Nut Variety

Not only are nuts a great quick snack but contains loads of vitamins and minerals which can be great if your not getting all your required vitamins through your regular diet.

First of all my favourite nut the walnut contains the highest level of omega 3 of all nuts, which is great news for people who have a fishless diet or cant stand the fishy reflux of fish oil capsules (there are also odourless).

Omega 3 is beneficial for healthy skin, hair, joint mobility and many other benefits. Walnuts also contain Vitamin E which are also great for skin, and general health.

Naturopath

I was talking to my local naturopath recently and I jotted down some important notes for those of us eating plenty of nuts who may start to worry about eating too much.

It is healthy to eat 100 – 250 grams of nuts a day ( preferably a variety of nuts) , you can also adjust this figure depending on whether you are a vegetarian or a very active person.

But remember even if your eating healthy food, it stops becoming healthy when you eat a too much of it, it just means excess calories, so remember not to overdo it.

Selenium

Selenium is an important antioxidant and we recommend 2 Brazil nuts a day to get 100% of your RDI (recommended daily intake) particularly as soils in parts of Australia and NZ are depleted in selenium.

Nuts & Vitamin/Mineral Intake

If your one of those people who worry about overdosing on vitamins, remember its almost impossible to overdose on vitamins from natural food sources but quite easy with a multivitamin. So when in doubt halve your multivitamin or just increase your natural food intake.

Nut Myth – Dandruff

Another huge miss conception I want to bust is the myth that people who suffer form dandruff should avoid eating nuts. For some reason people believe nuts are a big no no for dandruff sufferers but this is what my naturopath had to say.

I have checked the medical literature and have not been able to find any research connecting nuts and dandruff so I think you are safe to continue eating nuts. From my understanding dandruff is caused by a yeast on the scalp so what that has to do with nuts is strange to say the least. If anything nuts should help dandruff sufferers due to the high omega 3 and vitamin E levels very commonly used to treat mild dandruff.

if you eat a well balanced diet and get all the number of serves of all the food groups recommended for your age then you will get all the nutrients you need provided you also eat a variety of different foods each day. The Japanese recommend 30 different foods each day so foods that use a lot of ingredients eg muesli, multigrain breads and cereals, dishes with loads of different herbs, spices and vegetables all help to achieve this.

With so many different kinds of nuts, you’ll never get bored. Enjoy