This medium-sized brown nut with its intense flavor packs more than just a punch on your taste buds. Walnuts are a great choice that are healthy for your entire body. These nuts are so much more than just a quick snack, crunchy add-on to your salad, delightful surprise in your dessert, or just plain fun to crack open during the holidays. In fact, for centuries, physicians have been using these nuts medicinally to help with everything from bruises to an upset stomach, as an antidote to poisons, and relief from abscesses. Modern studies have now demonstrated the benefits of this impressive nut, and they are extraordinary!
The history of walnuts can be traced back to the beginning of mankind and were mentioned in the early Roman Empire. The nuts were first called “Jupiter’s royal acorn,” a delicacy reserved for the wealthy. The Persian Silk Road, a trade and commerce route, also spread them throughout the Asian continent and other countries of the Eastern world. Eventually, they were called Persian Walnuts owing to this trade route, and caravans and merchants continued to introduce the nut throughout the world via additional trajectories. Over time, the Persian Walnut became the English Walnut as England became a popular place for merchants to sell them, although England has never actually grown these nuts commercially. The hard, outer shell of the nut enabled it to be transported long distances without damaging the delicious contents inside.
After multiple centuries of being in high demand throughout the European and Eastern continents, the nuts finally were planted in California in the late 1700s by Franciscan Fathers and aptly named Mission Walnuts. The new Californian version of the nuts were initially much smaller, but as time passed, growers were able to cultivate a healthier plant in the warm southern California climate. In modern times, California walnuts have come to dominant the walnut trade, supplying 99 percent of the United States and 75 percent of the world.
As you begin to learn about all the positive effects of walnuts, you’ll quickly discover that most of your body will benefit by adding these nuts to your diet. Your brain, reproductive system, heart, and digestive tract will all be aided in positive ways.
Freshly cracked nuts are best, but if you do opt for the pre-cracked store-bought option just make sure the nuts are unsalted, and the meat should be white not yellow. Nuts can spoil if improperly stored, so they’re best kept in a cool dry environment to prevent them from becoming rancid.
A number of scientific studies have shown that adding a small number of walnuts to your daily diet can keep your heart happy and healthy and help prevent heart disease. Nuts contain many nutrients such as folate (prevents hardening of your arteries) and arginine (improves blood circulation by helping the blood vessels around your heart remain elastic).
These nuts also contain omega-3 fatty acids, but not the ones you may be thinking. The omega-3 fatty acids in walnuts are of the alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) type and help your body make other nutrients that it may needed. However, it’s still recommended that you obtain your daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids from multiple sources—including wild salmon and supplements your healthcare provider recommends—to ensure you’re getting all the variants you need.
These nuts have been found to improve the symptoms of certain metabolic syndromes that could be precursors to high blood sugar and high cholesterol levels. One study found that a diet rich in nuts does not cause any additional weight gain and may actually reduce systolic blood pressure.
In terms of your heart, walnuts can aid proper heart function and allow your blood to flow freely as it should, or more specifically, they support your cardionomic circuit, which is part of your NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response system. If your cardionomic circuit becomes unbalanced, often the case if you’re struggling with AFS, this imbalance can show up as an irregular heartbeat, sudden blood pressure changes, and difficulty breathing. Your body requires a healthy and robust heart to deal with any stressful situations life may throw at you, and a healthy diet that includes plenty of nuts is a great way to support your body.
Nuts can support brain functions and should therefore have an important place in your diet. Researchers from Pakistan found that the memory of mice fed walnuts was improved and their ability to learn also increased compared to mice that did not receive the nuts. It was later discovered that their brains exhibited improved neurotransmitter function and their nerves were also more protected.
If you suffer from a depressive disorder, consuming a small amount of these nuts every day may help improve your symptoms. Omega-3 fatty acids help the brain to form a fluid layer around nerve cells that transmit emotions and sensations. Levels of dopamine and serotonin—the “feel-good” hormones—are often lower in those suffering from symptoms of depression. Increasing the fluid around the nerves that transmit these hormones, via the Neuroaffect circuit of your NEM stress response system, could improve symptoms, such as stress, anxiety, panic attacks, mood swings, and sleep issues.
Walnuts can also be highly beneficial to children struggling with attention disorders or behavioral issues. Studies have found that children with these symptoms are assisted by a diet high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Therefore, unless your child likes to eat fresh fish on a daily basis, you should encourage them to healthy nuts as a snack or occasionally offer them a slice of delicious apple-walnut cake for an extra special treat.
One of the most exciting things about walnuts is based on the findings of researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. Typically, when you think about walnuts and their brain-shaped appearance, it’s easy to associate them with brain health. However, the benefits to your digestive system health are extraordinarily too. The billions of bacteria in your gut are affected by the amount of fiber present, and since walnuts are high in fiber, they were found to increase good bacteria in the gut and lower the numbers of harmful bacteria.
If you regularly consume a diet high in fats and carbohydrates—the typical American diet—your body is most likely producing a lot of secondary bile acids in an attempt to deal with the excess fats. This leads to increased inflammation and eventually, your body will no longer be able to properly deal with the excessive amounts of fat. The inflammation circuit of the NEM system is your body’s way of protecting itself and can result in substantial weight gain and even obesity. Typically, a poor diet is blamed for weight gain, food sensitivities, irritable bowel issues, and leaky gut, but it may also be an indication that your body trying to cope with the symptoms of adrenal fatigue.
Including walnuts in your diet can help reduce the production of secondary bile acids and inflammation and these nuts have also shown to improve cholesterol levels. Overall cholesterol levels decreased, LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) levels were lowered, and HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) levels increased.
