Do you have questions about nutrition? Send them to us at comer@lavanguardia.es, our nutritionist Aitor Sánchez will solve all your doubts.
Nuts are very caloric, but they say it’s good to eat them anyway. How many nuts can I take a day without gaining weight? (Alberto Rodriguez, reader)
You have synthesized in a very correct way the unjustified fear that exists around nuts. Indeed, although they are very caloric, it is good to eat them anyway, and in any case they are not related to being overweight or obese.
Truly because a food is very caloric does not mean that it facilitates overweight or obesity, this happens a lot with the case of nuts and also with olive oil. They are energetic, but they are not a risk factor for weight gain.
Obviously, since these are very energy-dense foods, we could not say that they are free to consume because we could spend a large amount of energy in our diet, which is why we usually give recommended portions and say that oil must be used in culinary portions for cooking, or that We could take nuts in an approximate amount of a handful a day.
However, it is not justified to limit its consumption as one of the great priorities of our diet, as if it were very dangerous to exceed these amounts. It is possible to eat more as long as our diet is consistent with it.
Therefore we cannot say that there is a limit amount from which they gain weight, but we can simply include them with an indicative amount (such as those 25-30 grams a day) that correspond to the handful of nuts that I mentioned above.
Ginger has many benefits, but I don’t know how to add it to dishes. At the moment I consume it with water with lemon. Can you give me more ideas? (Josefina Pérez, reader)
Indeed, ginger is a quite interesting spice and one that has become fashionable in recent years because it has been linked to different health benefits. It is known that it can be interesting for our immune system, also to help us with the control of our glycemia, and for its high antioxidant capacities.
Of course, all these effects must be relativized and take into account that a species, especially if it is taken very sporadically and with little weight, will never be able to provide us with such exacerbated benefits, normally in all those studies where we see an interesting contribution of the spices do it with a constant consumption and an abundant grammage of these elements.
Ginger is very common to find in the world of infusions where you can take both striped or laminated with tea or different hot infusions, such as the lemon water you mentioned.
Also in different examples of Asian cuisine it is added ground or crushed to many stir-fries to give it a slightly spicy touch and also greatly enhance the flavor.
Finally, also remember that although it is not the healthiest way to incorporate it into our diet, it can also be present in some sweets to give a spicy contrast to those sweet flavors of some candies or cookies, in these cases it is important to highlight that its properties nutritional benefits would be overshadowed because the final product would not be entirely healthy.