Could nuts be one of the secret ingredients to weight loss? Nuts are dense little packages of fat and protein, with most of the fat being the healthful, unsaturated kind. Apart from weight issues, nuts seem to have some protective effects against heart disease. They don’t contribute much in the way of vitamins but make up for it by supplying respectable amounts of potassium, magnesium, and several other required minerals.

Dieters have tended to stay away from nuts because the fat content makes them a high-calorie food. It doesn’t help that we tend to shovel them in as snacks, not as part of meals, but nuts contain very little carbohydrate, so they’re showing up in low-carb diets these days, particularly the ones that emphasize plant-based foods.

Nuts as a meal may not sound very appealing. But cookbooks are full of recipes that incorporate nuts into pasta dishes and the like. And it would be easy for most of us to add almonds or walnuts to a bowl of cereal or low-fat yogurt at breakfast and occasionally eat a meatless lunch or dinner.