During
every festivity in India, exchanging boxes of dry fruits and nuts among friends
and relatives is a tradition. But apart from just festive occasions, you should
consider stacking up your kitchen cupboard with dry fruits and nuts especially
almonds or badam. Almonds are one of the most sought-after tree nuts that come
with an intensely dense nutritional profile. They are rich, delicious and
crunchy.
Almonds have gained in popularity of late as a
weight loss super food. Researchers have put forth many explanations as to how
and why Almonds are helpful in making you slim and trim. Previously weight
watchers used to keep almonds out of their diet thinking that the fat content
in Almond could add to their existing fat reserves. But latest studies have flouted
this stereotype and it’s indeed good news for nut lovers who are weight
watchers too.
One
Quarter Cup of Raw Almonds; i.e. 35 grams of Almonds per day is just enough to
help you lose your extra pounds with ease. In a research published in Journal
of Nutrition declared the same. If you are consuming almond butter, 1 tbsp of
butter is just enough for a day’s consumption
Almonds
can help you lose weight in the following ways:
Almonds
are hunger-curbing
Almonds
contain a decent amount of proteins (about 6 grams proteins in 1 ounce of
almonds), fibers (about 3 grams fiber in 1 ounce of almonds) and healthy fats
(about 15 grams fat in 1 ounce of almonds) and each of these contents cannot be
digested easily. Slow digestion of the
fats, proteins and fiber in Almond keeps you full for long and thus curbs your
hunger and unhealthy eating habits.
Almonds
improve metabolic rate
The
high fiber content of Almonds improves your digestive power by cleansing your
bowel efficiently. This helps you get rid of toxins from the body and by
detoxifying your system, you can actually a big boost to your body’s metabolic
rate fostering increased rate of fat burning.
Almonds
can fuel your weight loss exercises
The
high content of monosaturated fatty acids like Palmitoleic and Oleic Acids in
Almonds can be helpful in supplying your body with all the needed energy.
Energy is needed to perform the various weight loss exercises on regular basis
and that helps you in the process of losing fat by increased rate of fat burning.
Almonds
can keep blood glucose/sugar in check
The
high fiber content of Almonds can help to stabilize blood glucose levels by
checking sudden sugar spikes. This helps in weight management as no excess
sugar is left in blood to be converted to body fat.
Almonds
can make you consume lesser calories
According
to research, not all of the calories in Almonds are absorbed by the body.
Researchers opine that almonds may contain 30 percent lesser calories than
mentioned in the nutritional labels. The reason is that the cell structure of
Almonds is rigid enough to allow full absorption of the entire calorific
content of Almonds.
Almonds
support your weight loss efforts
Almonds
are rich in nutrients such as Copper, Magnesium and Vitamin E. This rich
nutritional profile helps you in your weight loss journey. Weight loss consists
in cutting down on calories and going on a weight loss diet. Weight loss diet
will limit your total calorie intake. This may make you deficient in certain
nutrients. Taking almonds will never allow you to go deficient in vital
nutrients and this will support your weight loss endeavors efficiently.
If
you wish to incorporate almonds in your weight loss diet, you can do it in the
following ways:
1.If you are trying to lose weight
through Almonds, you can use the Almonds either raw or roasted or in the form
of Almond Milk or Almond Butter or Almond Powder.
2. To prepare roasted almond, you need to
heat skillet over low flame and then dry roast the almonds. If you want you can
sprinkle some salt to get roasted salted almond or can drizzle the roasted
almonds with honey to get roasted honey almonds.
3. If you want to make Almond Powder, you
need to first soak almonds in water, remove the skin and dry roast the almonds.
Once roasted, you can put the almonds in a grinder and grind almonds into a
coarse powder.
4. If you want to prepare Almond milk, you
have to grind almond along with water in a food processor. Next you need to
squeeze out the milk by making the water-almond mix pass through a muslin cloth
potli.
5. If you want to prepare Almond butter at
home, you need to process the dry roasted almonds for about 30 minutes in a
food processor to get creamy, smooth and thick Almond butter.
6. Almonds can be used for weight loss
effectively but are pretty high in calories (1 ounce of raw almonds contain 162
calories). So, you have to keep in mind the portion size or else you’ll end up
de-railing your weight loss efforts. The best way to keep track of the Almonds
portions is to use a scale initially until you get experienced enough to
understand the right portions for weight loss even without measuring.
7. Also, make sure to use the right kind
of Almonds. It is best for you to go for the lowest calorie Almond options such
as raw almonds (1 ounce= 162 calories) instead of the dry roasted almonds (1
ounce=167 calories) or honey roasted almonds (1 ounce=166 calories) or oil
roasted ones (1 ounce=170 calories)
8. However, if you are planning to consume
raw almonds, it’s always wise on your part to consume soaked raw almonds rather
than the dry raw almonds. By soaking almonds you can boost the nutrients
availability factor of Almonds. Raw almonds come with a tough brown outer skin
that contains an enzyme inhibitor protecting the nuts until germination. This
enzyme inhibitor does not allow proper absorption of nutrients by the human
body. But if Almonds are soaked overnight, the moisture removes the enzyme
inhibitor and the nutrients are made available to your body easily.
9. You can add chopped almonds or almond
powder to dalia kheer, puddings, sharbats, cereals, smoothies, salads etc.
Also, you can add almond powder to flour while preparing the dough for
roti/chappatis.
10. Thus these mini delights in the form of
Almonds can make a healthy weight loss snack. So, make sure to stash almonds in
your bag whenever you are going out. These meaty, crunchy nuts will stop you
from unhealthy binging habits and will help you stick to your weight loss
regime most zealously.
Comments
Post a Comment