Bitter Food Hero No 4: Walnuts
You don't make friends with walnuts, but being being friendly with them may help you outlive most of your buddies.
In the wild, walnuts are a fortress of layers. The first is their green avocado-sized skin. Next, a fibrous membrane. Then, walnut’s famously hard shell. A bitter sheath. Only diamonds cop that much security. User friendly, walnuts are not. However, if you’re looking for the world’s most nutritious nut, they’re the answer.
You can find them in posh salads, add them to warm oats or bake into muffins and breads. Their fiercely bitter taste offers a culinary counterbalance to sweet ingredients, such as overly ripe bananas, which help your favorite foods develop a deeper flavor profile. Crunchy, fun to chew and versatile, they aren’t just a dietary essential, they’re the healthiest nut you’ll ever eat. Here’s what the research says:
Walnuts Defy Measurement
No nut does it better than walnuts. They have twice as many antioxidants as any other of the most popular nuts, like pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts. So powerful are they, that you only need to eat roughly 7 a day to get the benefits. Dynamite. Small packages. Said cliches apply.
Gut Nut
These nuts do their best work in the shadows. They alter your gut bacteria in ways that may stamp out colon cancer. Animals had 2.3 times fewer tumors when they ate plenty of walnuts because they act like a gut-healthy probiotic.
Remember Your Grandkids Names
Which one are you again? It’s a question a regular walnut eater is unlikely to ask their grandchildren, says research. Walnuts boast high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols that fight stress and inflammation, both of which amplify age related cognitive decline. These marble shaped nuts help the blue-rinser set hang onto marbles.
Ticker treatment
Even if you detest walnuts, they taste better than betablockers and statins. Having just one handful each day lowered LDL (bad) cholesterol. And if you’re interested in side-stepping heart disease, diabetes and lowering your blood pressure, walnuts have got your back, err, and front.
Big C Fighters
With all the internal protection offered by walnuts, they appear to level up all your defenses against even cancers. Walnuts protect against breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. What more could you want from such a simple food.
The Only Nut to Crack
Walnuts are also a high protein snack that fits into every goal. People who lobbed 48g of them into their smoothies weren’t as hungry which helped them lose weight. What’s more, they were able to resist high temptation foods like fries, making them possibly the most powerful nutritional ally you could ever eat. When faced with nuts choices in the supermarket, walnuts truly are a nut above the rest.