Six Reasons to Eat Nuts

Nuts have, for a while, been the center of various controversies. Here are seven reasons why you should eat them.

Many have said that they are not healthy; though, an enlightened few have indulged in nuts and come out in fine physical condition for it.

The truth is, nuts are among the most beneficial foods on the planet.

Reason One: Nuts contain a wide variety of major micro-nutrients that will help keep your body running sharp. Among these are zinc, necessary for tissue repair and sex drive, calcium, a foundation of strong bones, and iron, which keeps the blood able to carry oxygen to the best of its ability.

Reason Two: Nuts are high in protein. Some vegetarians even make nuts a primary source of protein in their diet. A single serving of nuts contains 8g of protein. A single serving could be equated to about a half handful.

Reason Three: Nuts are high in polyunsatured and monounsatured fats--the good kind of fats. In men, these fats have been shown to increase testosterone levels. While research is still vague, one of the best theories on the matter supports the idea that this increase of testosterone levels is a result of these good fats' direct actions on the testes.

Reason Four: As bad as it sounds, some nuts, such as almonds, actually contain trace amounts of cyanides, which may kill off cancerous cells. These cyanides are too little to cause much damage to healthy cells, but can possibly effectively destroy cancerous cells.

Reason Five: Research shows that nuts are good for heart disease. This is perhaps because of the types of fats found in the nuts (mono and polyunsaturated) as compared to more unhealthy saturated and trans fats. Research also shows that eating a couple of handfuls of nuts every day can reduce heart disease by 25-50 percent. Peanuts showed the most promise in this regard.

Reason Six: Nuts can give one a pleasant body odor. Yes; it sounds strange, but nuts can slightly alter your natural pheremones. In the same way that pineapple leaves traces that make you taste sweeter and chocolate leaves traces that make you taste bitter, certain kinds of nuts, especially almonds, leave traces in your body that can give you a better smell.