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Go Nuts For Your Heart

By Lara Rondinelli RD, LDN, CDE

People with diabetes need to take special care of their hearts because of the increased risk of heart disease associated with diabetes. Protecting your heart includes many things such as exercising, avoiding refined carbohydrates, decreasing intake of foods high in saturated fat (and avoiding those with trans fats entirely) and increasing other types of healthy foods, including nuts.
When I tell my patients to start adding nuts to their diet, they often look confused and say, “I thought nuts were bad for me.” This is simply not true. Nuts are an excellent, natural, health food full of the good fats — monounsaturated and polyunsaturated — and heath benefits and are continually being studied and touted. A 2005 systematic review of the effect of nuts on blood cholesterol found that consumption of nuts including almonds, peanuts, pistachios, pecans, and walnuts, can significantly decrease total and LDL cholesterol levels when part of a heart-healthy diet. Walnuts are unique because they contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid, which may protect the heart by not only reducing cholesterol, but also reducing inflammation. Inflammation is at the root of arteriosclerosis, the build up of plaque in the arteries. Almonds contain a form of vitamin E, which may have possible anti-atherogenic effects too. The FDA has acknowledged this benefit and approved a health claim for nuts stating, “1.5 ounces per day of most nuts may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.”

In addition to the above health benefits, nuts have little effect on blood glucose since they are low in carbohydrates — an added bonus for people with diabetes. They may also help increase the feeling of fullness when eating (or help you feel more satisfied) due to their fiber, fat, and protein content. It has been thought that because nuts are high in calories that eating nuts may promote weight gain. However, recent studies indicate that including nuts in the diet may actually moderate weight gain by suppressing appetite and fat absorption, but more research is needed to understand this better.

Of course, eating a half-jar of nuts is not a good idea. So don’t sit down in front of the TV with the jar or bag of nuts and then realize you’ve overeaten. If people have trouble controlling the portion size of nuts, I recommend throwing a small handful of nuts into a mini Ziploc bag and take it for a snack to work or out on a day of running errands. This way when you are hungry for a snack, you’ll have the perfect portion of nuts.

Here are some great ways to start adding nuts to your diet today:

• Grab a handful of any type of nut for a snack.
• Sprinkle some slivered almonds on your salad.
• Add some chopped walnuts to your oatmeal.
• Coat chicken or fish in pecans, peanuts,or pistachios, and bake.
• Add some chopped walnuts to your high-fiber muffin mix. • Toast a few slivered almonds and mix in with yogurt.
• Add some peanuts to your favorite stir-fry.
• Crunch up your chicken salad with toasted almonds or walnuts.

Check out this recipe for chicken salad with almonds; you can serve it as suggested, on whole-grain toast, or as an appetizer on cucumber slices or whole-wheat crackers.

Toasted Almond Chicken Salad

Serving Size: 1 sandwich
Yield: 5 servings

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 14.5-ounce cans fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped
1/4 cup almond slivers, toasted
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons plain, fat-free yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt*
Dash ground black pepper
10 slices whole-wheat bread, toasted

1. Place chicken breasts in a large saucepan over medium heat. Pour chicken broth over the chicken breasts and bring to a low simmer for 20 minutes or until done. Shred chicken meat and set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients, except bread, and mix well.
3. Add chicken to mixture and toss well to coat. Divide the chicken salad into 5 equal portions. Top one slice of toasted wheat bread with one portion of chicken salad. Top with another slice of bread. Repeat to make 5 sandwiches total.

* Omit one or both slices of the bread to reduce carbs. You can omit salt here and decrease it to 480 mg sodium per serving.

338 calories, 13 grams total fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 59mg cholesterol, 731 mg sodium, 29g total carbohydrate, 5 grams dietary fiber, 27g protein.


Copyright © American Diabetes Association from Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking. Reprinted with permission from The American Diabetes Association. To order this book, please call 1-800-232-6733 or order online at http://store.diabetes.org/.

SOURCES:
1. Mukudde, Petersen, Oosthuizen, Jerling. 2005. A Systematic Review of the Effect of Nuts on Blood Lipid Profiles in Humans. Journal of Nutrition 135: 2082-2089.
2. Sheridan, Cooper, Erario, Cheifetz. 2007. Pistachio Nut Consumption and Serum Lipid Levels. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 26(2): 141-148.
3. Nunez, Perez-Heras, Serra, Gilabert, Casals, Deulofeu. 2004. A walnut diet improves endothelial function in hypercholesterolemic subjects: a randomized crossover trial. Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association 109(13): 1609-14
4. Etherton, Martin, West, Kris-Etherton. 2004. Dietary Alpa-Linolenic Acid Reduces Inflammatory and Lipid Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Hypercholesterolemic Men and Women. Journal of Nutrition 134(11): 2991-7.
5. Zhao, Etherton, Martin, Vanden Heuvel, Gillies, West, Kris-Etherton. 2005. Anti-inflammatory effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids in THP-1 cells. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication 28, 336: 909-17.
6. Coates, Howe. 2007. Edible nuts and metabolic health. Cur Opin Lipidol 18:25-30