Snack like the Stars: Celebrity Trainer Valerie Waters Cracks into the New Year Offering Smart Snacking Tips with Pistachios

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- With the New Year upon us, millions of Americans are resolving to better manage their weight and maintain healthier eating habits in 2014. That's why the Pistachio Health Institute has partnered with leading celebrity fitness trainer, Valerie Waters, the secret behind the toned bodies of celebrity moms such as Jennifer Garner, Elizabeth Berkeley and Sasha Alexander to share her mindful eating tips to help anyone get red-carpet ready in the New Year.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140108/CG41644)

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131114/CG16866-c)

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131114/CG16866-a)

As a premier fitness trainer with 17 years of experience helping stars and celebrity moms get ready for movie roles, magazine layouts and award ceremonies, Valerie knows a thing or two about helping people reach their health and wellness goals. Valerie works with celebrity clients to not only look hot, but feel hot too, and this includes choosing the right snacks.  Valerie's secret for getting her celebrity moms "Hot in a Hurry" includes a strategic snack plan that includes choosing satiating, on-to-go foods and selecting foods that give you more for your nutritional buck, such as pistachios. 

Valerie Waters' Smart Snack Tips

• Baby got Snack – "Choose a healthy snack that tastes good and makes you feel good. I love pistachios because they're delicious, nutritious and completely satisfying. In fact, with pistachios you get more nuts per serving – 49 kernels per ounce, compared to 23 almonds, 14 walnut halves and 18 cashews. Plus, a reduced serving of 30 pistachios makes a satisfying, deliciously healthy snack for only around 100 calories!"
• Fuel up with Fiber – "Besides the health benefits, fiber may help you feel full longer, and makes it easier to follow a healthy eating plan. Pistachios are good source of fiber, providing 12 percent of the daily value per 30 gram serving."
• Know the "The Pistachio Principle" – "A mindful snack is a smart snack and when I heard about the Pistachio Principle I really connected with the concept of calorie reduction without restriction. You see, when you snack on in-shell pistachios, just seeing the empty shells may provide the visual cue necessary to curb consumption. Plus, the act of cracking open each pistachio (versus snacking on shelled nuts) may slow you down making it more difficult for overconsumption in one sitting." 

Crack into the New Year with Pistachios

Need another reason to go nuts snacking on pistachios? In a new study published in New England Journal of Medicine, observational researchers at Harvard University looked at how eating nuts may help reduce the risk of mortality, finding that those who ate nuts daily, such as pistachios, saw health benefits nearly double. The study found that people who ate nuts once a week saw a smaller, but still significant risk reduction, while those who ate nuts seven or more times per week had a nearly doubled benefit.

Pistachios make a great, everyday healthy snacking choice for anyone striving to better manage their weight. One more reason to love the colorful nut, pistachios are one of the lowest fat, lowest calorie snack nuts and among the highest in protein.

Pistachios are a smart snack for healthy eaters, and make for a crave-able healthy habit. A naturally cholesterol-free food, 90-percent of the fat in pistachios is the healthy unsaturated type. It's easy to spot the good nutrition provided by pistachios, the colorful nut, which owe their green, yellow, and purple-red colors to the antioxidants and polyphenols found in the kernels and skins. Plus, when it comes to healthy snacking, "The Pistachio Principle" is a great guide for making better choices. Developed by behavioral eating expert Dr. James Painter, "The Pistachio Principle" is a simple mindful eating concept that may help you fool yourself full – without feelings of deprivation. The premise is that consumption of in-shell pistachios may help to slow eating when compared to shelled pistachios because the leftover shells may offer an important visual cue about the amount consumed; thereby potentially reducing calorie intake. Bottom line: Go for a daily handful of pistachios as part of a healthy diet.

About PistachioHealthInstitute.org

PistachioHealthInstitute.org is the leading online source of information on the health and nutrition benefits of pistachios for both consumers and health professionals. It houses a comprehensive research library, with research updates and information from leading experts in the field of health and nutrition, including the Health Nut blog, Ask Our Expert section, and educational materials. The Institute is committed to advancing the understanding of the health benefits of pistachios, and continues to invest and support research at leading institutions around the world. "Like" PistachioHealthInstitute on Facebook and follow @PistachioHealth on Twitter.  For more information about the health benefits of pistachios, please visit www.PistachioHealthInstitute.org.

1. U.S. Department of Agriculture. National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24.
2. Honselman, C.S., Painter, J.E., Kennedy-Hagan, K.J., Halvorson, A., Rhodes, K., Brooks, T.L., & Skwir, K. "In-shell pistachio nuts reduce caloric intake compared to shelled nuts." Appetite. 2011, 57(2):414-417.
3. Painter, J. "The Effect of Pistachio Shells as a Visual Cue in Reducing Caloric Consumption."  Appetite. 2011, 57(2):418-420.
4. Bao et al. Association of nut consumption with total and cause-specific mortality. N Engl J of Med. 2013;369:2001-2011.

SOURCE PistachioHealthInstitute.org