Weight loss diet: How this trendy nut butter can help you stave off obesity
WEIGHT loss diets usually focus on fruit, vegetables, grains and fish among other healthy foods - but now you can add almond butter to that list. According to an expert, it has the same obesity-fighting benefits as its raw relation.
Weight loss diet: Almond butter can help
Almond butter seems to have gained a cult following in recent years.
Not only is it indulgent in taste, but it comes packed with protein, fibre and good fats, as well as vitamin E, magnesium and potassium.
However, its health benefits may extend further than previously thought.
It could help - in the same way as raw almonds - to fight obesity, by helping people shed excess weight.
Weight loss diet: Almond butter has the same health benefits as raw almonds
Eating almond butter is as good as raw. It’s got all the same health benefits because it’s simply lots of almonds condensed, with nothing added if it’s the good quality kinds.
Lucy Jones, a dietician, said: “Eating almond butter is as good as raw.
“It’s got all the same health benefits because it’s simply lots of almonds condensed, with nothing added if it’s the good quality kinds.”
Almond butter is made by blending almonds in a food processor until the butter forms.
Jones said: “For this reason, you will get the same benefits of reduction in belly fat that research has found with people who add almonds into their diet.”
Weight loss diet: Almonds have been shown to reduce belly fat
Indeed, a study by Penn State University found that people who ate 42g of the nuts a day experienced a reduction in abdominal fat mass, waist circumference and leg fat.
However, while almond butter can be beneficial for trimming your middle - raw almonds are better if you are calorie counting.
That’s because the number they contain is less than that listed on nutrition labels.
Research by the US Department of Agriculture last year found that the number of calories in almonds is dependent on their form.
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Weight loss diet: Whole almonds contain fewer calories than their label says
While almond butter contains the same number of calories as on its label, whole unroasted almonds contain 25 per cent less.
For example if a label says they contain 164 calories, your body is only actually absorbing 123 calories.
Whole roasted almonds contain19 per cent less than the label - this means 170 calories shown equates to 138 calories absorbed.
For chopped roasted almonds it’s 17 per cent less - so 170 calories becomes 141 calories.