Pecans Are Amazing

People love pecans. Pecan pie; pecan cookies; roasted pecans; shelled pecans (though the freshest ones are found still in their shells); pecan salad; candied pecans; smoked pecans; salted pecans; spiced pecans; pecan balls; pecan loaves; raw pecans; and all of the above as ingredients in many delicious dishes and treats.

Pecans are full of fats, but it’s the kind of fats many doctors say are better for you than others. Dr. John McDougall (author of The Starch Solution) says that pecans and other nuts can be a part of your diet but shouldn’t be a significant part because of all the fat.

Pecans are also a good source of protein and fiber, the latter a necessity for healthy digestion of all the foods you eat.

Pecans also contain valuable quantities of the essential nutrients thiamine, manganese, and copper. Studies have strongly suggested that pecans in your diet are tied to better heart function and cognition (thinking power).

Pecans are native to North America – they’re not invasive, another plus – and are grown in large quantities in the lower Midwest and southeastern parts of the US – along with a considerable swathe of Mexico. Albany, Georgia, calls itself the “Pecan Capital of the USA,” and Texas enshrined the pecan tree as its state tree more than 100 years ago.

There are written works from the colonial period showing settlers took note of the presence of pecans in the 17^th century and, by the last half of the 18^th century, or perhaps even earlier, were intentionally cultivating them.

Technically, pecans are a stone fruit instead of a true nut. If you were to eat two ounces of pecans, you would be ingesting around 400 calories and over 200 mg of potassium, more than half a milligram of copper, two and a half milligrams of manganese, 5.5 mg of fiber, 8 grams of carbs, 5 grams of protein, 40 grams of fat, half a milligram of thiamine, 70 mg of magnesium, one-fifth of a milligram of vitamin B6, one and a half milligrams of iron, 150 mg of phosphorus, and 2.5 mg of zinc – along with smaller amounts of niacin, selenium, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, and calcium.

Most of the carbohydrates in pecans are present as fiber, which reduces hunger and overeating.

Studies have shown that eating pecans increases the amount of anti-oxidant substances in your circulatory system, which helps your general health and reduces inflammatory stress and some signs of aging. One study suggested that “bad” cholesterol levels in the bloodstream could be reduced by adding pecans to your diet.

Another study proposed that PMS symptoms were fewer and weaker in women who ate pecans (likely due to pecans’ significant manganese content).

Pecans are a very high-calorie food, so when adding them to your diet, it is best to do so in moderation. A few servings a day should be about right. (A few people are allergic to pecans, so they shouldn’t eat them, and neither should dogs; they’re not compatible with the canine digestive system.)

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