Category: Nuts

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Eat More Nuts

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Blogs/LifestyleMedicine/55500

 

I have to admit as a child I rarely ate nuts.  The closest I got to a nut was peanut butter…on pancakes.  I added more tree nuts to my diet when I drank beer in bars.  The good bars always had good nuts.  That’s where I discovered my love for cashews.  I would pick all of the cashews out of a bowl of mixed nuts.  Still do.

This Medpage article offers up a short summary of the clinical evidence for higher nut consumption.  I eat a small handful of nuts daily.

Cashews and peanuts.

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Peanuts May Lower Cardio Death Risk – Medpage Today

Nut (predominantly peanut) consumption is inversely related to all-cause and especially cardiovascular mortality in African-American and Chinese men and women.

The inverse association of nut consumption and mortality is unrelated to baseline metabolic conditions.

It’s a cardiovascular intervention that literally costs peanuts.

via Peanuts May Lower Cardio Death Risk | Medpage Today.

This is great news.  My unique preference for peanut butter and pancakes turns out to be scientifically heart healthy given my ethnicity.  More peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Pad Thai with crushed  peanuts, spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Update 03.04.15

I ate a mini peanut cup last night.  The jar of dry roasted peanuts was moved from the cupboard to my office.  I have absolutely zero guilt.  It’s for my heart.

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Caramel Pumpkin Mousse Tart with Pecan Crumble – Chew Nibble NoshChew Nibble Nosh

via Caramel Pumpkin Mousse Tart with Pecan Crumble – Chew Nibble NoshChew Nibble Nosh.

“How come when everyone gets together I have to make dessert?”

“Because you make good desserts.”

“I don’t want to make the same thing. Find a recipe that has pumpkin in it but is lighter than pumpkin pie.”

“OK.”

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you cook.  A quick internet search usually produces a number of recipes worth trying.  Reader comments of course can be priceless.  I picked this recipe because I thought to myself, how bad can pumpkin, cream cheese, vanilla pudding, pecans, caramel, vanilla wafers and fresh whipped cream be?

 

 

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Pistachios Improve Metabolic Profile in Prediabetes

via Pistachios Improve Metabolic Profile in Prediabetes.

Beneficial Effect of Pistachio Consumption on Glucose Metabolism, Insulin Resistance, Inflammation, and Related Metabolic Risk Markers: a Randomized Clinical Trial.

This study was funded by the Western Pistachios Association, now known as American Pistachio Growers (U.S.), and Paramount Farms.

Hmm…  The diets were isocaloric and matched for protein, fiber, and saturated fatty acids.  But were the foods identical between the control group and pistachio supplemented group?  Food preparation methods controlled for?  Interesting little study nonetheless.