Walnuts and diabetes are like paracetamol and headache. Although many people try to wave off this idea when they don’t have adequate information on how walnuts have proven to be most effective in treating diabetes.
In this article, I am going to share with you 3 powerful secrets I have come across in my dealings with walnuts when it comes to the treatment of diabetes.
What are the benefits of eating walnuts if I have diabetes?
If you have diabetes and trouble with high blood sugar, you might want to make this one of your mainstay snacks: a handful of walnuts.
Walnuts are already in a heart-healthy league of their own because of their cholesterol-improving powers. And now a small new study suggests that eating walnuts every day may help give blood vessels a much-needed tune-up in people with diabetes.
In the study, people with type 2 diabetes were asked to eat about 2 ounces of walnuts every day. After 8 weeks, endothelial function improved significantly in the walnut eaters. Why is this good news? Because endothelial cells — that thin layer of cells that lines the inside of blood vessels — may be one of the first places to go bad when people with diabetes start developing vascular disease.
Compared to other nuts, walnuts have higher amounts of alpha-linolenic acid, which may help protect against plaque formation in arteries. Walnuts also are a great source of an amino acid called L-arginine, which helps relax blood vessels and control blood pressure. And surprisingly, the nut eaters in the study didn’t suffer any deleterious effects to their weight and waist sizes. Could be all the protein and fibre in walnuts helped the study participants eat less overall.
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What nutrients are in walnuts?
Walnuts have a lot to offer, not only in flavour but in nutrition. The California Walnut Board describes walnuts as being a “powerhouse of important nutrients for optimum health.” Why? Let’s take a look. Here are key nutrients found in walnuts:
One ounce (about ¼ cup, or 12 to 14 halves) contains:
- 190 calories
- 4 grams of carbohydrate
- 18 grams of fat (13 grams are unsaturated, 1.5 grams are saturated)
- 4 grams of protein
- 2 grams of fiber
- 0 milligrams of sodium
Nuts are high in calories and that’s due to their fat content (portion control is a must!). However, the good news is that the type of fat in walnuts is good for you. Walnuts have omega-3 fatty acids (types of polyunsaturated fatty acids) that have anti-inflammatory properties.
Also, nuts are low in carbohydrates and contain a respectable amount of protein, making them a good choice if you have diabetes.
Walnuts and diabetes should be found together because walnuts takes care of diabetes