Natural Peanut Month just one of many reasons to eat more nuts

• If a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is your definition of the perfect lunch, you will have plenty to celebrate in March, especially if you live in Texas.
• March is National Peanut Month, and Texas has the distinction of being the country's second-leading producer of peanuts.
• More than a century after George Washington Carver discovered 300 uses for peanuts, researchers continue to discover reasons why we should eat the nutritious legume.
• Among the benefits being touted during National Peanut Month are recent findings that eating peanuts or peanut butter can reduce the risk of heart attacks and type 2 diabetes.
• Studies have found a 25 to 50 percent reduction in the risk of heart disease when one and a half ounces of peanuts were eaten five or more times a week.
• At the same time, peanuts increase levels of serum magnesium to inhibit platelet aggregation, which is another risk factor.
• The fact that regular consumption of peanuts can also reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes is a timely discovery because the incidence of the disease in children has reached alarming levels.
• Fiber and magnesium in peanuts decrease insulin resistance.
• When subjects were fed peanut snacks, they self-adjusted their caloric intakes and did not add extra calories to their daily diet.
• A recently published study in the International Journal of Obesity showed that when people ate peanuts, they naturally decreased what they ate at other times of the day.
• The good news is that Americans already consume an average of six pounds of peanuts and peanut butter each year.
• Peanuts can be added to a diet in a variety of ways: Spread peanut butter on a slice of whole-grain toast instead of an English muffin with butter.
• Spread some chunky peanut butter on a half of a banana for a sweet, balanced evening snack.