Nuts for You
Found this article Eating Nuts Greatly Reduces Your Risk of Heart Attack and Cancer so I thought, good time to talk nuts! (more on thyme and nuts under the photo).
According to the article, nuts won’t make you fat:
Nuts contain lots of fat, and many people are still operating under the food industry induced belief that fat makes you fat, so nuts are often shunned. But research does not support this conclusion. In the Nurses’ Health Study, the frequent nut consumers were actually a little thinner on average than those who almost never consumed nuts, and daily supplements of almonds or peanuts for six months resulted in little or no increase in body weight. Nuts apparently satisfy hunger and provide a wealth of nutrients, creating a feeling of satiety and comfort. This results in an overall lessening of food consumption.
I eat raw almonds as a snack throughout the day. I leave them in my refrigerator and just grab a few when I am rushing to get my kids or to an appointment, especially when I’ve forgotten to eat a decent lunch.
One topic the article mentions is soaking nuts before eating them. I’ve never heard of this, so I did a little more research. I couldn’t find any evidence of an actual study that said one needs to soak nuts. To me, I like nuts as a fast food, so the soaking would be really annoying, if it were a requirement. Do you think all the people in the nut studies quoted in the Natural News article soaked their nuts? I found one source that said the soaking isn’t necessary. But I have no idea what her background is that she is able to make this claim.
Enough for now on trying to weed out useful information on the internet.
Above are my raw almonds, which I decided to photograph in a bed of my thyme. I grow thyme in front of the house. It makes a great grass substitute. The thyme spreads itself all over (sometimes it needs a haircut) and produces pretty little lavender flowers for a few weeks in the summer.
Ilana-Davita says
I am quite fond of nuts but tended to stop myself because of the fat so now I know I can indulge in my favourite nuts, almonds and cashew nuts. Thanks!
Leora says
I've heard people say, oh, I don't eat nuts, too fattening, so I had to post that piece as my quote from the article.
Instead, someone will eat a "fat-free" cracker or cookie, with white flour and possibly sugar. Now that *will* make you fat.
hihorosie says
I LOVE raw almonds and raw cashews. Since my hubby is a raw vegan and I'm high raw (still have my cooked meals here and there and not always vegan) we consume a lot of raw nuts and seeds. I think where people go wrong with nuts being bad for you are the ones that are roasted and heavily salted/sugared, etc. But just raw they are so delicious and healthy. Thanks for posting this - it's very informative and enlightening IMO and I hope that others will rethink how they view nuts. And I agree that so called "fat free" crackers/cookies are a joke.
Leora says
Rosie, I'd like to hear more about raw foods. For myself, I like the idea of having a balance of raw and cooked.
hihorosie says
Well, I'm not 100% raw so that means I do have some cooked meals (not always vegetarian and/or vegan) but I am trying to eat more raw and more healthy. I call myself high raw on average. Raw foodists don't eat cooked or processed foods but eat whole natural foods. In a nutshell (pun intended - lol) foods cooked at higher temps kill off many of the enzymes and nutrients our bodies need. I have a friend who is wanting to only do med raw so there are some people who enjoy the balance of cooked and raw foods. It just depends on the individual and what works for them. Hope that helps. :)
Leora says
Thanks, Rosie, for that explanation. My understanding is that there are some foods that the nutrients are released when cooked (like tomatoes).
hihorosie says
Yes, I understand that too about tomatoes...that the amount of lycopene is increased when cooked. I'm not particularly picky about my tomatoes being raw or not with some things (most salsas use cooked tomatoes) but most of the time I do eat them raw when preparing them at home. I just love tomatoes!
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