Nuts, Seeds And A Healthy Diet

Research has shown over and over that by simply eating nuts you can improve your blood-lipid profiles (cholesterol and triglyceride levels), significantly reduce your risk of heart disease, and lose weight. Nuts are one of nature's best kept secrets. Many of their benefits come from their rich essential fatty acid (EFA) particularly the omega-6 fatty acids and the omega monounsaturated fatty acids. You should enjoy plenty of fresh, raw, unsalted nuts in your diet, assuming that you're taking adequate amounts of omega-3 in the form of fresh-ground flaxseed or fish oil each day to counterbalance the omega 6 fats in the nuts. The ideal balance of omega-6 to omega-3 is around 3:1 or 4:1; the typical American diet provides closer to a 20:1 or 25:1 ratio. Get the good fats in quality vitamin supplements.

When whole nuts a consumed, the oil from the nut enters the bloodstream more slowly, peaks about an hour later, and is rapid flushed out of the bloodstream. This characteristic important, because the longer digested fat circulates iin the bloodstream, the greater the risk of developing heart disease. Nuts are like time release pills with beneficial fatty acids, which helps explain how adding nuts to your regular diet can help lower cholesterol levels.

Nuts are also one of the best sources for natural, vitamin E and a relatively good source for minerals like magnesium and potassium. They also contain the amino acid arginine, which the body uses to make nitric oxide. Nitric oxide improves blood flow to the heart muscle in times of low oxygen levels and also act as a powerful antioxidant. It's really hard to find a food more powerful than nuts to protect your health.

Walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, an Brazil nuts are the best. Almonds, which contain about 65 percent omega-9 fatty acids, exhibit the greatest positive influence on blood cholesterol levels. Other nuts such a hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, and macadamias are also great sources of time release omega-9 fatty acids. Between 55 and 83 percent of their fats are of the omega-9 variety. Even half the fat in peanut (though technically legumes, not nuts) are of this, same basic variety. To obtain good results, you need roughly 3 oz. o nuts a day-though less can still be helpful. A handful weighs roughly 1 oz.

A Seed to Grind

Flaxseed has a long history of commercial use. Recently medical studies have documented its powerful health properties. Flaxseed has cancer fighting ability. This cancer fighter comes from substances called lignans. Flaxseed is one of the richest food sources of lignans. Once ingested, plant lignans can be converted by your intestinal bacteria into mammalian lignans, which have a chemical structure that blocks estrogen activity. Soy and the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen work in the same manner.

There are other contributions flaxseed can make to our health. It is beneficial in the treatment of high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, and atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries). Flaxseed has also been one of the premier forms of constipation treatment for centuries. The whole seeds contain anywhere from 6 to 12 percent mucilage. Mucilage is a slimy, gum-like compound that provides a temporarily soothing and protective coating along the entire digestive tract.

Whole flaxseeds are inexpensive, and grinding them is the best way to enjoy all the benefits of flax. You can find them at your local health food store, or you can order them through the mail. Grind the seeds just prior to using them. An inexpensive coffee grinder is perfect for grinding flaxseed. I have a small, inexpensive coffee grinder just for this purpose. Keep in mind that if the seeds aren't crushed, ground, or broken, they will pass through your system intact, and you won't gain the benefits. Finally, because of flaxseeds' gum-like quality, be sure to drink plenty of water with your ground flax.

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