Walnuts health benefits

Walnuts

• Helps protect against heart disease
• Lowers cholesterol levels
• Good Source of omega-3 fats

Today I am going to post about walnuts , it’s a delicious way to add extra nutrition to your meal , as we all know it is a rich source of omega-3 which helps fight inflammation and also rich in monounsaturated fats those fats are very good for our heart.

Walnuts provides lots of nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, zinc, copper, vitamin B9, B6, E, A.

Walnuts also contribute substantial amounts of dietary fiber which makes them useful in case of constipation

A very new research was done on walnuts and came up by this unique information, walnuts contains a compound called ellagic acid which is considered an antioxidant , it appears to block the metabolic pathway that may lead to cancer , the same compound can prevent the cancer cells from duplicating and can detoxify cancer-causing chemicals , so that’s all very exciting news. Walnuts also contain other antioxidants such as selenium and vitamin E.

Image source:whfoods.org

Shopping for walnuts

When you are shopping for walnuts, keep in mind that they are very sensitive to air and humidity so once you’ve opened the walnuts bag store them in an air tight container and preferably in the refrigerator, personally I keep them in a glass jar with a really tight lid they last longer, it protects them and keeps them from going rancid.

Try to avoid roasted walnuts or any roasted nuts because commercial roasting exposes nuts for very high temperature what that does is that it basically ruins the oils and makes them more harmful to us so maybe you are eating walnuts for cancer prevention and if you are eating roasted walnuts it could be actually harmful more than good for you so what you can do is buy them raw it is very delicious that way but if you prefer them roasted you can simply roast them by yourself at home it is very simple , first preheat your oven to 160 degree no higher then spread the walnuts just a single layer on a cookie sheet put them in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes and you’ve made your own roasted walnuts at home and you have protected the oils that are very healthy for us.

Walnuts make a great snack!

Walnuts make a great snack as is but you can add them to your salads they are great in salads, you can add them to your rice or to yogurt and if you are still using croutons on  your salads consider switching them out with walnuts because croutons are empty calories and most people wants them on their salads for their crunchiness and you can get that from the walnuts, you can also get the healthy nutrients from them that are good for our heart and protect us from cancer.

Walnuts are so healthy grab some and enjoy a healthy delicious crunchy snack!!