I am prediabetic, should I eat nuts?

Your Doctor told you your are Prediabetic and now you have no clue what to eat and not to eat. You have heard that nuts are healthy, and your health care provider wants you to eat healthy. So, nuts might be a good thing, right? Well, except your Doctor also told you to eat less fat and nuts are full of fat! So what should you do? 

No worries. It's not as complicated as it might seem. Eating healthy doesn't have to drive you nuts (ha, ha, ha!). It will all make sense if you keep reading.

Everywhere you read, nuts are treated like the solution to all your health problems. They definitely come up quite often in articles about controlling blood sugar and avoiding type 2 diabetes. It’s true. Nuts are really good for most people's health, plus, they are delicious. Full disclosure, I LOVE nuts!!!

Yet...

Nuts are viscous little treats

You wonder Why? There are many reasons, but here are the main ones.

• Nuts are fat. Mostly good fat, but still, a lot of fat! When it comes to fat, you have to know that on average, 1 oz of nuts covers about 20% of the average person's daily needs. So if you are planning on grabbing nuts for snack from now on, keep in mind that with only about 5 handfuls, you would get your daily dose of fat. I am not saying "don't eat nuts for snacks". We all agree on that, right? But you have to be careful: if you introduce nuts into your daily routine, you have to cut back on fat in other places. Otherwise you will gain weight. It's that easy. You probably know by now that weight loss is one of the first steps to help you reverse prediabetes.

• Nuts add a lot of calories to your diet. Let's say you need about 2,000 calories per day, which is the average for women who are not trying to lose weight (men usually need a bit more, around 2,400). It only take about 3 cups of nuts every day to cover your caloric needs! OK, I know, you are not planning on eating 3 cups of nuts every day. Yet, if you are not paying attention, you might end up swallowing 1 cup of nuts without second thoughts. I can totally eat 2 cups of pecans or almonds while watching a movie! If you don’t get rid of other sources of calories at the same time, you will gain weight. Again!
• Nuts are way too easy to snack on… and on, and on, and on! If you had to peel, cut, and cook nuts, the 2 previous points wouldn't be an issue. But nuts are so easy to nibble on that we often gobble up a huge lot of them without being aware of it. Yes, true, nuts are much healthier than chips or candies so they are a better option for snacking. No question, that's 100% true! The problem is that since nuts are so healthy, we don't have second thoughts or the slightest guilt about devouring them. So we have a tendency to track them less and indulge more. Danger!

Now please, don't get me wrong! I am not telling you to stay away from nuts if you are trying to lower your blood sugar. Far from it! I eat lots of nuts myself, my favorite ones being almonds, pecans, and pistachios. I am with everybody else in saying that nuts are good for us, unless of course allergies are an issue. But nuts are so good for us that they can be tricky to manage. So be really mindful, to make sure you get all the benefits of nuts without the dangers.