National Pecan Month: How to Incorporate More Nuts in Your Diet

April is National Pecan Month, and it’s a great time to re-explore this versatile and delicious ingredient. And while you may be most used to this buttery, rich-tasting nut as a holiday dessert ingredient, its high levels of healthy fats and immune-boosting antioxidants invites you to enjoy these nuts all year long.

Cracking the Nutrition Nut: What Makes Pecans Healthy?

Experts recommend that we eat approximately four servings of unsalted nuts every week, especially if our goals include warding off diseases such as heart disease. But not all nuts are created equal. For example, compared to eight common nuts, pecans have far more antioxidants. For example, a single 100-gram serving of pecans has the following nutrition data:

• Calories: 691
• Protein: 9 grams
• Fat: 72 grams
• Carbohydrates: 14 grams
• Fiber: 10 grams
• Sugars: 4 grams
• Copper: Nearly 40% of your RDA
• Vitamin B1: Nearly 20% RDA
• Zinc: Nearly 15% RDA

The exceptionally rich amount of copper is very important to point out. This essential mineral is “implicated in regulatory mechanisms” of all cells, reports researchers, including and especially your immune system’s cells. This means pecans help provide the literal building blocks for a strong immune system (and other systems in your body, too).

And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the health benefits of these delicious nuts. Pecans are especially potent when paired with BioPro-Plus 500, our 100% natural immune system supplement which has no known side-effects or contraindications. This drug-free supplement is not a medication, but an aid to restore your body’s own natural immune response, and it works beautifully in tandem with healthy foods like pecans.

How Pecan Nuts Boost Your Health

Nuts’ Healthy Fats Help Manage Your Cholesterol

More than half of all American adults are either currently taking medicine for high cholesterol, or could benefit from such drugs, reports the U.S. CDC. Mother Nature can help. These nuts are one of the best sources of monounsaturated fats, which have long been studied for their beneficial impact on your general cardiovascular wellness. Of the fat found in pecans, approximately 60 percent of that fat is healthy monounsaturated fat.

Multiple studies, including one that focused on total cholesterol and one that honed in on bad cholesterol, found that eating these nuts significantly improved cholesterol numbers.

Few other foods can compete with pecan nuts. “Only olive and canola oils compare favorably with high quality cold pressed pecans,” explains Texas A&M University and most canola oil on the market is not cold pressed, is commonly GMO and/ or hydrogenated.

Nuts Make You Smarter

Every 3.2 seconds, someone receives a medical diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. And it’s not just a disease that afflicts aging Americans, with growing rates of dementia and other memory concerns in increasingly younger members of the public. Nuts, and specifically pecans, can help.

“Pecans and other nuts are…an important part of the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) that has been associated with protection of the brain and the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,” notes New Mexico State University. “The MIND diet, which includes the consumption of 10 brain health food groups, recommends nuts as one of those food groups. A study showed that people with the highest MIND diet scores had brains that were about 7.5 years younger than people with the lowest MIND diet scores.”

In one study, people who ate only 10 grams of nuts a day were 40% less likely to struggle with learning, memory retention, creativity, and other markers of poor cognition.

Tips For Adding Pecans and Other Nuts to Your Day:

• Combine them with healthy supplements that support the same wellness benefits as pecans, such as BioPro-Plus 500 for your immunity
• Avoid eating too many nuts that are seasoned, such as salted nuts or sweetened nuts
• Add nuts to uncooked treats
• Use nuts as a flavorful, texture-boosting garnish on dishes such as salad or pasta
• Toss some pecans into your morning smoothie to make eating more nuts completely effortless

Don’t just celebrate pecans in April! Go nuts for nuts all year long and see the benefits to your health.

References:

• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/nuts/art-20046635
• https://richmond.ces.ncsu.edu/2021/04/national-pecan-month-celebrating-the-history-and-health-benefits/
• https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170182/nutrients
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4339675/
• https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/facts.htm
• https://americanpecan.com/health-nutrition/the-nut-in-nutritious/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31856379/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10719404/
• https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/fact-sheets/pecans-as-a-health-food/
• https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_e/E138/welcome.html
• https://www.alzint.org/about/dementia-facts-figures/dementia-statistics/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30697633/