Natremed

Nuts are a great source of many nutrients including B vitamins, zinc, magnesium, calcium, iron, good fats and are a great source of energy.

There are so many delicious nuts for you to enjoy, each with its own unique flavour, texture and dietary benefits. Nuts offer a large range of healthy fats, minerals and vitamins, thus are a wonderful source of nutrition. Nuts have been part of a healthy diet since hunter gather times. It is recommended you eat at least 15 raw nuts a day to get the maximum health benefits.

Preparation:

Eaten raw, toasted, crushed or by the handful, nuts are a versatile snack and can be added to stir-fry’s and cakes or made into spreads, pesto’ and pastes. To get optimal nutrition from your nuts - eat them raw, unsalted and straight from the shell to preserve the vitamin content and reduce oxidation of the healthy oils. Store nuts in an air tight container in the fridge or pantry to ensure the fats do not oxidise. One serve of nuts is roughly one handful, or 15 nuts.

Medicinal Uses:

Blood Sugar Regulation

Nuts comprise of relatively large amounts of polyunsaturated and monosaturated “good” fats per serve, which can make them unpopular in regard to weight loss. Fats, however, are needed by our body for energy and appetite suppression and should make up 20-30% of your daily energy requirements. The trick is to make sure you are eating primarily monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats, not saturated fats. Nuts are also high in protein, energy and fibre. Substituting biscuits and pastries for a handful of nuts at snack time will help you feel full and satisfied for longer. With this in mind nuts can potentially improve insulin sensitivity and play a part in weight loss programs.1-2 serves of nuts a day is great way to control sugar cravings by maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Research currently shows that the inclusion of nuts as part of a healthy diet can improve insulin levels³

Useful for the following conditions:

Diabetes, weight loss, poor concentration due to low blood sugar, appetite control, vegetarians.

Antioxidant

The vitamin E found in nuts helps to protect your cells and tissues from free radical damage. A handful of mixed nuts will give you 20% of your daily vitamin E requirement ³.

Useful for the following conditions:

Aging, high cholesterol

Reduces Cholesterol Levels

A great way to improve your cholesterol levels is to maintain a healthy diet. This means eating foods that are rich in polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats (good fats), whilst reducing foods that are high in saturated fats (bad fats). Saturated fats increase HDL & triglyceride levels which promote inflammation. The good fats, on the other hand, help manage your cholesterol levels by increasing LDL levels. The high fibre from nuts helps the body to excrete cholesterol from the body.

Useful for the following conditions:

Hypercholesterolemia, high triglyceride levels. The high fibre from nuts contributes to healthy bowel function and lowers cholesterol levels

Cardiovascular Health

By improving glucose tolerance, reducing inflammation and lowering cholesterol (HDL), nuts play an important role in cardiovascular health ¹. The healthy oils, antioxidants and key nutrients (selenium, Vitamin E, zinc, folate, magnesium and calcium) protect the heart, minimising the risk of cardiovascular disease ². Macadamia nuts contain the highest amounts of monosaturated oils, whilst recent research focuses on the role of walnuts and the heart.

Useful for the following conditions:

Prevention/ reduced risk of coronary heart disease

Recipe Ideas:

• Sprinkle cashews on top of stir fry
• Add walnuts, pistachio, brazil nuts or pecans to a smoothie
• Enjoy yoghurt, fruit and nuts as a snack
• Have a handful of nuts as a snack with or without dried fruit
• Add crushed nuts to banana and honey on toast.
• Bircher muesli with nuts
• Make pesto with almonds, pine nuts or pistachios, olive oil, parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
• Crush walnuts, almonds or pistachio onto grilled fish

Cautions:

Children under 5 should not eat whole nuts due to choking hazard (use nut pastes), those with tree nut allergies, elderly with poor dentition.

Conclusion:

Nuts are a great source of many nutrients including B vitamins, zinc, magnesium, calcium, iron, good fats and are a great source of energy. Incorporate these tasty morsels into your day for their great taste and enormous health benefits. Further research into these wide ranging health benefits especially in regards to insulin sensitivity and dyslipidemia is warranted.

Nutritional information: Nuts – per 100g³

References: 

1. Tsai CJ, Leitzmann MF, Hu FB, Willett WC, Giovannucci EL (2004), Including walnuts in a low-fat/modified-fat diet improves HDL cholesterol-to-total cholesterol ratios in patients with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, vol 27, issue 12, pp. 2777-83.

2. Rajaram S, Sabate J (2006),Nuts, body weight and insulin resistance, Journal of nutrition, pp79-86

3. www.nutsforlife.com.au