Nuts About Nuts

Hey there readers! Special mention to the Adelaideans out there today ~ hope you enjoyed this beautiful Sunday (before the rain hits in as of tomorrow!).

First article for the night, NUTS! There are many myths about nuts out there, with a very classic one being the following: nuts are bad for you; they are full of fats, high in calories and they cause pimple outbreaks. This statement has elements of both truth and fictional characteristics in it. Nuts are "generally" not bad for you, depending on how they are cooked OR how you purchase them in the first place.

So, I've tried to obtain some figures from websites (not too sure on the validity, but it gives a general idea). 50g dry roasted almonds = 298 calories; 50g dry roasted cashews = 287 calories; 100g raw brazil nuts = 328 calories.

The amount of calories may seem quite high in comparison to the nuts that I have chosen, but they have other additional benefits, such as cholesterol-lowering benefits, additional essential vitamins (very high amounts of zinc in brazil nuts). There are also lots of myths out there in regards to nuts assisting with weight-gain; it is in fact the other way around ~ moderate intake of nuts (according to an article, approximately 30-50g) could actually assist with weight loss due to one of its properties of increasing 'satiety hormones' into the gut, or in plain English terms, hormones which make you feel fuller for longer.

Hopefully this has helped shed some light on some of the health benefits from nuts. Try and avoid pre-roasted and salted nuts as they are extremely high in salt content (which is not good for your blood pressure, so beware!). Eat the nuts either raw, or if like them roasted, I recommend you dry roast them yourself.

Below are a couple of pictures of nuts I dry roasted myself:

Dry roasted almonds

Dry roasted cashews

All you need is to preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius (160 for fan-forced), then spread the raw nuts onto one layer and heat for 7 minutes. Toss the nuts around and heat for another 7 minutes, then its completely done. Let them cool completely before storing them in a tight air-sealed container. Extremely simple and good for you!

If you really want to add some flavouring, spray some water onto the nuts and then sprinkle small amounts of sea salt (or herbs if you're more adventurous and want to create some unique flavours) - the water helps the salt (or whatever else you are adding) to stick onto the nuts. What are you waiting for then? Go and get yourself some ~ enjoy them (as JW says, nom nom nom).