I added a mixture of walnuts and dried fruit to a mixed green salad I was making in my home. I smiled as I thought about my changing eating habits.
As a kid, I would have eaten the salad greens and dried fruit, but nuts were off limits on my personal menu.
I was not allergic to nuts. I just did not like their taste. I did not appreciate their texture, either.
My mother added nuts to nearly every baked good, from brownies to cookies to quick breads. She probably knew they were good for us.
Guess what? I either ate around the nuts, picked them out or skipped the treats altogether. Eating around nuts in brownies is a little awkward.
I did like peanuts. However, peanuts are not really nuts. They are in the legume family, the same as beans.
I was missing some nutrition in my early nut-skipping days. Now, nuts are my go-to-snack. I now know a lot more about nutrition than I did as a child.
Nuts of all types provide fiber and protein in our diet. Just like all foods, nuts vary in the nutrition they contain.
Adding some nuts to your diet on a regular basis could reduce your risk of heart disease. Nuts contain fat, but the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats they contain are known to be heart healthy.
B vitamins and vitamin E found in nuts and other foods are linked to healthy skin, protecting against the aging process and promoting healthy skin.
Nuts also are a good source of minerals such as magnesium, copper, potassium and selenium. These minerals play important roles throughout our bodies in complex processes during the release of energy from all foods. Magnesium and potassium promote heart health.
Nuts also vary in their content of health-benefiting phenolic compounds. If you want to impress (or annoy) your friends, let them know that the almonds you are enjoying as a snack contain catechin, epicatechin and gallic acid.
Those are all health-benefiting natural chemicals in nuts. Yes, listing them might be annoying to your friends.
If you have nut allergies, do not start eating nuts because of their health-promoting symptoms. Other foods also provide these nutrients. People with any of the nine allergies currently noted on food labels should pay close attention to the statement starting with “contains” under the ingredient statement.
Try roasting chickpeas and add to salads and snacks for a non-allergenic crunch. See “Pinchin’ Pennies: Hummus, Roasted Chickpeas and More” from NDSU Extension.
Click here to read more ndsu.edu
Photo Credit: gettyimages-richlegg
Categories: North Dakota, General