NUTS AND THE BATTLE AGAINST CHRONIC DISEASE

You are what you eat…..or so goes the often cited platitude. But this isn’t just a meaningless cliché: every second of every day, the cells of your body are working to maintain their viability, to run the body, repair the damage of daily life. To perform these tasks, you need energy as well as the materials to build new tissue. Foodstuffs are needed for these tasks since humans can’t live on air and water.

Although the role diet plays in our health is extremely complex, the human body has certain basic requirements. To put it simply, we need to consume minerals and vitamins, protein, and calories, to power our cells, allowing the organs to perform each of their distinctive functions. Consequently, nutrition is big news and big business.

Included in this discussion should be the healthcare expenditures for treating diseases aggravated by poor nutrition. Although this is a nearly impossible calculation, it has become increasingly clear there are significant health consequences to the foreign and unnatural substances that have become such a large part of our daily nutrition. Naturally there are deniers, as there is with climate, but these are generally industry funded.

This treatise is dedicated to one particular class of food, one endowed with a shockingly long list of benefits. And few negatives associated with its delicious consumption. Should you be interested in health and wellness, longevity, or just improving your quality of life, you should be interested in and knowledgeable of nuts. You read that correctly: nuts are one of the healthiest foods available. Nuts, in all there are many varieties, carry numerous health benefits.

Not so long ago, certain ‘authorities’ touted the concept fats were bad for you. Naturally, concerns were raised about the potential for harm from the fats contained in nuts. These concerns have been dispelled, largely due to the accumulation of knowledge over time on the role of fats in our diet. The body requires the ingestion of fats for health……of the healthy variety, the type found in nuts.

We are only beginning to understand the consequences of unhealthy fats, which are the trans and saturated fats. It has become clear these components of many processed foods lead to the development of disease and ill health. In contrast, nuts possess the beneficial kind, the unsaturated type, both mono- and poly-unsaturated varieties. Again, fat consumption is a necessity for good health, which explains in part why nuts carry multiple benefits in the pursuit of wellness.

Nuts, as a specific classification, is not precise including as it does both tree nuts and peanuts. Perhaps the most commonly consumed on this list, the latter actually belong to the legume family, like lentils and beans. Strangely, they carry so many of the same health benefits as the tree nuts such as cashews and almonds, which, as the term implies, all grow on trees.

Nuts are considered a “Superfood” since they’re nutrient dense foods with a complex chemistry. Nuts are rich in bioactive compounds including unsaturated fats, high-quality protein (and yes, vegetables can be an excellent source of protein), fiber, minerals, and other important compounds. By virtue of their unique make-up, nuts are able to positively impact a person’s health outcomes and inhibit the development of many of the chronic diseases of the modern era.

Studies have associated consumption with numerous positives to adding at least one representative of these plant’s natural bounty. One benefit is a reduced incidence of heart disease (more specifically C.A.D.) and diabetes (which seems to be more in women). There is some evidence their consumption lessens the risks of hypertension, cancer, and inflammation.

Perhaps the best evidence is regarding their cholesterol-lowering effects. Some newer research has revealed beneficial effects on tissue health (specifically oxidative stress), and vascular health. Blood pressure, levels of unhealthy body fat (referred to as visceral adiposity) and metabolic syndrome (diabetes with heart disease and hypertension) all appear to be positively influenced by regular nut consumption.

Although the food industry giants have made every attempt to muddy the issues, the western diet has triggered an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, organ failure, and more. The evidence continues to accumulate. Coinciding with the invasion of the fast food giants into Brazil around the turn of this century was the dramatic (and clearly associated) increase in type II adult-onset diabetes.

Should you be interested in a more enjoyable life, with less joint, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease, be ever mindful of the very accurate proverb: you are what you eat. A diet of unnatural, man-made, synthetic substances will encourage the development of illness. Agreed, our lives are harried, often difficult. But convenience is a poor excuse for, in effect, knowledgeably encouraging disease with the consumption of ultra-processed foods and excess sugar.  

Residents of the developed countries, a list which currently includes the US, need to take responsibility for their diet. As a culture, are we making responsible choices? The healthcare statistics and the science of nutrition would say “No.” Whether your preference is peanuts or cashews, pistachio or almonds, one answer to wellness is to consume more nuts….the best snack food in the world!