5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Nuts Every Day

There’s a whole body of scientific studies that showcase the wondrous health benefits of nuts, with a great many of them pointing to how these little powerhouses of nutrients can reduce one’s risk for cardiovascular disease. According to the Mayo Clinic, one way that nuts may help your heart and cardiovascular system is by lowering the levels of low-density lipoprotein or “bad cholesterol” in the body. Take note that LDL plays a big role in the development of plaques that build up inside the blood vessels.

Indeed, it is probably a good idea to add more nuts to your diet, unless of course you know that you have an existing nut allergy. If you’re wondering what the best ways are to sneak in more nuts into your daily meals, here’s a short list that you can use as a guide.

Enjoy Them as Nut Butters

The easiest way to consume nuts on a daily basis is to enjoy them as ready-made nut butters. Naturally, you have to be quite discerning when it comes to choosing your nut butters. For example, a high-quality peanut, almond, macadamia, pecan, or pistachio butter without added sugars or preservatives will be very similar in terms of nutritional content to whole nuts, so you would be well advised to get these instead of the conventional supermarket variants that are full of added sugar. For a great breakfast, try nut butter with avocado on whole-wheat toast or bagel!

Drink Nuts as Plant-Based Milk

Yes, nuts are great as beverages! In fact, over the recent years, milked nut products like hazelnut milk, walnut milk, peanut milk, and especially almond nut milk have become so popular because of their great taste and the nutrition that they provide. Combined with dairy milk and other food products, plant milks can become an essential part of a wholesome and balanced diet.

Milked nuts are also great for lactose-intolerant individuals who can’t digest the sugars found in dairy products. Moreover, they are perfect for people who follow the vegan lifestyle, which eschews all forms of animal products.

Add Nuts as Salad Toppings or as Salad Dressing

Whole nuts that are ground or chopped up make for great salad toppings. Their gritty consistency provides added texture to all salads, and the nutty, earthy taste of nuts provide a great contrast to the botanic and fruity tastes of salad greens, citrus fruits, drupes, and pomes.

You may also use nut oils as an ingredient in your homemade salad dressings, but do remember to use them in moderation as they can be high in fat and calories. Also remember that nut oils tend to get burned more easily than vegetable oils, so keep this in mind when heating your salad dressings with nut oils to avoid making them taste bitter.

Make Your Breakfast Cereals Healthier with Nuts

Why go for plain rolled oats when you can make your breakfast cereals more delicious and more nutritious by introducing other wholesome ingredients, including nuts? You can create a muesli, which is basically a super-healthy cereal that was developed in Switzerland at the turn of the 20th century.

Start by adding other variants of whole grains, including barley, rye, spelt, and rice, as well as seeds like pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sunflowers seeds, and chia seeds. Next, add fruits to the mix. These can be raisins, prunes, or other dehydrated fruits, as well as whole fruits like blueberries, strawberries, bananas, apple, mango, and papaya. Finally, include the nuts. Depending on your preference you can choose to include almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, macadamia, cashews, and other variants.

Include Nuts in Your Desserts

Too much sugar isn’t good for you, but if you’re having some dessert, might as well make it as healthy as possible, right? You can easily bump up your day’s protein and fiber consumption by including nuts in your cakes, tarts, brownies, donuts, and pies since nuts are a natural companion of sweet confections. Also remember that nuts are rich in vitamins such as B vitamins and vitamin E, minerals like calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc, as well phytochemicals and antioxidant compounds. As such, they can really turn your sinful desserts into your day’s nutritional anti-hero.

Nuts are very versatile. They can be used in food that you eat for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert, so there’s plenty of opportunities for you to consume them on a daily basis. Make it a point to enjoy them more often!