National Nut Day or Any Day

We are not talking about mental health but rather the types of nuts that grown on trees. Having nuts in your diet will definitely make your life sweeter and actually more fun. So let's look at some of the different nuts that are available to us year round.

Did you know that we have a National Nut Holiday October 22nd - a widely recognized and acknowledged Nut Day! Yea!! Imagine all the fun you can have with that fact!

Nuts are a really healthy additive to your diet. They add proteins and essential oils and fats that are required for a balanced diet with your food. More importantly, they are tasty! I mean, who can refuse a chocolate covered Turtle with pecans? But really, raw nuts are a must to add to your healthy diet.

Besides: "Nuts give vegans and vegetarians a great base for protein," said Roi Elam, sous-chef at Sun Cafe, a Los Angeles raw food and vegan restaurant.

But more than the vegetarians, raw nuts are a way of supplementing our intake of protein. They are an easy way to get kids to eat a snack that is actually good for them.

Picture is from: http://olehenrysnuthouse.com/Deluxe-Mixed-Nuts-Roa...

Surprisingly the medial world has changed their position on the benefits that are derived from raw nuts. It is now believed that nuts can help lower LDL, or "bad," cholesterol, and experts say that the unsaturated fats in the nuts are the reasons.

Nuts also contain a huge amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to help prevent irregular heart rhythms that often lead to heart attacks. And who does not want to prevent those nasty things! A friend of mine would give anything to have prevented his irregular heart beat which led to a pace-maker being implanted into his chest. I'm not saying that eating nuts will prevent you from having a pace-maker, but IF omega-3 fatty acids help maintain a healthy heart, then I am absolutely in favor of that!

It is easy to munch away. If you want to use them to replace a meal or supplement your diet, there are hundreds of varieties of nuts to choose from. If eating healthy is your goal, then stay with raw nuts to avoid the extra calories from added roasting fats.Besides, I think the raw nuts tast better anyway!

There are so many different types of nuts that you, surely, will be able to find one or two types that you will love.

Do not confuse peanuts with nuts. Peanuts are a legume for sure, not a fruit. They grow on brushes not trees and the 'nut' grows underground. Although you can make nut butters from every type of nut, peanut butter is still not made from a nut.

I cannot tell you what nut is my favorite as I like them all - some to cook with, mostly just to eat. I love them raw best of all, although a good buttered, salted pecan is definitely in the running for best favor. My husband's favorite ice cream is buttered pecan, so I had to learn to make it - starting with the raw ingredients. Actually, quite a lot of fun making the nuts with a little butter, sugar and cinnamon and adding the chopped nuts to the churning ice cream.

One of my favorite ways of adding raw nuts to our diet is to add them to a green salad. I add dried cranberries, tomatoes, little green onions, chopped pecans or slices of almonds, peppers (red, green and yellow - all are possible) along with our preferred greens. Use a dressing of your choice, but if you are trying to eat healthy, you might use a white Balsamic with Coconut or Avocado oil with fresh ground salt and pepper.

Do You Eat Nuts Like They are Going Out of Style?

One ounce serving sets off this low carb nut's nutritional density, providing good doses of vitamin E, magnesium, fiber, monounsaturated fat, protein and iron all in a mere 160 calories. You might like to know that the Almond is a relative of the peach and plum fruits. (It takes all kinds, you know!)

The almond tree originated in China and presents the female beauty. From China, almonds made its way to the Mediterranean and finally to Santa Barbara in the 1700's. In the 2001-2002 crop year, there were about 800 million pounds of almonds grown in the U.S.; that double for the year 2010-2011. Almonds are big business now but that does not negate the fact that they are one of the healthiest foods we can eat.