Need a decadent dessert for Thanksgiving Dinner?
One that’s delicious, company-worthy, and keto zone?
These pecan tartlets are all that and a bucketful of health benefits, too.
Here’s a wonderful recipe, four additional Holiday desserts, and all the reasons you’ll want to add pecans.
Ingredients
Crust:
Filling:
Instructions
Timing: Allow 45 minutes prepare and bake, and 2+ hours to cool. They are even better if refrigerated overnight.
Nutrition info (1 tartlet): 248 calories, 26 grams fat, 3 grams carbs, 1 grams net carbs, 2 grams fiber, 3 grams protein
Pecans work great within a keto zone diet.
They are the second highest fat-content nut with the lowest protein and carbohydrates (among tree nuts). Each ounce, or 19 halves, provides 21 grams of fat, 3 grams of protein, and 1 gram of net carbohydrates.
In addition, they are loaded with health-promoting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals.
For keto zone eaters, the benefits of pecans are many.
Studies have shown that a pecan-rich diet can improve blood sugars, beta cell health and insulin sensitivity when compared to other high-fat diets (1, 2).
What’s this mean to you?
When cells are more sensitive to insulin, the body requires less. This improves the cells’ health and keeps metabolism in peak fat-loss mode.
Some foods simply make you feel fuller.
Pecans and other high-fat foods stretch the stomach to signal fullness and directly affect hunger hormones in the brain, such as ghrelin the “hunger hormone.” When pecans reduce ghrelin, it helps you eat less.
Simple carbohydrates, on the other hand, can increase ghrelin levels (3).
What’s more, pecans are rich in manganese. Manganese supports thyroid health and weight loss (4).
What’s better than healthy weight loss?
Weight loss with great daily energy.
Pecans offer minerals that support energy production, and copper is one of the most important. Copper is required in more than 50 different energy-producing reactions in the body. Specifically, it supports the creation of ATP, the body’s source of energy and a key to human metabolism.
In addition, copper is necessary for iron absorption thereby reducing weakness and fatigue.
Pecans are full of antioxidants that reduce oxidative stress in the body including:
Pecans’ antioxidants help prevent carcinogenic compounds from binding to DNA and growing. In research, the antioxidant-increase is measurable 24 hours after pecans consumption (4).
What’s more, magnesium in pecans reduces signs of inflammation including C-reactive protein and interleukin-6.
There’s more. Pecans can:
This Holiday Season, you don’t have skimp on pecans. These rich, flavorful, decadent nuts can be part of a healthy high-fat keto zone lifestyle.
Recipe adapted from joyfilledeats.com