb hunger without making you eat more, so your calories stay low while you enjoy munching.
In a more recent study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, when peanut snacks were given to people daily on top of what they normally ate, participants subconsciously compensated by eating less of other foods, so that their total calorie intakes hardly changed. What this means is that, because the peanut snacks fill you up so much, you’re less likely to be tempted into overindulging on other foods. So this study really shows that, despite the myth, peanuts don’t result in weight gain, in fact they are a great way to control your appetite.
Now why peanuts may help to control hunger is the fact that peanuts have a very low glycemic index (GI) of just 14. The GI ranks foods according to how they affect blood sugar (glucose) levels. Foods with a low GI (less than 55) are broken down more slowly to produce a gradual rise and fall in blood glucose. The slower glucose is released into the blood, the longer our energy levels will be maintained, hence feelings of fullness and satiety will be maintained for longer. Delaying hunger is an important key to dietary control and weight management.
All in all, since peanuts are packed full of vital nutrients, choosing peanuts in preference to other snack foods can in fact improve your diet overall, as well as help to control your appetite and, hence, lose weight effectively, safely and for long-term.
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