The 3 Astonishing Reasons Overeating Nuts Effortlessly Leads to Shed Pounds

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Yes, you read that right. Eating a lot of nuts causes weight loss. And no, we’re not talking about some specific kind of nut that’s only found in the Amazon. Instead, studies have shown over and over again that eating almost any kind of nut (walnuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, cashews) has this effect.

But how can this be? Surely there must be something that can explain how people who overeat nuts don’t experience any weight gain and often even lose weight? Well, let’s dive in!

Researchers Found Something Surprising

Let’s first start with how researchers became interested in this topic.

A while ago, researchers found something surprising. They found it in multiple studies: nuts don’t cause weight gain. In fact, sometimes they even cause weight loss. Here’s what scientist originally found in their studies:

Nurses’ Health Study

The Nurses’ Health Study includes over 120,000 female registered nurses aged 30 to 55 at the start of the study in 1976. The follow-up period for this study was between 8 – 20 years.

• Frequent nut consumption: Linked to less weight gain in women over an 8-year period. Frequent consumption means eating nuts at least twice a week. Women who ate nuts often gained less weight than those who rarely or never ate nuts.
• Obesity risk: The study found that frequent nut consumption caused a lower risk of becoming overweight or obese over time.

PREDIMED Study

They included 7,447 individuals. They were men aged 55-80 and women aged 60-80. They were at high risk of heart problems but did not have heart disease when the study started. One group of participants received 30 grams of mixed nuts per day (15g walnuts, 7.5g almonds, and 7.5g hazelnuts). They also ate a Mediterranean diet.

• Weight change: The Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts led to a mean weight loss of -0.43 kg (about 1 pound). This was compared to the control diet over the study period.
• Waist circumference: Decreased significantly in the nut group. It decreased compared to the control group.

You Unintentionally Start Compensating

This is also called “The Dietary Compensation Strategy”. The dietary compensation theory suggests that when people eat high-calorie foods, they may adjust their later food intake to balance their energy intake.

This means that if someone eats a high-calorie snack, they might eat less at their next meal. Or, they might eat less later in the day to make up for the extra calories. This theory is significant in understanding eating behaviors and managing weight.

One way researchers tested this is by getting two groups of people and giving them two slightly different smoothies. One of the smoothies had 48 grams of walnuts, the other group had an identical smoothie but with walnut flavoring. Also, the groups didn’t know what smoothie they had and couldn’t taste the difference.

After four days of this study, the researchers found that the walnut-flavoring group was much less satiated. As a result, they were hungrier and probably ate more for lunch. In other words, a big part of the reason why nuts don’t cause weight gain is that they are so filling that you just don’t want to eat a lot more.

It’s estimated this is around 70% of the reason why nuts don’t cause weight gain.

But that’s not the whole story.

You Flush Fat Down The Drain

This is called “The Fecal Excretion Theory”.

In simple terms, the fecal excretion theory explains that not all the calories we eat are absorbed by our bodies. Some are lost in our feces, which can help in managing weight because we end up with fewer net calories. This is why foods with high fiber or certain types of fats can be helpful in a healthy diet.

Nuts are a good example of this. They are high in calories, but they also contain a lot of fiber and fat that aren’t fully absorbed. Studies have shown that when people eat nuts, they excrete more fat in their feces, which means they’re not absorbing all the calories from the nuts.

It’s estimated this is around 10% of the reason why nuts don’t cause weight gain.

Your Metabolism Gets A Giant Boost

Flavonoids are natural compounds found in plants, including nuts. They are known for their antioxidants. Antioxidants protect your body from damage by harmful molecules called free radicals.

When you eat nuts that contain flavonoids, these compounds help your body in several ways. We’re sure about this because in certain studies we found that drinking grape juice vs. grape-flavored juice results in weight gain for the grape-flavored juice but not for the people that only drank grape juice. And yes, both of these groups got the same calories and sugar.

So how do flavonoids cause weight loss? They do so in three ways:

• Boost metabolism: Flavonoids can increase your metabolism, which is the rate at which your body burns calories. A faster metabolism means you burn more calories, even when you’re not exercising.
• Fat breakdown: Flavonoids can stimulate the process of breaking down fat stored in your body. This process is called lipolysis. By promoting lipolysis, flavonoids help reduce the amount of fat stored in your body.
• Reduce fat absorption: Some flavonoids can limit the amount of fat your body absorbs from the food you eat. This means less fat is stored, and more is excreted from your body.

It’s estimated this is around 20% of the reason why nuts don’t cause weight gain.

Stefan K.

Stefan has been vegan since 2019 and has been regularly working on his strength since the beginning of 2023. He’s on a mission to help other vegans get stronger and have all of them achieve the quality of life they deserve.