Happy Mother's day to all of you dedicated mums, who celebrate it today!!!
Today...let's go NUTS! There's often a bit of confusion regarding nuts as people tend to consider them too fat to include them into their daily diet. Yes, nuts ARE fat and your daily amount should not exceed a small handful of mixed nuts and seeds per day, but they provide us with extremely valuable calcium, phytoestrogens and omega-3 fatty acids. So, think bone food, hormonal balance, healthy brain cells and cancer prevention!!
Obviously I am talking about unsalted, unroasted natural, if not organic, nuts and seeds!
Know your nuts as each of them provides you a different package of goodness:
-ALMONDS are cholesterol lowering
-BRAZIL NUTS are full of anti-cancerous selenium
-WALNUTS are a fantastic vegetarian source of Omega 3
-PEANUTS (they are not a member of the nut family, but are legumes!) are full of manganese
-SEEDS are full of vitamin E and a lot more (think linseeds/sesame seeds/pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds)
-PUMPKIN and SESAME SEEDS contain phytoestrogens, which may be able to ease menopausal symptoms and can help to increase male fertility.
-LINSEEDS also contain phytoestrogens, which can help reduce menopausal problems and correct your hormonal balance.
What do I do with nuts?
Nuts can be added to your salads and sauces, to your morning porridge or put ground nuts and seeds through your fruit smoothie. Nut pastes spread on wholemeal bread or oatcakes are delicious and filling. Tahini paste made with ground sesame seeds is a useful cooking ingredient found in houmous and other Mediterranean dishes.
And if you forgot to add them to any of your meals, just have a mixed handful of goodness in the evening, chew it thoroughly and enjoy the benefits!
No wonder squirrels are such healthy active little chaps......
If you are a calorie-counter check out this helpful page:
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/calorie_counter/nuts_seeds.htm
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