Eating Smart with Tracy Bhalla
Going Nuts!
Nuts and seeds are incredibly good for you and an amazing source of many vitamins and minerals. Coming from a family (and marrying into another one!) that consumes nuts every evening as a suppertime snack, I was amazed to discover that apparently two thirds of Americans don’t eat nuts at all! So, assuming then that two out of every three people reading this do not eat nuts, I am going to try and persuade you why you need to start. So, why should you eat nuts? Research continues to show that nuts and seeds are good for our hearts, in addition to a plethora of other benefits ranging from cognitive function to managing blood sugars. You can break it down into three main reasons: fiber, healthy fats and disease prevention. Nuts benefit your health by providing a source of dietary fiber. Fiber is a specialized type of carbohydrate found in plant-based foods. It does not break down as it passes through your digestive tract, and the undigested fiber adds bulk to your stool to promote regular bowel movements. Fiber also helps slow the rate of digestion, which means that sugar from your meal enters your bloodstream more slowly, avoiding those unwanted spikes or sugar highs, inevitably followed by the dips or sugar lows, which just leave you craving more sugar. A never ending circle! Having a slow and steady release of sugar into the bloodstream is the ideal and helps you feel energized after you eat. An ounce of almonds boosts your fiber intake by a whopping 3.5 grams, while an equivalent serving of pistachios and pecans offers 2.9 and 2.7 grams, respectively. You need fat as part of your diet, (which we’ve already discussed) and eating nuts helps ensure that your fat intake comes from healthy unsaturated fats. Walnuts, in particular, boost your healthy fat intake because they contain alpha-linolenic acid, a type of omega-3 fatty acid. This type of fat helps maintain brain function, nourishes
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your red blood cells and helps fight excess inflammation. Each ounce of walnuts contains 2.6 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, more than the 1.1 grams required daily for women or 1.6 grams required daily for men. There are many studies that link a diet rich in nuts (and seeds) to preventing disease. People who regularly consume nuts tend to weigh less than those who rarely eat nuts, as well as face a lower risk for weight gain in the future. Nuts are shown to help reduce the levels of inflammation in your
body, which might reduce your risk of heart disease. Nut consumption also correlates with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. There is somewhat of a misconception that nuts are expensive, which when you consider that a serving of seeds or nuts costs just eighty-five cents on average then they are worth every penny, particularly when you consider the potential health benefits. Although often consumed as a snack, you can of course add them to salads, cereal, pasta dishes, use as an ice cream topping. I love to bake with them, adding them to muffins, brownies, sweetbreads, etc. You can even blend them into smoothies and of course make your own nut butters to spread on, well, almost anything! My husband loves almond butter spread on
apple slices; our son loves peanut butter spread on banana bread (which, if I’ve made it, already has walnuts or pecans in it). The reason I say make your own nut butters is that it’s just so easy to do – just pop the nuts in a blender and off you go! No added sugar, salt or any of the other nasties that you see on some commercial nut butter labels. You can of course buy nut butters that have only one ingredient on the label, (nuts!) but they are harder to find. Earthfare will have them and so will Wholefoods when they open. Buying nuts in bulk is by far the cheapest way to buy them. Earthfare has this option as does HealthWise. You fill your bag with the amount you want and pay for it by weight. No fancy packaging to pay for, just like back in the old days of grocers and butchers (yes, we still have those in Europe). You can also order nuts online in bulk too. These are just two of the many sites out there: www.nuts.com, www. nutsinbulk.com. Just make sure you check the shipping rates; lots offer free shipping if you buy a certain amount. If you do buy in bulk, storing them properly will make them last longer – if you don’t store them properly they will go rancid and if you eat them then you will make yourself ill. Store them in airtight containers and if you have bought them in portions of 2 or more pounds at a time, store them in the fridge, or you can even freeze some! Tracy Bhalla, Owner/ Manager of Cool Beans Restaurant, 115 Montgomery Street, P: 334.416.8447, coolbeans.mgm@gmail.com or facebook.com/coolbeans.mgm Trained as an architect! Worked as a teacher of product design and graphic design for 9 years in England and Bermuda. Always had a love of healthy, good-for-you food. Always cooking for friends and family. Married a cardiologist in 2007. We have a shared passion about eating healthily (and wine) and both love to cook, so when Cool Beans became available we jumped at it. The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine