Here’s Why You Should Have a Walnut a Day

Walnuts have been accredited for their health benefits since 7000 BC. Lately, however, they have come under fire for being high in calories, particularly from fat. But we’re going to prove to you why your ancestors were on to something.

Less educated nutritionists may tell you that you need to avoid walnuts if you want to shed pounds, but we have several refutations to this. Walnuts provide calories primarily in the form of protein and fats. Even these fats are omega-3-fatty-acids, and we’ll get to the importance of those later. Additionally, they are also rich in fiber. What we’re getting at is that walnuts are essentially nutrient dense, and this gives rise to greater satiety of eating them, even in small quantities. Satiety factor is a be part of dieting, and it’s good to fill your stomach with foods that are rich in nutrition.

Walnuts can improve the quality of sleep, and even the SPEED at which you fall asleep, and that’s because they contain a substance known as melatonin, usually released by your pineal gland, which induces sleep. So, if you’re going to have a walnut a day, the best time to have it would be at night.

I bet you didn’t know that walnuts can make your hair look better, and even slow down the rate of hair-loss. This is possible, because this super-nut is loaded with biotin, also known as vitamin B7, which is essential for healthy hair.

Few people are aware that walnuts are one of the best things you can eat to keep your heart healthy. They are a powerhouse store of omega-3-fatty-acids, which shoot down the levels of bad cholesterol in your blood and even bring up the levels of good cholesterol. Additionally, the fact that they are a well-store of antioxidants means that they can protect your heart from free-radical induced damage at the same time. It’s also worth noting that walnuts are a potent fertility food, by virtue of their high content of omega-3s. These fatty acids have been proven to increase the quality of sperm in ejaculate. In fact, a study conducted by the prestigious UCLA concluded that simply eating 75 mg of walnuts a day (that’s only small handful) significantly improved motility and vitality of sperm in their test population of males between 21 and 34.

But what if you’re past the age of 35, what can walnuts do for you, then? Well, we all know that wrinkles come about as a result of free radical damage in your skin. So logically, then, walnuts rich in antioxidants can go a long way in making your skin look younger and give you back that healthy glow.

Free radical damage is also associated with mental disorders like Dementia and Alzheimer’s. In a study by the New York State Institute, a study group of mice deprived of walnuts were shown to develop memory loss, learning loss and loss of physical control much faster than mice that were fed walnuts.

Lastly, a study at Marshall University found that a diet containing 2 ounces of walnuts a day for women halved the chance of decreasing breast cancer. Additionally, the tumors in the patient population on the walnut diet were significantly smaller.