Walnuts make for a great healthy snack. People often have the misconception that having walnuts might expand their waistline. But that is totally baseless. Indeed walnuts are high in calorie content but that does not mean by having a handful of them will make you fat. Instead think of it this way-having a handful of walnuts is equivalent to stuffing yourself with a heavy meal to fill your stomach. Walnuts keeps you filled for hours together. The good thing is that your body is getting some healthy nutrients to keep up to.
Walnuts contain a high content of Omega 3 fatty acids. Nuts are the simplest food supplement and walnuts are the most supreme amongst all. Walnuts are also rich in energy sources and contain health benefit nutrients, vitamins and minerals which are said to be essential for good health. It contains rich sources of minerals like manganese, copper, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium.
Walnuts contain so many health beneficiaries starting from curing stress and depression and it even contains cancer killing properties. It naturally helps in reducing weight also. Let us examine each point in detail as to how walnuts help in boosting our health.
1. Lowers The Risk Of Breast Cancer
Walnuts is said to help reduce the chances of breast cancer from developing. Studies have revealed that having walnuts on regular intervals reduces the growth of breast cancer tumors. The American Association for Cancer Research has declared that breast cancer can be thwarted with having few walnuts each day. So do remember to have your daily dose of walnuts to keep cancer at bay.
2. Good To Have During Pregnancy
Women who are expecting can benefit a lot from having walnuts. It is good not only for the pregnant woman but also for the baby. It contains Vitamin B complex that is essential for the pregnant woman and the unborn. As mentioned earlier, walnuts contain Omega 3 fatty acids and proteins that aid eye and brain development. It helps in lowering blood cholesterol level and increase the HDL level. With regular intake, you will be able to reduce the inflammation of blood vessels as well. During pregnancy stress levels are at its peak, so having walnuts will help de-stress and help relax your blood vessels. It keeps your high blood pressure in check. You will notice that munching on walnuts will keep you filled and satisfied thus keeping your weight in check which is a major cause of concern for most pregnant ladies. Walnuts also contain copper that helps in the proper growth and development of the baby. It also contains antioxidants like vitamin E, manganese, copper and polyphenols which in turn strengthen the immune system. Pregnancy is rather a delicate state and women are more prone to depression. Consuming walnuts miraculously has a healing power to shoot away any form of depression post-delivery. Last but not the least it helps the pregnant woman to have a peaceful sleep as it keeps the melatonin levels down.
3. Reduces Stress Levels
With all the rush and madness our health goes for a toss and our stress level increases. It is very much difficult to saturate the two levels. Researches have revealed that having walnuts help to combat and fight against stress. It is said that eating walnuts and including walnut oil in our diet helps lower blood pressure which corresponds to stress related issues. Walnuts are rich sources of fiber, fatty acids and antioxidants which are the essential components for stress busting.
The high content of Omega 3 fatty acids in walnuts helps to fight against stress and gives you better sleep at night too.
4. Glowing Skin
For a glowing skin you do need to watch out on what you are eating. Include walnuts in your diet if you want a healthy glowing skin. Walnuts are rich in B vitamins and antioxidants that help your skin fight against certain skin problems like ageing and wrinkles. If you do want a radiant skin till you reach a certain age then start to include walnuts in your dietary chart. You can start your day by taking a handful of walnuts when you sit down for your breakfast. Take it with some yogurt if you want to have it with something. You can also include other nuts like almonds, peanuts, dried fruits, and cashews. You can incorporate your own ideas like having it with pasta or just your regular salads. I am sure this will benefit you a lot in attaining a healthy glowing skin in no time. So munch on.
5. Prevents Diabetes
New studies have revealed that women who consumes like 28 grams of walnuts twice in a week are less likely to develop diabetes. It was published in the Journal of Nutrition. Experts believe that the same is applicable for men as well. The fatty acids that are contained in walnuts have been proven to improve metabolism in diabetic type 2 patients. It has been proved that that a research conducted on overweight adults who suffer from type 2 diabetes were on a diet of one quarter cup of walnuts daily. They made a remarkable recovery and their insulin levels dropped down within the first three months itself.
6. Helps To Reduce Weight
People are very much conscious about their health and an expanding waistline is a cause of great concern for them. They literally cannot accept it. They sweat it out and go on a no-eating policy and do all the possible means to lose weight. Dieticians recommend that losing weight is easy if you do know how to do in the right way possible. Instead of torturing yourself for not eating, make a new dietary chart wherein you include walnuts as your essential food. Walnuts help to reduce weight. In addition it gives your body the needed supplements also. Having walnuts helps you to maintain your ideal weight. In a recent review done, wherein people were on a diet of extra nuts lost around 1.4 extra pounds from their waistline.
So do not forget to include walnuts in your diet from the next time around. They are the richest source of nutrition and anything else that declares that they have high fat content should be ignored.