People don't eat salted nuts because they are high in fat and calories, but a new study shows that eating peanuts before a meal can lower blood pressure and be good for people in their weight loss process. If you eat some peanuts before a meal, it could help you lose weight. If you eat salted peanuts twice a day before your meals, you can lose weight, lower your blood pressure, and improve your fasting glucose levels. This means that your blood sugar will stay stable between meals. Peanuts are a food that most Americans eat every day. The National Peanut Board says that in 2021, the average American will eat 7.9 pounds of peanuts. They are cheap, easy to prepare, and full of nutrients. Even though peanuts are classified as a legume by botanists, they are often eaten with nuts. But, like other nuts, peanuts have a lot of calories. Some weight loss plans say you can't eat peanuts, but if you eat a balanced diet, they probably won't hurt your efforts to lose weight and may even help. Nutrients in peanuts can help control food cravings and make you feel fuller, so you eat fewer calories overall. Gradual weight gain is a normal part of getting older, but long-term observational and clinical research has shown that eating peanuts and nuts regularly is usually linked to a lower BMI over time compared to not eating nuts. People who eat nuts and peanuts generally gain less weight and sometimes even lose weight. Peanuts have a lot of calories, but when nuts are part of a person's diet, they tend to naturally change how many calories they eat overall. This can lead to a net zero difference in overall energy consumption or even a negative energy balance. Peanuts are good for your heart because they contain mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids instead of saturated fat. Raw peanuts don't have much sodium on their own, but a lot of peanut products that have been processed have sodium added, which may reduce the heart health benefits. Even though they are small, they have a lot of dietary fiber and protein. Peanuts are also full of vitamins and minerals, especially potassium, magnesium, calcium, and folate. There is no doubt that the health benefits go beyond just losing weight. Benefits Of Peanuts for Weight Loss Based on what peanuts contain, there are three ways they can help you lose weight.
- Satiety
By far, the most important thing about peanuts for weight loss is how they make you feel full and how your diet changes as a result. When peanuts are part of a diet plan, people often say that they feel fuller. Fewer cravings and hunger pains make it easier to stick to a healthy diet and lead to eating less, which helps you lose weight. This is likely because peanuts have a lot of protein and fiber in them already. Researchers are also looking into other ways that peanuts may make you feel full and make up for the calories they have.
- How Blood Sugar Reacts
Some research shows that peanuts have a low glycemic index, which means they don't cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly. This could make people less hungry and help them lose weight. It can help control blood sugar levels especially well when eaten with other high-glycemic index foods or meals with a lot of carbs.
- Spending on energy
Some evidence also shows that eating peanuts raises the amount of energy used while at rest. This means that people who eat nuts often naturally burn more calories. It is thought that this may be partly because unsaturated fatty acids are easier to break down than saturated fats. Peanuts contain unsaturated fats that are more likely to be used as energy than to be stored as fat. Protein in food also has a high thermic effect, which means it takes more energy to break it down and take it in. There needs to be more evidence to confirm this finding, but peanuts may have the right mix of nutrients to help with weight loss in ways that go beyond helping to control calorie intake.
- Potential Risks
Peanuts can help you lose weight, but if you are allergic to them, you might not be able to. A 2017 report from the National Academy of Sciences says that peanut allergies are one of the most common food allergies. They affect about 2% of the population. There are some ways to treat a peanut allergy, but most of the time, you have to stay away from peanut products. Peanuts have also been linked to the risk of getting sick from aflatoxin, and they have been the cause of several recent outbreaks of foodborne illness. Aflatoxins are toxic byproducts of mold, and peanuts are especially likely to grow mold during the early stages of processing. Peanuts have a lot of water when they are picked, so they need to be dried before they can be stored safely. If the peanuts are handled or dried wrong, mold can grow, and aflatoxins can be made. As part of the food industry's framework for food safety, the FDA has put in place compliance guidelines, so contamination is rare. In the same way, peanuts and peanut products can be contaminated with salmonella when they are being processed. Salmonella bacteria like to live in peanut butter because it is a good place for them to stay for a long time. As recently as May 2022, there were large-scale outbreaks. In 2009, the contaminated peanut butter caused a very large outbreak that sickened over 700 people and killed 9. Even though the risk is not big enough to make people stop eating peanut butter, they should be aware of food safety recalls. Lastly, it should be said that while research has shown that eating peanuts as part of a healthy diet is good for you, eating more than 1-2 servings per day is likely to hurt your efforts to lose weight. Don't eat too many, and make peanuts part of a healthy diet. Peanuts can be eaten in many different ways, and their nutritional value can vary a little bit from one way to the next. Not surprisingly, eating whole, roasted (preferably unsalted), peanuts is one of the best approaches to getting the protein, fat, and fiber that peanuts are known for. Peanuts are a healthy snack that can also be used as a crunchy topping for salads or Asian-style noodle dishes. Keep in mind that boiled peanuts look like they have fewer calories because they are usually served in their shells. So, the size of the other portion is smaller. Because salt is added to the traditional way of preparing boiled peanuts, they tend to have more sodium, but they are still a good way to eat peanuts. Peanut flour or powder is appealing because it has fewer calories and more protein than other peanut products. Most of the time, it is partially or fully defatted, so you may lose some of the heart health benefits. But the food's nutrient profile could be very helpful for some ways to lose weight. Peanut flour can be used in place of wheat flour in baking, as a tasty addition to a smoothie, or even mixed with liquid to make a spread. Peanut butter is a cheap way to get the health benefits of peanuts, but you give up some of the nutrients in the process. Many brands of peanut butter have extra ingredients, so your best bet is to look for natural peanut butter that only has peanuts, salt, and maybe an oil. Peanut butter is an extraordinarily flexible meal that can be used in a wide variety of applications. It may be used as a spread on whole grain bread, as an ingredient in smoothies, baked goods, or snacks, as a flavoring for savory sauces, and a great many other things. Peanut oil is not the best way to lose weight with peanuts because the refining process takes away many of the important nutrients found in whole peanuts.
- Why do peanuts stand out?
Peanuts have seven grams of protein, almost three grams of fiber, and 19 different vitamins and minerals in one serving. Because of this, the group that ate peanuts got 15 grams more protein every day. Even though peanuts are healthy, what about the salt that coats them? Lightly salted peanuts have about 90 to 100 milligrams of sodium per serving. Peanuts are high in arginine, an amino acid that relaxes blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. Magnesium, a mineral found in peanuts, helps keep blood pressure in check. When eaten in the right amount, peanuts are a wonderful addition to a healthy weight loss plan. Heart-healthy fats, protein, and a lot of fiber make you feel fuller and eat fewer calories. People might think that because peanuts are high in fat, they should be avoided. However, research has shown that eating peanuts does not make you gain weight and can even help you lose weight in some situations. Also, eating nuts like peanuts as part of your daily diet has some other health benefits. So, if you want to lose weight, enjoy your favorite peanut dishes and snacks in moderation.