Nuts To You… Just One Way to a Healthy Heart
Dr. John Rumberger

Nuts are readily available and provide a highly nutritious food. In addition to protein, carbohydrate, and fat, nuts contain many other important nutrients: fiber, vitamin E, folic acid, potassium, and magnesium. Although on some food charts you may see nuts listed in the same food category as diary products, eggs, and red meat because of the fat content, new information calls into question this designation.
While nuts do contain a high proportion of fat, tree nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazel nuts, Brazil nuts, and macadamia are actually low in saturated fat. Most of the fat comes in the form of monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, which are considered to be acceptable forms of fat that actually “reduce” the incidence of heart and vascular disease.
Several large studies have examined the relationship between the risk of heart disease and intake of omega-3 fatty acids from plant sources. In the Seventh Day Adventist Health Study researchers found that those who reported eating nuts more than four times per week had a 50% lower risk of heart disease than those who rarely ate nuts. The Nurses’ Health Study found that heart disease risk was reduced by 35% in those who ate nuts compared with those who rarely ate nuts. An addition study found that the risk of type 2 diabetes went down by nearly 1/3 in women who consumed 1/4 cup of nuts five times per week compared to those that did not eat nuts at all.
One recent study looked at almonds in particular. They examined the effects on LDL [“bad”] cholesterol values. Each person served as his own control and they were each on three different “diets”: almonds representing about 1/4 their entire daily calorie intake, OR a “handful” of almonds per day, OR a muffin [containing about the same number of calories as a “full dose” of almonds]. The LDL cholesterol went down about 10% when the subjects took a “full dose” of almonds, went down about 5% with intake of a “handful” of almonds, and did not go down at all with eating a muffin. In those with the higher “dose” of almonds, the “ratio” of bad to good cholesterol [LDL/HDL ratio] went down by 12%.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recognizes nuts [including almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, macadamia, and pistachios] may help to lower your blood cholesterol and may be a very healthy “snack”. However, they also warn that they are a source of calories and should not be used to great excess in those with calorie restricted diets and that you should avoid nuts with added oils or added salt. The AHA recommends eating an overall balanced diet that is high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and includes low-fat [or non-fat] diary products, fish and lean meats. If you add nuts to your diet, just be sure that you don’t inadvertently add considerable total calories – despite the benefits of nuts, maintaining an ideal body weight is more important. Weight is often a simple lesson in physics – what comes in either stays [as increased pounds] or is used up for energy and metabolism [which is increased by a regular exercise program].

Disclaimer: If you are under 18, pregnant, nursing or have health problems, consult your physician before starting any weight loss plan. The information here is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Please consult your physician before beginning any course of treatment.

About the Author

Dr. John Rumberger’s experince in the field is extensive, and includes achieving his doctorate in 1976 (Bio-Engineering/ Fluid Dynamics/ Applied Mathematics) from Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio, with a dissertation on, A Non-Linear Model of Coronary Artery Blood Flow. He has just completed his book The WAY Diet available on amazon.com or direct through the publisher at http://www.emptycanoe.com

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On closer look, the world is able to supply all that the body needs to keep it strong, healthy and living well. Dieting is not always abstaining from food rather, it is eating a balanced diet. It is the preference of one food category over the other that create the imbalance.

Sodium for example is essential to the haste of the body. Without it various illnesses arise. More than that, sodium makes us sweat out the toxins that the body has accumulated whether naturally or not. Sodium is also an agent that helps keep the body temperature at operating limits. Fat is too. Fat for all its portrayed grossness keeps the skin looking well and toned. It is the body’s best insulator against cold and is a source of the lubricant for the different parts of the body. One of its best purposes though is that it is the body’s storehouse of energy if you will. It will keep the build going and surviving long after undocked the other nutrients are gone. Fat and sodium might be the top food to avoid according to surpassingly dieting programs but ask those who are not selling health concoctions. The answer might be slightly different. But take all things in moderation. In like manner, fiber is bad for the body if all that the body gets is fiber.

The issue then is not so much with what is introduced to the shape but the manner and proportions by which it is introduced. Take for example caress. Processed sugar is good as a quick source of energy. Fruit sugar is better. The sugar in the fruit is burned by the body in slower quantities and therefore lasts longer unlike its filtered counterpart. Fruit sugar does not give the feeling of a quick energy surge like that which we feel with processed sugar. Coffee likewise is a good source of antioxidants aside from its various benefits. Antioxidants keep us healthy, vibrant, and arrest the aging process. Of course too much coffee is too much coffee. Just near goods that is ingested in copious amounts, the benefits are negated and often illnesses if not discomfort occurs.

The best way to diet then is to have a balanced diet. Everything that we eat must be limited to or as close as possible to prescribed amounts. There is this food chart that is commercially available that leave succor anyone determine the useful ratio that the build requires. Elementary really but very informative, it tells us of things that we should already know but do not.

In an effort to entertain the best diet, we sometimes go to lengths to buy the expensive foods. Pretty sentiment but really surplus. All food has its purpose; uncut fare has its own nutrient that will serve the body whole. Everything that is edible under heaven is to provide life. The difference sometimes is in the advertising, who endorses it also how successful is the hype. Otherwise the difference is not much, only the price.

No one could go wrong protect water. Water, even when taken copiously, will always serve good. You can never get enough of it. That which the constitution does not need is either perspired or flushed out.

The transcendent way to a balanced diet then is to eat that which is available and to have variety but only domination prescribed amounts. If obesity is the affair, think of that which you eat most and limit its intake or do not take it for a while until your weight normalizes. But drink water, lots of it.

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