健康减肥食谱：多食坚果不会使人发胖(双语)(3)

　　坚果中还含有丰富的膳食纤维，实际上，杏仁、巴西果、花生和核桃可能有助于防止便秘，这抵消了我长期以来对其可能影响消化功能的担忧。坚果蕴含的其它有益物质还包括：维生素、抗氧化剂和其它植物化学成分。所有这些加起来，使坚果成为了一座营养丰富的能量宝库。

　　Now, strong links between nuts and peanuts and better health have also been found in a major study of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and varied ethnic groups — blacks, whites and Asians — many of whom had serious risk factors for premature death, like smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes。

　　但是，据我了解，最近的研究结果与之恰恰相反。于是，我现在每天的早餐、沙拉、三明治和零食中，都有坚果或坚果酱。无论我去哪里远足，都会随身带一袋淡盐花生；我甚至在我的车里放了一罐花生。

　　Before returning to the relationship between nuts and better health, I want to reassure weight-conscious readers that, when consumed in reasonable quantities, nuts are not fattening and can even help people lose weight and maintain the loss。

　　Sadly, for more than half my life, I had avoided some of nature’s most perfect and healthful foods: nuts and peanuts. I had been mistakenly told as a teenager that nuts were fattening and constipating, effects I certainly wanted to avoid。

　　Yes, relatively speaking, nuts are high in fat, and fat contains more calories per gram (nine) than protein or sugar (four calories)， even more than alcohol (seven calories). But a review of studies of large populations here and abroad by Richard D. Mattes of Purdue University and co-authors most often found that adults who eat nuts weigh less than nut avoiders. And children who ate peanuts usually had a lower body mass index than those who did not。