If you haven’t tried Chocolate Almond Walnuts, do it! It’s one of the quickest and easiest recipes.
All you need is four ingredients. Pour them into a bowl, toss them in the microwave, and stir. That’s it.
Plus, it will hold you over for hours during the day. It’s one of my “go-to's” for breakfast when I’m crunched for time.
Besides that though, here are five health-boosting benefits of Chocolate Almond Walnuts (the recipe is at the end of the article):
#1: Helps Control Blood Sugar
This recipe is a triple threat for controlling blood sugar.
First is because of the natural sweetener erythritol, which gives the chocolate chips their sweetness without sugar. According to research published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, erythritol does not affect insulin or blood sugar levels. Plus, they found no impact on triglycerides or cholesterol levels either. The same cannot be said of sugar.
The second is almonds. Almonds are low in carbs and high in healthy fats, which help keep blood sugars low. But it’s almond’s high magnesium content that helps as well. Just one ounce of almonds has 75.7mg of magnesium. That’s about 20% of the daily recommended intake. Just two tablespoons of almond butter has about 24%!
Multiple studies in Diabetes Care and the European Journal of Clinical Investigation have found that boosting magnesium levels dramatically lowered blood sugar levels and helped insulin function.
In fact, a 2011 study in the Diabetes Obesity Metabolism found that magnesium helped reduce insulin resistance even for those without diabetes. So there’s some evidence that it may be a key nutrient to preventing type 2 diabetes. The third ingredient for controlling blood sugar is inulin.
A 2016 study published in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism found a reduction in insulin resistance in those who took inulin. One reason for this is that inulin slows down the digestion of carbohydrates which causes sugar to release slower and not spike blood sugar as much.
#2: Helps With Weight-Loss
Almonds are a common snack food for those trying to lose weight or just eat healthy.
A 2003 study published in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders found that when subjects on a low-calorie diet consumed 3 ounces of almonds, it boosted weight loss by 62% compared to a diet with complex carbs.
Another 2014 study in the Journal of Research in Medical Studies looked at the almond weight-loss connection. They found that overweight women who consumed almonds lost more weight than those who didn’t eat any. Plus, health markers improved and they dropped in waist circumference as well.
However, one of the most surprising studies on almonds and weight-loss was published in the The Journal of the American Heart Association.
In this 2015 study, subjects consumed either a muffin or 1.5oz of almonds per day. Researchers found neither group lost weight! However the almond group dropped inches around their waist, abdominal fat, and fat around the legs. And the almond group decreased LDL and maintained HDL cholesterol.
This may not sound surprising but consider this: calorie count was exactly the same! It was the same amount of calories in the almond and the muffin group. In fact, it was the same amount of saturated fat and cholesterol! The only difference was the nutrients in each snack.
Another waist-reducing ingredient is coconut oil. A small 2011 study of obese subjects found a 1.1 inch drop in waist circumference in four weeks by taking 2 tablespoons of coconut oil each day. Another 2009 study published in the journal Lipids also found a significant drop in waist circumference and BMI by taking 2 tablespoons of coconut oil for 12 weeks.
#3: Helps Healthy Gut Bacteria
There’s a lot of talk today on promoting a ‘healthy gut’.
And it just so happens that multiple ingredients in this recipe support healthy gut bacteria. A 2018 study published in Nutrients found that when 194 subjects consumed 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day for 2 months they boosted their healthy gut bacteria compared to when they didn’t consume walnuts.
Plus, Bake Believe Chocolate Chips have inulin which is a pre-biotic. Meaning: they “feed” your good bacteria. In fact, inulin specifically increases the number of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria which boost your immune system… defend against infections… and fight off bad bacteria.
#4: Helps With Hunger and Burning Calories
When you eat this recipe, you’ll immediately feel how it keeps you satisfied for hours. And there are many reasons for this. One is coconut oil.
Coconut oil contains fatty acids known as MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides) which are not processed the same way as normal triglycerides. In fact, a study in Journal of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics discovered that MCTs can boost how many calories you burn compared to normal triglycerides.
The International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders found that subjects who consumed the most MCTs consumed 256 less calories each day. This would be equal to 1,792 fewer calories by the end of the week! Another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition also found that those who ate more MCTs at breakfast consumed fewer calories at lunch.
#5: Helps with Decreasing Junk Food
A 2017 study in the Nutrition Journal looked at more than 17,000 children kids and adults who switched their snack foods for almonds. Researchers found that this habit alone caused the subjects to eat less added sugars, carbs, sodium, saturated fats, and empty calories.
Plus, they significantly boosted their protein, healthy fats, fiber, and magnesium.