9781422269930

Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet Eating Healthier as a Family Eating Whole Foods, Minimally Processed Foods for Peak Fitness Fruits and Vegetables for Health

How to Eat a Balanced Diet Eating in Moderation and Intermittent Fasting Lean Protein for Health Nuts and Seeds for Health What’s in a Label?

Nuts and Seeds for Health

By Leigh Clayborne

MASON CREST M i a m i

Mason Crest PO Box 221876, Hollywood, FL 33022 (866) MCP-BOOK (toll-free) • www.masoncrest.com

Copyright © 2024 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Series hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4222-4823-2

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4222-4832-4 Series ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-6984-8 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-6993-0 Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with the Library of Congress Developed and Produced by Print Matters Productions, Inc Cover and Interior Design by Torque Advertising+Design

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KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR: Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase readers’ understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send readers back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase readers’ ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field. Mental and Physical Health.......................................25 Chapter 3: Best and Worst Nuts and Seeds for Health....41 Chapter 4: Seed Oils: Heart-Healthy or Health Risk?......57 Chapter 5: Tips and Tricks to Enjoy Nuts and Seeds. ......73 Series Glossary of Key Terms........................................88 Further Reading & Internet Resources..........................92 Index.......................................................................... 94 Author’s Biography & Credits.......................................96 Chapter 1: Nuts and Seeds: A Lot of Nutrition in a Little Package......................................................7 Chapter 2: Nuts’ and Seeds’ Impact on

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND

Carbohydrates: Strings of sugar molecules that the body uses for energy. Complex carbohydrates are long strings that take the body longer to break down, so they offer energy and stop hunger over a period of time. Simple carbohydrates are single sugar chains that become quick energy and can increase hunger. Fiber is a carbohydrate that the human body cannot break down into energy. It becomes food for the good bacteria that live in the gut. Oxidative stress: A phenomenon that occurs when unstable atoms or molecules called “free radicals” steal electrons from nearby molecules in an attempt to become stable. This theft leads to instability in the robbed molecules, which may result in cellular damage, cell death, or cell mutations, which can become cancerous or generally lead to bad health. Refined grains: Grains that have had the bran, germ, or endosperm removed and thus have lost much of the nutrition and fiber that otherwise would be found in these seeds. Examples of refined grains and refined grain products include white flour, white cornmeal, corn starch/flour, white rice, white bread, white corn tortillas, white flour tortillas, cookies, cakes, pastries, and most breakfast cereals.

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Nuts and seeds may be small, but they are power-packed with health-promoting nutrients in tiny packages. They’re loaded with healthy fats, plant-based protein, vitamins, complex carbohydrates , fiber, antioxidants, and other nutrients the human body needs for someone to live their best life. What’s more, because nuts and seeds store and travel without refrigeration, taste so good, and fill you up quickly, they may just be the perfect whole food snacks and convenience foods. While nuts and seeds can be expensive, one doesn’t have to eat much to access this amazing nutrition. For example, just a handful (e.g., 3 flat tablespoons, 1 ounce, or 28 grams) of walnuts delivers 4.3 grams of protein, plus more than the recommended daily needs for omega-3 essential fats, compounds that the brain must have but the human body can’t make itself. Similarly, just 1 tablespoon of ground chia seeds gives the body an astounding 4.7 grams of protein, which is 8 to 10 percent of the recommended intake for a teenager. Plus, these little seeds serve up more of those omega-3 fats. Nuts and Seeds: A Lot of Nutrition in a Little Package

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Nuts in their shell, like these walnuts, have more taste and nutrition, but precracked nuts are certainly more convenient.

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Nuts and Seeds for Health

However, nuts and seeds do have some downsides. Aside from the cost, some people are allergic to certain nuts and seeds, and if overconsumed, they can lead to undesired weight gain. Yet, even with the potential risks, most people will feel, look, and live healthier by eating the nuts and seeds they can, so this book will look at the many benefits of eating nuts and seeds, explore risks and how to manage them, and look at the fun and creative ways to get more nuts and seeds in your diet. What Are Nuts, Seeds, and Drupes? Languages often have more than one word for the same thing, or people may use an incorrect word for something in everyday speech because of how they think of and use the thing that a word describes. Such is the case with nuts, seeds, and similar families of plant foods. Sometimes, the difference does matter, so it’s vital to start with a quick explanation of what these words actually mean. A nut is technically a fruit that has a high fat content and a hard outer shell with a seed inside it. That shell doesn’t open unless someone opens it. People crack the nut to eat the seed inside and refer to that seed as a “nut,” since they don’t eat the hard shell. Examples include chestnuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans. Fun fact: Way back in the 1990s, nuts were most often sold in grocery stores whole, with shells still on them. People had to take them home and crack the shells off with a special tool to enjoy this tasty treat. Today, nuts are precracked, making enjoying them so much easier, but precracked nuts are a little less flavorful and nutritious, because they were removed from their protective shell long before they are eaten. Taste and nutrition can be sacrificed for convenience. A drupe is also a fruit with a fleshy outer part and a hard shell covering a seed inside. Sometimes, humans eat the seed and

Chapter 1: Nuts and Seeds: A Lot of Nutrition in a Little Package

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flesh together, because it would be too hard to remove the seed. Other times, humans consume the fleshy part alone, or they only eat the seed inside. Cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries are all drupes, but so are some foods we call nuts, like almonds, cashews, pistachios, and coconuts. Some drupes are called “stone fruits” in everyday speech. Peaches, nectarines, olives, and plums are all drupes. When this book refers to nuts and seeds, it includes the things we call nuts that are technically drupes, because they have similar nutritional benefits. A legume is a member of the pea family, which includes seeds that grow in multi-seed pods like beans, lentils, peanuts, and chickpeas. The pod may be eaten, as is the case with a sugar snap pea, or it may be discarded, as is the case with a soybean. A peanut is technically a legume for which people don’t eat the pod, because it is hard and grows underground. But because the

Apricots are one example of stone fruits.

