Super foods: How important are they for Health?

Nuts and seeds Nutrients

Superfood: You can say the best foods for good health rather than saying superfoods, they should be known as best foods means they are not foods which layman cannot buy and they are superfoods, which only a super-rich person can buy, it is just a myth, whereas the reality is that these foods can be purchased by anybody. The main thing is about awareness that which food is good for us.

 

Nuts and seeds:

Nuts and seeds are the powerhouses of minerals, fibers, vitamins, vegetarian proteins and fats, which are best for the heart`s health. Nuts are rich in many nutrients, including large quantities of fats, which are healthy for our bodies like monosaturated, and polyunsaturated fats (49-74% total) and moderate amounts of proteins (9-20%) except chestnuts, which are low in fat. Dietary fiber in nuts provide a wide range of essential nutrients, including several B group vitamins,vitamin E,minerals such as calcium,iron,zinc,potassium and magnesium and other minerals, which are important for your health and which act as antioxidants, and that are selenium,magnesium and potassium and other photochemical such as antioxidant compounds(flavonoids and resveratrol) and plant sterols.

Each nut contains its own unique combination of nutrients such as:

  1. Walnuts: It contains, Omega 3fatty acids and antioxidants
    • Pistachios: Proteins, a plant sterol, and antioxidant resveratrol.
    • Pine nuts: Vitamin E and the amino acid arginine.
    • Brazil nuts: For an adult, selenium is very necessary and just two Brazil nuts a day provides a huge quantity of selenium.
    • Almonds: It is the best source of proteins, calcium and vitamin E.
    • Chestnuts: Provides lots of vitamin C and fiber.
    • Hazelnuts: Vitamin E,Folate,Fiber and potassium.
    • Pistachios: Plant sterols, proteins, and the antioxidant resveratrol.
    • Pecans: They contain antioxidants and fiber, besides that, they are good and have the best nutritional value.

Advantages of eating nuts:

Nuts are best for overall health with their awesome and yummy taste liked by everybody from kids to old, contains potassium and the natural sugars. They possess natural carbohydrates in them, they are low in sodium.

Nuts if consumed raw without, roasting has better benefits. When we roast the nut, water content that nut has gets reduced by concentrating the nutrients, as well as several B group of vitamins, which are not heat stable, gets reduced.

Heart healthy:

Nuts are a good source for the heart`s health. It is proven in studies that the heart`s health is maintained in a good way if nuts are taken by a person who is having problems with heart diseases .30% to 50% of heart diseases can be reduced by having 30 gm of nuts per day. As a low proportion of saturated fat and a high proportion of healthy fat like monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats have a healthy heart than the people who don’t eat nuts

The regulation of blood cholesterol is done with the help of health-promoting by monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Vitamins and minerals present in nuts with antioxidants help in regulating oxidation and inflammation, compounds found in nuts like flavonoids and resveratrol with vitamin-like E and minerals like zinc, manganese, selenium, copper all are helpful for the purpose to shun the inflammation.

Their property of low in sodium content and high potassium level help in maintaining a pressure of blood, hence they are good for keeping in control the hypertension problem in the body.

Diabetes:

Diabetes and blood sugar level can also be controlled with the help of nuts monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in nuts help to combat with the bad effects of bad cholesterol (LDL) hence helps in increasing good cholesterol (HDL) in the body, they are effective in enhancing insulin sensitivity in the blood.

Only 30gm of nuts, approximately (4 pieces of nuts) if taken per week, helps in reducing the risk of diabetes by 13%. So nuts are considered to be one of the best things as food, which can help you in combating with the menace of diabetes.

Other benefits of Nuts:

  • Mental aging gets slowed down with regular intake of nuts.
  • Cancer`s risk can also be minimized, with eating nuts daily.
  • The health of bones can also get well with nuts eating.
  • Stones in the gallbladder can also perish with nuts.