Similar to the probiotic effects of yogurt and kefir, those of walnuts are also being studied by researchers in Germany. While it’s easy to assume that all bacteria are harmful, probiotics are actually good bacteria that your body needs. These billions of good bacteria are responsible for keeping you healthy, fighting against disease-causing microorganisms, digesting your food, and making vitamins necessary for certain daily functions.
While not technically a probiotic, the Butyric acid present in walnuts helps you to maintain sufficient numbers of good bacteria in your gut and enhances other probiotics as well. Butyric acid works by keeping your colon healthy and the cells functioning optimally. In addition, these nuts also work as a prebiotic, which helps grow probiotics. The best way to understand prebiotics is to think of working in a job that you love versus a job that you hate. While both will give you a paycheck, the job that you like (the prebiotic) will make your life a lot easier to handle.
Another way these nuts benefit your digestive system is by reducing your risk of colon cancer. The number and size of tumors in mice were found to be reduced by eating walnuts.
The next generation can also benefit from a diet that includes healthy walnuts. If you’re trying to become pregnant (or if you already are), these amazing nuts are extremely helpful in achieving a healthy body since they contain so many nutrients. In particular, the manganese found in walnuts is useful for stimulating your hypothalamus, so you can produce the hormones required for reproduction. The hypothalamus is a busy organ as it also helps the body deal with stress by releasing cortisol.
Men are also aided by a diet incorporating healthy nuts. The UCLA School of Nursing found that by simply eating two and a half ounces of nuts per day, the shape of sperm was improved—an indication of healthier sperm compared to unhealthy poorly shaped sperm that won’t fertilize an egg—fewer chromosomal disorders were detected, and sperm was able to move better. Considering the fact that one healthy sperm is half of the genetic makeup of a baby when joined with a uterine egg, it’s imperative for sperm to be as healthy as possible.
It’s important to note that too many antioxidants, such as those found in nuts, can be harmful to the DNA in sperm according to a study published in 2007. You can have too much of a good thing! So, always remember, everything in moderation is the key and be sure to follow the suggestions of your healthcare provider, especially if you’re hoping to get pregnant.
Stress also affects the hormonal circuit of your NEM stress response system in negative ways. The primary female hormone estrogen can become dominant and alter your menstrual cycle. In addition, estrogen dominance can decrease your libido, increase the possibility of developing ovarian cysts, and may even cause erectile dysfunction if your body is unable to deal with stress appropriately. Therefore, it’s always important to decrease your exposure to stress as much as possible and consume a healthy diet.
In conventional medicine, stress is typically understood by looking at the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Once this is set in motion, your body releases cortisol. Cortisol is like a really good air-conditioner in the summer heat—if it gets too hot, it jumps into action to cool everything off, making you feel better, and then returns to its baseline function. Newer studies are showing that using a multi-dimensional, holistic approach to describe your body’s various functions is more useful than traditional approches that consider each system of your body separately. The NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response is one such approach to viewing your body’s response to stressful situations. The NEM system is considered as the main controller of your stress response, comprised of six different circuits to carry out the response: hormonal, bioenergetics, detoxification, inflammation, cardionomic, and neuroaffect.
Walnuts can affect your cardionomic, inflammation, hormonal, and neuroaffect circuits. Yet, these circuits must work in perfect sync with other circuits to maintain harmony within your body. If this delicate balance is not maintained, symptoms can begin to occur as your body will be unable to compensate for the chronic high levels of stress it may be facing. As a result, the signs of Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) begin to occur as your body’s reserves are depleted.
Stress can be a confusing term to explain and so can the effects of adrenal fatigue on your body. For some, stress could mean a difficult situation such as problems at work or home, but it can be caused by internal things, like bacteria invading your body leading to the symptoms of stress. Your body doesn’t differentiate between mental and physical stress therefore all types of stress trigger inflammation in your body.
Adrenal fatigue may be minor to start and could include an array of vague symptoms such as tiredness, feeling mentally sluggish, or needing an extra cup of coffee to get going in the mornings. As the disorder progresses, more of your body’s systems start to become affected leading to additional symptoms, including new food allergies, upset stomach, brain fog, increasing exhaustion, unexplained hair loss, decreased sexual drive, and succumbing to respiratory infections more easily.
Proper treatment of AFS is focused on the specific causes of stress—both mental and/or physical. By making sure you’re eating a proper diet filled with organic meats, vegetables, and fruits, doing regular exercise, reducing mental stress, and properly supplementing your meals with elements recommended by your healthcare provider, you can start to bring balance back in your NEM circuits and heal your body.
A healthy daily dose of unshelled walnuts is 2.5 ounces or 70 grams by weight. This is equivalent to a small handful or ¼ of a cup. Freshly cracked nuts are best, although de-shelled store-bought versions are still a good option as long as they are fresh and unsalted.
So hopefully now when you think of this brain-shaped nut, you’ll remember the positive effects on your brain, heart, reproductive system, and digestive tract. The health benefits, great taste, and availability these nuts make them amazingly powerful. Enjoy a handful today!
Note: Unpeeled apples with thin skin are fine to use
Note: The tube pan will require a longer baking time (approximately 80 minutes).
*Note* The coconut cream must be really chilled for several hours (preferably overnight) to ensure that it will whip and turn into an icing-like consistency.
A healthy daily dose of unshelled walnuts is 2.5 ounces or 70 grams by weight. This is equivalent to a small handful or 1/4 of a cup. Freshly cracked nuts are best, but store-bought de-shelled versions should still taste fresh and unsalted nuts are the best choice.
