Almonds: Why Should You Have It In Your Diet?

To have a healthy and disease-free body, it is important to include essential food components in your daily diet, that are filled with immense health-beneficial nutrients and key nutritional components. When you are adding healthy components to your daily diet, then you are ensuring yourself a healthy lifestyle that will not only help you to stay healthy but also will keep you free from any harmful diseases or infections. One such essential and healthy food is almond. Almond is a form of nut that usually consists of a nutty brown outer layer and a sweet-flavored white body inside. There are different types of nuts such as walnuts, peanuts, cashew nuts, pistachios, and so on. Almond is one of them.

Almonds are delicious in taste, they can be consumed either in a roasted form or in a can be consumed raw, after soaking in water for some time. You can also use almonds in different types of dishes, or they can be consumed in the form of flour, milk, or oil.

Almond nuts are a form of seeds that are derived from the fruits of almond trees. Almonds are in fact, one of the most commonly- used nuts apart from cashew nuts that have long been consumed since the early ages, for at least about 5000 years or more. Almonds have been some of the regular food components in the daily diet of the human lifestyle since ancient times and were consumed widely in the major parts of the world. California, for instance, is exquisitely famous for its excellent quality of almonds; Californian almonds are famous throughout the world for their rich, crunchy texture, delicious taste, and rich amount of health-beneficial nutrients present in them.

Apart from being tasty, almonds are healthy too. They are filled with immense amounts of healthy elements that are essential for the body. So, those who are willing to lead a healthy and disease-free life should mandatorily know what all about almonds is, what are the nutritional elements present in them, what health benefits almonds can have, and most importantly, how much almonds you need to have in your regular diet.

All You Need To Know About Almonds:

Since almonds are derived from the seeds of the fruits belonging to a tree scientifically known as Prunus dulcius, it provides you with the goodness and health benefits of plant sources and plant-based nutrients that are highly essential for your body. This is the reason almonds are so much popular not only in the United States but also in some parts of Middle Eastern countries. In fact, almonds are native to the Middle East and today they are quite popularly consumed in India as well.

Healthy Nutrients Present In Almonds:

Almonds are filled with immense nutritional components that are highly beneficial for your overall health and help you to maintain the proper functioning of the entire physiological system of the body. The numerous health-beneficial nutrients that are present in around 1-ounce or 28-gram serving of almonds can be listed here as follows:

• Fat: 14 grams (9 of which are monounsaturated)

• Vitamin E: 37% of the RDI

• Fiber: 3.5 grams

• Manganese: 32% of the RDI

• Protein: 6 grams

• Magnesium: 20% of the RDI

This list will help you to get a detailed idea about the number of elements and nutrients that are present in almonds. These elements are just not beneficial for the overall functioning of the body, but they are also known to lower the risks of developing different types of harmful diseases such as cancer, heart diseases such as cardiac arrest, heart attack, heart failure, and many types of cardiovascular diseases. When you are adding almonds to your daily diet, then it is important for you to know the exact amount of nutrients that are present in almonds. According to several findings and sources, it is known that around one ounce or 28.4 grams of almonds consist of some vital nutrients. Some such nutrients are given in the chart below with the exact amounts:

Nutrient Amount in 1 ounce Daily adult requirement

Energy (calories) 164 1,800–3,000

Carbohydrate (g) 6.1, including 1.2 g of sugar 130

Fiber (g) Cholesterol 3.5 0 25.2–30.8 No data

Protein (g) 6.0 46–56

Fat (g) 14.2, of which 12.4 g is unsaturated 20%–35% of daily calories

Calcium (mg) 76.3 1,000–1,200

Iron (mg) 1.0 8–18

Magnesium (mg) 76.5 310–420

Phosphorus (mg) 136 700

Potassium (mg) 208 4,700

Zinc (mg) 0.9 8–11

Copper (mg) 0.3 900

Manganese (mg) 0.6 1.8–2.3

Selenium (micrograms or mcg) 1.2 55

Folate (mcg, DFE) 12.5 300–400

Vitamin E (mg) 7.27 15

Apart from the above-mentioned nutritional components, there are some other essential health components too that are present in almonds, such as the high amounts of copper, phosphorus, and vitamins such as vitamin B2 or riboflavin.

There are some amounts of calories too that are present in almonds, which are around 161 calories and at least around 2.5 grams of digestible carbohydrates. But these amounts are quite trivial and will not cause any kind of harm to your overall health conditions or is less likely to cause any damage or illness to your health. In fact, it has been found in recent studies that are present in almonds do not get added to the body, because it has been found that around 10 to 15% of these calories do not get absorbed by the body and as a result, the body does not have any type of calorie surplus in the body.

Besides, almonds are also filled with a rich amount of phytic acid, a key antioxidant that helps in joining the essential minerals and allows your body to absorb those crucial elements fully.

Why Should You Have Almonds In Your Diet?

If this is the question you have while having almonds, then you are in the right corner. It is quite usual for someone to ask what the reason behind can be choosing almonds to be included in the everyday diet. So, here is the answer. The reasons why you should add almonds to your daily diet can be listed here as follows:

1. The Rich source of powerful antioxidants:

Almonds are rich in high amounts of powerful antioxidants that are essential for the healthy functioning of the body. Antioxidants that are present in almonds are able enough to lower the chance of occurrences of oxidative damage to the body cells and tissues. In fact, it has also been found in recent studies and experiments as the antioxidants in almonds reduce the chance of occurrences of oxidative damage in the body by around 23 to 34%, they also lower the tendency of developing chronic inflammatory diseases such as cancer and other chronic diseases. It also helps to reduce aging among those who have almonds regularly.

2. Reduces the chances of cancer:

Almonds are highly rich in anti-carcinogenic properties. Thus, it is often prescribed by physicians and many health care experts to have almonds in their diet to lower the chances of developing cancer and related disorders. The health benefits of almonds also help to reduce the risks of several types of harmful cancers, one important type being breast cancer.

3. Takes good care of your heart:

Almonds consist of essential health-beneficial extracts that are known to keep your heart healthy and take good care of your entire circulatory system. The rich antioxidants in almonds help to lower the chances of oxidative damage and actions of disease-causing free radicals that are likely to cause cancer. The rich vitamins and minerals present in almonds help in reducing the chances of cardiac diseases too.

4. Controls your blood sugar levels:

High levels of blood sugar or diabetes are quite a common disease in the present day. Diabetes is such a condition when a person has increased amounts of glucose in the bloodstream due to the imbalance in the functions of hormones insulin and glucagon, which are secreted from the pancreas gland. Almonds consist of essential healthy nutrient extracts such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and so on that help to reduce the levels of sugar or glucose in the blood. In fact, it has also been found in recent studies and experiments that there are enough amount of vitamins and minerals that are present in almonds that manage the secretion of insulin and glucagon. Besides, they have also found a connection between magnesium deficiency and insulin resistance. But studies and sources have already found that around one ounce of almonds can reduce the chance of diabetes as they contain around 76.5 mg of magnesium.