Surely you love nuts, but you think that if you eat them often you will gain weight. These foods have become our favorites to snack between meals or to accompany a beer with friends, but they should be more protagonists in our daily diet. Nuts are pure healthy fat, but they are not associated with weight gain, quite the opposite. It is true that they have a lot of calories, but they are accompanied by fiber, proteins and a good selection of vitamins and minerals.
Although there is a huge variety of nuts, there are few that can resist us Spaniards. In any case, some of them still seem somewhat exotic to us and one of those is macadamia nuts. You may be familiar with these nuts from the famous vanilla ice cream that has made these nuts popular or you may buy them every week at the supermarket. It is the nut with the most fat and also the one that provides the most calories, but this should not matter to you.
If you have stopped to look at the nutritional value table of one of these bags of macadamia nuts, you may have been surprised to find that 100 grams are equivalent to 758 kilocalories. That is, more calories even than those provided by a simple hamburger. Now, these nuts are much healthier and, furthermore, the ideal serving of these nuts is actually around 30 grams, which is equivalent to about ten. The reason why they are so high in calories is that they are very rich in fats: they occupy 77% of their composition.
good fats
Now, it should be noted that the vast majority of these fats are monounsaturated fatty acids, such as those that are abundant in avocados and extra virgin olive oil. As explained by the Spanish Heart Foundation (FEC), monounsaturated fatty acids “can reduce the levels of total cholesterol and LDL [bad cholesterol] when they partially replace saturated fatty acids.” The health portal Healthline highlights that these fats have been associated with a lower incidence of strokes and fatal heart attacks.
“Several studies suggest that eating between eight and 42 grams of these nuts a day can reduce total and LDL cholesterol levels by even more than 10%,” explains Healthline. In addition, this portal also highlights the power of the fat profile of these nuts to reduce inflammation, which also increases the risk of heart disease. Macadamia nuts also appear to provide protection against metabolic syndrome, which is usually the prelude to type 2 diabetes.
In any case, this syndrome can also predispose us to other heart diseases and is characterized by the accumulation of fat in the waist, high blood pressure, high glucose and triglyceride levels, and low levels of good cholesterol, also known as HDL. Nuts with the characteristics of macadamia nuts, in this sense, have been shown to reduce blood glucose levels and also help to lose weight. But how can such a greasy food make you lose weight?
Health improvement
This effect has been associated with the presence of protein and fiber in the composition of these nuts: these are two very effective components in reducing the feeling of hunger and, in this way, these nuts prevent us from eating more kilocalories than we need. The fiber contained in macadamia nuts is also effective in improving the health of our intestinal microbiota: this nut contains 6.3% of this component, so it is a fairly high amount.
“As is the case with many nuts, the soluble fiber in macadamia nuts can act as a prebiotic, meaning it helps feed beneficial gut flora. In compensation, these friendly bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids, such as acetate, butyrate and propionate, which reduce inflammation and protect against diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis,” describes Healthline.
Finally, this health portal lists up to three conditions in which macadamia nuts have proven to be especially healthy. The first is in the prevention of cancer thanks to two components: flavonoids and tocotrienols. The second condition is its ability to enhance brain health, as tocotrienols are considered beneficial in preventing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Finally, eating macadamia nuts often “can help cut your risk of dying prematurely by about a third,” says Healthline.
