TPC Health Ministries presents Let’s Go Nuts! – Part IV

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For many reasons, nuts should be a staple of every healthy person’s diet. Put aside your fears of their fat content and focus on the many positive nutritional aspects of these crunchy snacks. Many studies have identified nuts as a rare superfood, packed with hard-to-get nutrients. Eating a handful of nuts on a regular basis ensures a healthy dose of antioxidants, Omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein and the good fats, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, which increase good cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol (HDL vs. LDL).

To put it as simply as possible, nuts of all kinds can help you live longer according to a recent study by the New England Journal of Medicine. Here is the first of the nuts that you should go out of your way to incorporate into your diet:

 

WALNUTS

(We’ll be providing recipes using walnuts!)

 

Perhaps the “King” of the nut family due to the amazing amount of nutritional value, walnuts are a must for any diet. Walnuts contain all the typical ingredients of most nuts like protein, antioxidants, and Omega-3 fatty acids, plus other things, like Ellagic acid, a cancer-fighting substance usually found in fruits like pomegranate and strawberries. Ellagic acid has been found to have a beneficial influence on prostate cancer, according to a study published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.

Walnuts are also packed with polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that rid the system of free radicals. A 2011 study published in Food & Function found that walnuts have the highest amount potent of polyphenols compared to any other nut. The study showed that walnuts can fight chronic heart disease by reducing the inflammation associated with heart disease and improving blood flow. Walnuts are one of the few foods that contain melatonin, a hormone that helps control your sleep cycle. While they’re not sleeping pills, eating walnuts regularly might help you catch more quality z’s.