DASH or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension recommends nuts as part of a heart healthy diet.  This recommendation is related to the desire for people to eat a diet much lower in saturated fat.

Saturated fat exists in plant foods like nuts in very small amounts.  If 50 grams of a specific nut has less than 4 grams of saturated fat is qualified for inclusion in the DASH diet.  DASH has been proven to help lower cholesterol and weight.

Nuts that qualify if eaten in one and one-half ounce servings are almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, hazel nuts and pistachios.  They have to be eaten unsalted to be included in a DASH diet.

Almonds appear on many “super-foods” diets.  A one ounce serving is 20-24 shelled almonds.  These contain 35% of your daily recommended amount of Vitamin E.  Vitamin E got bad press in a heart study recently.  The study used a synthetic Vitamin E in only one of its 8 naturally occurring forms.  Nuts, especially Almonds contain all 8 forms of Vitamin E.

Other nutrients associated with nuts are magnesium, manganese, zinc, phosphorus, protein and fiber.

Remember, nuts are a food.  You need many varieties of food.  Limit yourself to 1.5 ounces per day.  Remember nuts are high in fat so they are high in calories.  This helps you feel full longer but can also cause you to gain weight if you over indulge.

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