NUTS FOR HEALTH

Variety of Nuts at 'AG MART' in Salmiyah

Last month when I was at AG Mart in Salmiyah, I picked up wonderful tasting cashewnuts of good quality. They had a good variety of nuts.  The plain cashewnuts I got from AG Mart were large, fresh tasting, crunchy, absolutely fantastic.  Its believed that for optimum health benefits, its best to have plain nuts and not the flavoured ones.

Nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts etc.) are a great source of energy, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids and they are delicious too. Just munch a handful of nuts a day and you will be doing more than good to keep yourself healthy and stay fit. They are excellent source of monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic and palmitoleic acids which help to lower LDL or "bad cholesterol" and increase HDL or "good cholesterol".

According to physician nutritionist specialist Dr. Melina Jampolis, 'Limit your intake to quarter cup of nuts per day' (CNN-Health).  

Power your diet with a handful of nuts everyday (about 10).  But be sure not over indulge as they are high in calories.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/expert.q.a/09/11/nuts.calories.jampolis/index.html

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/nuts_nutrition.html