This secret to stronger willpower is just nuts

Eating healthy is hard…especially when you’re dealing with constant cravings for chips, cookies, milkshakes, cheeseburgers… or whatever your particular vice is.

Of course, there are some healthy eating hacks that can help you handle incessant hunger and unhealthy food cravings with willpower and grace…

In fact, as scientists delve into the effect certain foods have on the human body and mind, they’re uncovering more and more foods that quell hunger and make healthy eating a heck of a lot easier.

Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center uncovered one such food in a recent study…

And this food isn’t only nutritious, it’s delicious too. Plus, it curbs uncomfortable food cravings and keeps you satisfied all day long. Best of all, it’s known to heal your gut and ward off cancer to boot.

So what is this wonderful food? The walnut, of course.

This is your brain (and appetite) on walnuts…

Scientific evidence is stacking up in favor of one conclusion when it comes to walnuts…

These tasty little morsels keep you full and cut back food cravings. But why?

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers were wondering the same thing, so they decided to take a look inside the brains of people who’d just sipped down some walnut-spiked smoothies. And here’s what they found…

After drinking smoothies that contained walnuts for five days, study participants had more activity in a part of the brain called the insula when they were shown pictures of drool-worthy foods — like hamburgers and desserts.

The insula regulates cognitive control and attention. So when it’s active, it’s giving you the support you need to pay attention to your food choices.

“This is a powerful measure,” said lead researcher Christos Mantzoros, director of the Human Nutrition Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “We know there’s no ambiguity in terms of study results. When participants eat walnuts, this part of their brain lights up, and we know that’s connected with what they are telling us about feeling less hungry or more full.”

Now, there’s one other factor researchers didn’t mention here…

Walnuts are high in polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). If you remember, a little earlier this year, a study came out that said that people who eat a lot of PUFA-filled food experience a decrease in the hormone ghrelin (which increases hunger) and an increase in the hormone peptide YY (which increases fullness). So that could be playing into the hunger-fighting effect of walnuts too.

Going nuts for walnuts

Have you added walnuts to your shopping list yet? If you have, make sure to buy enough. People in the study ate 48 grams of walnuts per day. That’s about 1/3 cup.

And if you want to do more to keep food cravings down, you should also avoid the food additive BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene). A recent study found it sends your appetite into overdrive.