It’s already March, and it’s already the first Thursday of the month. Pinch me! (Wait…it’s not St Patty’s day yet…)
As I said in yesterday’s post (head over for a cookie-licious recipe), my NASM fitness personal training certification test is quickly approaching. Like in less than 20 days. Since last month’s “Did You Know..” nutrition link-up, I have yet to post about another nutrition topic as planned and badly needed the time to study today. I got through a whole chapter!
BUT I did remember I had a post go up last week on Lifehack talking about the benefits of walnuts, so I thought I’d include a teaser for today as well as remind you all to join me and the Emilys in the Did You Know link-up tomorrow! (See this post for rules and details!)
(You can grab the handy code above to put in your nutrition post that you link-up!)
10 Surprising Benefits of Walnuts You May Not Know About
Walnuts used to be viewed as unhealthy due to their high fat and calorie content, but in recent history we have found this assumption to be completely false. Packed with healthy essential fats, antioxidants, vitamins, trace minerals, protein and fiber, walnuts are a veritable super food. These tree nuts have negligible sodium, are cholesterol free and are unique in the fact that they contain polyunsaturated fats instead of monounsaturated fats (basically the type of fat is healthier than in other nuts).
The health benefits of walnuts that result from their impressive content resume are many. Let’s discuss a handful of the benefits of walnuts you might not already know.
1. Improve your memory.
Walnuts contain the essential fatty acids omega-3 and 6. These may help improve memory and cognitive function.
2. Prevent depression.
Having an overall healthy diet can help with depression, but studies have shown having low systemic levels of omega-3 can be especially harmful. This makes sense since omega fatty acids are good for the brain! Walnuts have plenty of omega-3 to help in the prevention of depression.
3. Improve sperm quality.
Trying to get pregnant? Make sure your guy is taking a handful of walnuts each day as one of the benefits of walnuts is improved sperm vitality and motility. It also might help prevent sperm morphology, or abnormal sperm growth.
4. Grow healthy, strong hair and nails.
Walnuts are a great source of biotin, or vitamin B7, which is thought to help hair and nails grow stronger and longer, as well as prevent hair loss. Vitamin E can also help give your hair and nails a healthy shine.
5. Help prevent prostate and breast cancer.
Walnuts have the highest amount of antioxidants in the nut family. Due to this boost of antioxidants, walnuts have been proven to help slow the growth of both prostate and breast cancers.
6. Improve motor function.
Those handy omega-3 fatty acids do wonders for the brain, including improving motor function when taken in a moderate amount.
7. Great for the skin.
Consuming walnuts helps the skin look younger and healthier due to the powerful antioxidant, vitamin E. You can also use walnut oil topically for protection against dry skin. Who doesn’t want younger, healthier and more supple-looking skin?
See the rest of the surprising benefits of walnuts here
Some other recent Lifehack posts you might enjoy:
The Ultimate Photography Cheat Sheet Every Photography Lover Needs
11 Greatest Running Tips and Tricks
7 Traits of a Successful Blogger
11 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your First Relationship
Make sure you head over to the link-up tomorrow! Link up all of your nutrition related posts and learn a whole lot about the food that goes into your body!
Tell me….
What is your favorite nut?
Are you linking up tomorrow??
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I have to say that I love almonds! Dry roasted (not a fan of salt). I also love peanut butter, but not peanuts?
haha how do you love peanut butter but not peanuts??
Good to know! I recently found a raw taco “meat” recipe using walnuts that I really liked. I would definitely like some of those healthy skin benefits! My skin has decided it wants to go back to looking like a teenagers lately, and I could really us a little help in that area!
Good luck on your test! How exciting – you’ll do great!
haha “meat.” I hear ya on the teenage skin thing! Half of the month I’m a speckled mess. Oh hormones!
This is great! I am an almond fan myself, but when I make trailmix I usually add some walnuts in too!
That’s a good idea to add to trailmix! I think almonds are my favorite. Or peanuts, but apparently those are bad for you now…
And now I wish that I actually liked walnuts..they are about the only nuts that I am not a fan of 🙁
I’m with you! I need to hide them in things.
I love walnuts! It took awhile for me to get there, but I do! I’ve been putting them on my salads lately and they’re just super delicious!
(Great post, friend!)
Yeah I can’t eat them plain, but that’s a great idea to put them on a salad!
Thank you!! <3
I am actually not a nut lover unless it comes in the form of butter, then I’m an addict! I have always known walnuts to be one of the best for you so even though I don’t like them very much I attempt to sprinkle them on different side dishes to get them in!
Yes I think it’s key to hide them in things!! I love that you are a fan of the nut butters but not the nuts themselves. 🙂
I’d have to say that walnuts are my least favorite nut. I love almonds!! Who knew there were so many great benefits to walnuts though!! I guess I’ll start adding them to my salads!
Yes walnuts on salads seems to be a thing to try judging from the comments!
Hi Amanda,
Good to know about all these benefits of walnuts. Walnuts and many other dry fruits like almonds and cashews are bit costly here so we use them mostly on festival but it make complete sense to add a handful of walnuts in your routine life, if you want to enjoy all the benefits. Just like walnuts, other dry fruits like almonds,cashews, pistachios are also benefecial for our health and we should try to add atleast one of them in our diet. The only thing that we need to remember is eat them in moderation as they are high in calories and can lead to weight gain and overeating walnuts ( or any other nut) can cause some other side effects too
Agreed! Everything in moderation especially due to the high caloric content and the price! 🙂 Thanks for the thoughtful comment!