The Simple Snack Swap To Banish Belly Fat

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Ask dietitians, and they’ll recommend you eat almonds.

Not only are the nuts a great source of filling fiber and protein, but they’re also packed with nutrients that fight inflammation, cholesterol, heart disease and cardiometabolic conditions.

Now, you can also tack another item the growing list of benefits for almonds, according to a new study from the Journal of the American Heart Association. Snacking on 1.5 ounces of almonds in place of a high-carb snack may lower bad cholesterol levels and reduce belly fat and waist circumference — key indicators of conditions like heart disease and high blood pressure.

In the crossover experiment, 48 participants with high cholesterol were split into two groups and fed the exact same healthy diet for six weeks’ time. The only difference? One group was fed an ounce and a half of unsalted, whole, natural almonds with skins for a daily snack (clocking in at 253 calories), while the other group was given a banana muffin with butter (packing 273 calories) between meals.

After the initial six-week period, researchers took body measurements and blood samples to track changes before the groups took a two-week break. After that time lapse, the participants switched to the opposite dietary plan for six weeks, and researchers then looked at their stats one more time.

Although both healthy diets produced benefits and a drop in total cholesterol, the almond diet had several key advantages over the muffin diet.

The almond diet lowered total cholesterol significantly more than the muffin diet (-5.0 mg/dL), and this was especially true for the “bad” cholesterol (-5.2 mg/dL) that leaves us at risk of cardiometabolic dysfunction. On top of that, the almonds stabilized the body’s good cholesterol levels (HDL), whereas the muffin snacks reduced HDL by 1.8 mg/dL.

The effects of almonds on cholesterol weren’t entirely new or unexpected, a welcome reinforcement of past research, says study author Claire Berryman, a PhD candidate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University.

The most interesting finding was actually found around the tummy.

Although the participants’ body weight changes did not differ across diets, the almond-eaters saw smaller waist circumferences and lower levels of belly bulge when compared to the muffin-snackers. “We were most excited to see a decrease in abdominal fat, especially over just a six-week period,” Berryman tells Yahoo Health. “That’s very promising, because it’s a quick change leading to results in a short time.”

Why do almonds have the magic touch?

They couldn’t be more nutritionally sound, says Berryman. “Personally, I think the healthy fats in almonds are the driving force, but you also get a whole host of other nutrients like vitamin E, fiber, and protein,” she explains. “They have all the healthy components you’re looking for in a snack.”

Berryman stressed the simplicity of substitution. Although this is just one study, other studies have documented almonds’ overall positive effects — and one swap a day may leads to multiple heart-protecting, fat-busting benefits. “No one has quite looked at such a straightforward method,” Berryman says. “We wanted an easy snack-for-snack approach, with the almonds for the high-carbohydrate muffin.”

The clear-cut results make the plan easy to apply to your daily life, too. Berryman suggests noshing on almonds every day if you’re a fan. Instead of grabbing that muffin, snack cake, or bagel on the go, prep and pack these unsalted nuts instead. “You have to watch your portion size, because they’re still high in fat, so the calories add up,” Berryman says. “We used one and a half ounces here, but a typical serving is roughly a handful — one ounce, or 23 almonds for 160 calories. Even half of that, and you’re still getting a lot of benefits.”

Basically, it’s one simple, satiating snacking substitute for a flatter belly? That’s a change we can embrace in 2015.

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