Properties: Seeds and Nuts
The seeds that can be eaten raw or roasted include sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, fennel seeds and many others. Some of these seeds and nuts, e.g., sunflower seeds, can be eaten raw, while other seeds such as alfalfa sprouts taste better when grown. Seeds and nuts contain, in addition to minerals, many vitamins, protein, carbohydrates, and especially plant fats, making them a very good and healthy food supplement. Moreover, seeds and nuts not only provide the body with essential energy but are also beneficial for muscle and nerve cells.
Furthermore, seeds and nuts have the advantage of keeping you full for long periods and binding toxins. Additionally, it is claimed that seeds and nuts are excellent brain and nerve foods due to their vitamin B content. Another positive side effect of seeds and nuts is that they keep our body healthy and young. For example, flaxseeds are said to strengthen nerve and brain cells through omega-3 fatty acids, thereby improving concentration, and are also supposed to counteract certain cancers. Sesame seeds, on the other hand, contain a lot of calcium, which is very important for bone formation. Sunflower seeds contain a lot of vitamin E, which keeps the heart healthy and protects the body against cancer.
Health: Seeds and Nuts
Also belong the nuts to the healthy food supplements. The regular consumption of seeds and nuts prevents many diseases including heart and circulatory disorders as well as cancerous diseases, furthermore they lower the cholesterol level and seeds and nuts promote antibody formation. However, it should be noted that this is a food supplement and small amounts which one consumes daily are sufficient. A handful of seeds and nuts per day covers the need completely and surely everyone finds their favorite type among the large selection. Moreover, different seeds and nuts contain various minerals and nutrients, however all seeds and nuts contain the important unsaturated fatty acids.
Due to the high plant fat content attention should be paid to the quantity when consuming, therefore seeds and nuts are healthiest in their raw state. Seeds and nuts are often offered salted, roasted or spiced, in this case it is advisable to take a closer look at the nutrients.
Seeds and Nuts
They provide the body with essential energy, energize nerve and muscle cells, satisfy hunger, and bind toxins: seeds and nuts are an indispensable part of human nutrition.
Seeds
Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, radish seeds, lentils, millet, alfalfa seeds, wheat, rye, barley or oat grains - all these edible seeds are a selection of valuable nutrient packages. They contain a lot of fat, on average 30 to 45 percent in the form of valuable oils with many essential fatty acids that the organism cannot synthesize from other nutrients. They are valuable sources of protein and offer almost the complete spectrum of amino acids, except for the amino acid lysine. Seeds are used for the production of valuable cooking oils; whole seeds and groats can be found in bread and other baked goods, muesli, and snack bars. With 400 to 550 kcal per 100 g, seeds provide a lot of energy, with nuts even exceeding this at 600 kcal per 100 g. Valuable protein in optimal structure, many dietary fibers, vitamins, minerals, and trace elements complement the benefits of edible seeds.
The own cultivation of valuable sprouts, the seedlings of the seeds, or their purchase from supermarkets is an excellent food supplement: for example, omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed strengthen brain and nerve cells. This relaxes and helps with thinking. Moreover, it inhibits cervical and breast cancer.
The small sesame seeds contain 10 times as much bone-strengthening calcium as milk, and with 30 g of sunflower seeds, one almost covers the entire daily requirement for vitamin E, which protects against cancer as a radical catcher and keeps the heart healthy.
Since seeds, especially sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds, can be heavy metal collectors and thus may be contaminated with lead and cadmium, it is advisable to use biologically produced seeds, as bio-soils are demonstrably less damaged by the renunciation of heavy-metal-contaminated sludge for fertilization than conventional soils. Finally, reference should be made to the different shelf lives of seeds.
Nuts
Nuts are nutritionally valuable seeds and fruits. They can be stored long-term when unshelled and therefore count among the historically first human foods. They provide high energy values and thus overshadow most fruits in this regard. Macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios, and almonds - they are all excellent protein suppliers due to their high protein content. Only legumes surpass them; even the comparison with meat and fish is favorable for nuts, as their protein is more digestible. With the exception of chestnuts, nuts contain many unsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid. Therefore, their consumption has a positive effect on heart and blood vessel problems.
With up to over 60% content of valuable oils, they have the disadvantage of becoming rancid quickly when shelled. Mould toxins - aflatoxins - are harmful to health; nuts must be monitored technologically in food production. The EU has set a maximum amount: the total aflatoxin content in nuts may not exceed four micrograms. Their nutritional value is further increased by their high vitamin content. B-vitamins promote growth, the nervous system, and brain functions; vitamin E is the best cell protection and preserves the obtained nut oil from premature oxidation.
Due to these concentrated positive properties, nuts are suitable as excellent provisions, as a supplier of superior cooking oils, and provide, for example also in muesli, a healthy energy boost during special demands.