It would be an absolute understatement to say that walnuts are just nutritious. With the endless health benefits that walnuts provide, they are definitely one of the most powerful super foods available. They provide vitamins, fiber, healthy fat, protein and a lot of minerals.
Walnuts have negligible sodium and are cholesterol free, they have the potential to make you heart healthy and manage your weight. They also help in controlling diabetes, preventing cancer, reducing inflammation, regulating sleep and improving your skin condition.
Let’s discuss the benefits of having this super food in your daily diet.
1. Decrease Inflammation:
People with inflammatory diseases like arthritis, type 2diabetes and asthma can benefit from walnuts. The polyphenolic compounds in walnuts fight the oxidative stress and inflammation. This can actively reduce inflammation and its symptoms.
2. Improve Memory:
The essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 in walnuts can improve your memory and cognitive function too.
3. Promote Healthy Gut
If your gut is rich in health promoting bacteria and other microbes then you will have a great overall health. Eating walnuts can help you to maintain a healthy amount of microbes in your gut. It is found that any unhealthy composition of microbes in the gut can lead to diseases like cancer and increase inflammation. So, add a handful of walnuts in your daily diet now!
4. Improves the Heart Function:
Walnuts can increase the amount of lipids in the body, so if you include them in your diet, they can improve the functioning of your heart. The high amount of omega-3, Oleic acid and linoleic acid in walnuts help in lowering the bad cholesterol and thus preventing the risk of any heart diseases.
It is also found that just eating a few walnuts every day can reduce the blood pressure, so people with hypertension can get the benefits from this super food.
5. Boosts Immunity:
Add a handful of walnuts in your every day diet, to give the necessary boost to your immune system. The high amounts of anti-oxidants in walnuts keep your immune system healthy and prevent the diseases.
6. Improve Bone Health:
Walnuts are an excellent source of mineral copper which plays a vital role in the maintenance of elastin and collagen in the body. The deficiency of copper can lead to osteoporosis where the bones become thinner and less dense.
This can lead to fractures and breakage of bones easily. Without adequate copper in the body, the body fails to replace damages connective tissue which results in major health issues. To avoid such condition, include walnuts in your diet.
7. Help in Managing Weight:
Having walnuts will make sure that you are on higher levels of energy and as walnuts do not have any unhealthy fat, you can munch on them anytime. You can easily manage your current weight while incorporating walnuts in your daily diet.
8. Improve Metabolism:
Walnuts are abundant in minerals like copper, zinc, manganese, potassium, magnesium iron, etc. These essential minerals can help in improving various body functions such as digestion, sperm generation, growth and development. Having walnuts every day can boost your body metabolism effectively.
9. Helps Controlling Diabetes:
The beneficial dietary fats in walnuts can help people with diabetes. People who have Type 2diabetes and are overweight can include a quarter cup of walnuts in their diet t maintain insulin levels in the body
10. Prevents Cancer:
Walnuts can help in reducing the risk of prostate and breast cancer. In recent studies, it was found that walnuts can reduce the size of tumour cells.
The phenolic compounds and antioxidants in walnuts play an effective role in hindering growth of cancer cells. The antioxidants in walnuts help in removing free radicals from the body which stops the growth of cancer in the body.
11. Improves Skin and Hair Quality:
The Vitamin E and antioxidants in walnuts help the skin look younger and healthier.
They also consist of gamma-tocopherol which is a strong lipid soluble antioxidant that can remove free radicals from the body. The B-complex in walnuts helps in maintaining the elasticity of the skin and protects it from any harm. The regular application of walnut oil under eyes, can help in reducing the dark circles, ease puffiness and give a healthy glow.
For healthy hair apply walnut oil to your scalp and eat a few walnuts every day as they can strengthen the hair follicles and leave the hair stronger and lustrous.
Additional Benefits:
• Walnuts can immediately boost your energy as they contain a lot of B vitamins.
• Omega-3 fatty acid in walnuts can improve motor functioning
• The biotin in walnuts can help you maintain healthy hair and aid in strengthening your nails as well
• Walnuts can help in improving sperm vitality and motility.
• They can also clean the digestive system of dangerous parasites.
• The fatty acids in walnuts can help in prevention of depression.
• Walnut oil can sooth the skin and act as an awesome astringent.
• Black walnut can help in cleaning fungal infection.
• Melatonin in walnut is linked with better sleeping patterns.
• The fatty acids can help in alleviating stress.
• You can include walnuts in your diet in many forms and recipes like grounded walnuts can be used in salads and sandwiches. You can also use shredded walnuts in deserts and milk shakes.
• Eat walnuts either raw or roasted to enhance their flavour; any way they are a powerhouse of energy. Just keep in mind to store walnuts in their shells in a cool, dark and dry place, preferably at room temperature.
Caution:
Always make sure that you take things in moderation because too much of anything can be harmful for you. Walnuts are amazing fir your health but having too much of them can cause you kidney stones. Also, people who are susceptible to allergies should consider a doctor first before eating walnuts. So, keep this in your mind before including them in your every day diet.
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