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science points to peanuts having similar health benefits as nuts, they will join the nuts and seeds discussion. Legumes, in general, have lots of health benefits, and they are seeds, so they have many of the health benefits discussed in this book. Finally, grains are small, hard, dry fruits that are also seeds. One might be shocked to learn that they are in the grass family. Examples include quinoa, chia, wheat, barley, rye, rice, teff, millet, corn, and oats. In their unrefined whole grain seed or flour forms, these seeds have the health benefits shared in this book. But wheat, rice, corn, and barley are often sold as refined grains . After the grain is refined, what’s left is primarily simple carbohydrates. For this reason, refined grains don’t have the same health benefits as other nuts and seeds. Other seeds that humans eat that don’t fall into one of the above categories include sesame, sunflower, pumpkin (also known as “pepitas”), hemp, pine, and flax.

Why Are Nuts and Seeds So Nutrient-Dense?

Nuts and seeds are nutrient-dense and contain a lot of nutrition in relation to their calorie content. That’s because when left whole and uncooked, a nut or seed has the potential to become a new plant. The plant that produced the nut or seed sends as much nutrition as possible to them. That gives that new plant a head start before it can draw nourishment from the soil to survive, and it is how plants ensure that there will be a next generation. However, plants produce many more seeds than can become full-grown plants. The extra seeds are eaten by birds, rodents, and humans, who can each take advantage of all that nutrition packed into such a tiny little edible package.

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Peanuts are technically legumes, but because they are eaten like nuts and have many of the same health benefits, they are often treated as nuts.

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Packed with Nutrition Each nut and seed has a unique nutritional makeup, but generally the nutritional profile for a nut or seed per ounce (28 grams, about three tablespoons) will look very similar to this: • Calories: 150–200. • Protein: 5 to 6 grams. • Fat: 14–17 grams. • Carbs: 3 to 10 grams, some of which is fiber. • Fiber: 3 to 5 grams. • Vitamin E: 12 percent of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI). • Selenium: 56 percent of the RDI; supports DNA and immune system function. Q: Why are refined grains not as nutritious as whole, unrefined grains? A: Refined grains have parts of the grain seed removed. The parts that have been removed contain most of the fiber and nutrients. After the grain is refined, what’s left is mostly simple carbohydrates, which the body will break down into sugar. So eating a refined grain is not the same as eating the whole grain version of that seed. • Manganese: 26 percent of the RDI; supports healthy connective tissues, blood clotting, and the production of sex hormones. • Magnesium: 16 percent of the RDI; supports muscle, nerve, and heart health, as well as energy production.

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Almonds are especially rich in vitamin E, a fat- soluble nutrient that functions as an antioxidant to protect your cells against oxidative damage.

• Copper: 23 percent of the RDI; supports a healthy immune system and nervous system. • Phosphorus: 13 percent of the RDI; helps the body store energy and repair cellular damage. • Various antioxidants. Loaded with Antioxidants While it’s clear that nuts and seeds have a lot of nutrients, some nutrients warrant further discussion. Antioxidants are substances that plants produce to reduce oxidative stress within themselves, but humans can also use them to do the same thing. By reducing

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oxidative stress, the consumption of antioxidants can slow cellular damage caused by free radicals. That, in turn, can reduce a person’s risk of developing certain diseases, including but not limited to heart disease, inflammatory diseases, immune system diseases, and some cancers. Free radicals are naturally occurring waste products of normal, healthy cell function, so completely avoiding them is impossible. However, particular lifestyle and environmental factors can increase the amount of free radicals the body produces. These lifestyle factors include smoking and vaping, drinking alcohol, breathing polluted air, eating deep-fried foods, not wearing sunscreen, and sitting too much, among other factors. Consuming antioxidants shouldn’t be seen as an excuse to do unhealthy things, though. They can help to reduce the impact of unhealthy behaviors, but the more unhealthy behaviors a person engages in, the less antioxidants can correct. Overconsuming antioxidants can also be dangerous and can actually increase the risk of certain diseases. This overconsumption is more likely if one takes supplements. For example, consuming too much of the antioxidant vitamin E can increase a person’s risk of developing prostate cancer or having a stroke. Scientists have struggled to show that getting antioxidants from supplements does any good at all, and it may even do harm. There’s an old saying, “The dose makes the poison,” which means that even things that are good for you can become toxic if you get too much of them. However, getting antioxidants naturally through food and drink is unlikely to result in toxic levels. Nuts and seeds are filling. A person would be full before eating too many antioxidants in that form. Numerous studies show that people who eat diets rich in antioxidants have a reduced risk of many diseases. Other excellent sources of antioxidants include fruits, vegetables, unsweetened tea, unsweetened coffee, and dark chocolate.

Chapter 1: Nuts and Seeds: A Lot of Nutrition in a Little Package

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Getting antioxidants naturally through food and drink is unlikely to result in toxic levels.

See why you should get antioxidants from whole foods, not supplements.

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Nuts and Seeds for Health