(NAPSA)—Eating a handful of pecans—about 20 halves—can help you stay in synch with the most recent dietary guidelines, the best model yet on how to eat and live healthfully. That’s be- cause pecans are heart-healthy, nutrient-dense and can be a healthier alternative to meat. According to thesm fi eat most of your fats from hearthealthy sourceslike “fish, nuts and vegetable oils.” Nuts are rich in heart-healthy fat, so it doesn’t take manytofeel full. In fact, recent research suggests that eating nuts has a beneficial effect on the waistline. In addition, pecans are rich in antioxidants. “Although nuts are energydense, they are also extremely rich in vitamins and minerals and pack a lot of nutrition into a rela- tively small package,” says registered dietician Kimberly Lummus. Just a handful offers vitamin E, calclum, magnesium, potassium, zinc, fiber and more antioxidants than any other nut. In fact, pecans ranked #13 of the top 20 foods with the highest antioxidant capacity and #1 amongall nuts. The dietary guidelines are based on the best science avail- able today. “Americans should take these guidelines to heart and eat a nutritionally balanced and antioxidant-rich diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts like pe- cans, seeds, legumes and whole erains,” says Lummus.
