The Wonders Of Nuts And Seeds
Hello people!! 🙋🏻♀️Isn’t it exciting to know about another super fantastic, tasty, delicious, very easily added to diet food? — Here are an amazing category of ‘Nuts and Seeds’ which are also known as functional foods that we tend to sometimes ignore their huge benefits. They add a great nutty, crunchy, and delicious flavor to the food they get added. Umm… I can’t stop thinking about my yogurt and granola mix. 😋 Are you a fan too? Or have ever wondered how interestingly nuts and seeds can be added to your diet? We are here with this article to give you some fun and interesting tips on how healthily this tiny and crunchy food can be added to our daily diet.
Before moving to some of the ways to add them. These foods make up an important part of a healthy diet as we all know. They offer key essential nutrients and play a major role in disease prevention by keeping you healthy as you age. Do you want to know about what these contain nutritionally and how they help in overall health and diet? Read below —
All the wonders that Nuts and Seeds do to our bodies —
- Nuts and seeds are high in good fats like monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids and low in saturated fatty acids. The unsaturated fatty acids are heart-healthy, decrease inflammation and improve cholesterol levels.
- A good source of dietary proteins. They make up delicious protein-rich snacks, especially for those who eat few or no animal products.
- Arginine is an amino acid that is important to keep blood vessels healthy. Pumpkin seeds have the highest concentrations of arginine. Walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, etc are also some of the good sources of arginine.
- Nuts and seeds are free of dietary cholesterol and high in dietary fiber.
- They are rich in phytochemicals that act as antioxidants.
- Lastly, they are nutritious with loaded vitamins and minerals like Vitamin E, B6, niacin, folate, magnesium, zinc, plant iron, calcium, copper, selenium, phosphorus, and potassium.
Due to these unique nutrient profiles of nuts and seeds, they are known to provide several health benefits like maintaining weight and reducing the risk of heart diseases and diabetes.
4 Ways to add nuts and seeds to your diet:
- Top it up:
The easiest way of adding them is simply to top your food with nuts and seeds. Top roasted nuts and seeds on your smoothie bowl, yogurt, oatmeal, one-pot meals, salads, fruit bowls, etc. They make up a great addition enhancing the taste and nutrition profile of the dish.
2. Butter them to use as spreads:
All sorts of nuts and seeds can be a great addition to your table. Peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, and a mix of all the nuts butter with seeds can add a great variety on daily basis.
3. Powder and sprinkle:
Powder all the nuts and seeds and stock them up to add them to your curries, stews, etc. This way you will not even know that they are in the food and can be a great way to feed kids who resist eating nuts and seeds. Isn’t this a great idea?
4. Protein balls as snacks:
Make some of the nuts and seeds balls, protein balls, and Choco nutty balls and store them to eat during snack time. This is another great way to avoid unwanted junk at times of cravings.
Though they are great sources of nutrition, care should be taken before consuming them as nuts and seeds might be allergic to certain people. Tree nuts and seeds are common food allergens. Sesame, sunflower, and mustard are some of the seeds that cause most allergies. Peanuts, almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazel nuts, etc are some of the tree nuts that are responsible to cause allergies. The main symptoms of these allergies include raised red bumps on the skin, swelling of lips, tingling of the throat and mouth, itchy skin and rash, tightening of the throat, etc. Ensure you are free from any of these allergies to enjoy the wide range of benefits.
Consume in moderation as portion control is the key. Have a handful of nuts and seeds in the morning as the first thing as fats in nuts and seeds can give a kick start to your day with high energy levels. So hurry up! stock up these tiny nutrient balls (ideally not in round shape though😉) and enjoy your balanced diet. 🤩
References:
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/nuts-and-seeds
https://www.health.harvard.edu/nutrition/quick-start-guide-to-nuts-and-seeds
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/nut-allergies
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123756886100155
