28 | HealthLinksSC.com IN A NUTSHELL: PECANS GET CRACKING WITH A HEART-HEALTHY WAY TO ADD NUTRIENTS AND VITAMINS TO YOUR DIET By Michael Vyskocil If it’s holiday time in South Carolina, you can bet you’ll find pecans appearing in many dishes. Pecans are synonymous with pie and pralines, but did you know these sophisticated, buttery nuts make a nutritious addition to your everyday diet? Melissa Macher, a Charleston-based registered dietitian and nutritionist with a food science degree, relishes the opportunity to add pecans to the recipes she creates for her cooking and entertaining blog, "A Grateful Meal." “They’re great to add to one’s diet,” she said, noting that pecans contain fiber, protein, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamins A and E and various B vitamins. “In addition to snacking on them by themselves,” she said, “you can add them to your cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, roasted vegetables or salads for an added nutty crunch.” Besides containing these nutrients and vitamins, pecans are also rich in monounsaturated fat, a heart-healthy fat that can help lower LDL – the undesirable type of cholesterol in our bodies, she added. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, each 1-ounce serving of raw pecans yields about 12 grams of “good” monounsaturated fat and zero cholesterol or sodium, according to information provided by the American Pecan Council, a newly formed organization of U.S. pecan growers and processors who are working together to build demand for American pecans. Pecans also contain significant disease-fighting antioxidants. According to the Pecan Council, a 2018 study published in the journal Nutrients found that eating a handful of pecans each day – approximately 1.5 ounces – helped improve specific markers of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Discover delicious ways to add pecans to your seasonal cooking with the following recipes
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