A High-Calorie Snack That Won’t Make You Fat
Posted by admin - 09/07/09 at 08:07 am
If you’re counting calories, don’t count out peanuts. They’re one high-calorie treat that won’t inflate your waist (or your heart disease risk). Do we bring you good news or what?!?
When a group of people added a daily snack of 100 calories of peanuts (about 30) to their diet for 8 weeks, it didn’t affect their weight at all. Because the peanuts filled them up — thanks to the nuts’ fiber, protein, and healthy fats — they naturally cut calories elsewhere. Without even trying.
Peanuts also have two nutritional magic tricks working for them:
1. Their fat and calories aren’t completely absorbed by your gut.
2. You burn off their fat better than you burn off the fat in potato chips or sweet desserts (if only Girl Scout cookies worked the same way!). Your body converts peanuts’ monounsaturated fats into energy more easily than it converts saturated fats.
One more lucky thing happens when you eat peanuts: You don’t get an instant release of dopamine, the pleasure neurotransmitter, which you do with some other foods (say, chocolate shakes). That’s a good thing, because when dopamine is released, you may feel great fast. But when it starts to wear off, you find yourself reaching for more — and more — of what made you feel so fine.
By the way, other nuts, such as almonds and walnuts, may have similar benefits. Also, you can’t eat the whole can of peanuts. But if you don’t trust yourself, count out an ounce of peanuts (about 30), put the lid back on, stash the can on a high shelf, and enjoy.
