Is Trying To Lose Weight Mad? Well, maybe it should just drive you crazy.
New results published in Nutrients magazine highlight the power nuts have to help you lose weight and lose weight.
UCLA researchers put 95 overweight or obese people, ages 30 to 68, on a diet that provided 500 fewer calories than needed to maintain their resting metabolic rate for 12 weeks, and then for another 12 weeks.
The diet included 1.5 ounces of mixed nuts for half of the group and pretzels for the others (both “snacks” provided the same amount of calories).
Most importantly, only 16.4% of people who eat nuts dropped out of the program, compared with nearly 37% of the pretzel group.
Nuts offer healthy fats and proteins that will keep you full longer than the simple carbohydrates found in pretzels. And while both groups lost weight by week 12, the crazy people were more successful at maintaining weight loss after 24 weeks.
In addition, the nut eaters saw a decreased heart rate and an increase in the level of oleic acid in the blood, the main component of olive oil. It is an immune function regulator and helps lower lousy LDL cholesterol levels.
We are fans of 14 walnut halves a day and the recipes “Mac ‘N Cheese-Less” (with cashew nuts) and “Cashew-naise” in the “What cook when cookbook”.
Remember, nuts are very high in calories – so limit your intake to the 1.5 ounces per day that the study found so healthy.
Mehmet Oz, MD, is the host of “The Dr. Oz Show ”and Mike Roizen, MD, is the chief wellness officer emeritus of the Cleveland Clinic. To live the healthiest life, turn on “The Dr. Oz Show ”or visit www.sharecare.com.
