Eating pecans for a healthy lifestyle is a great possibility for many. The pecan nut has many benefits to help anyone achieve a proper balance of snacking, eating and cooking with this awesome nut.
The health benefits of eating pecans starts with the amount of energy one can achieve just by simply eating them in their nature state. The many minerals, nutrients and vitamins within pecans are proof in eating them and what this nut can do for your health. By eating just a small a hand full per day, the pecan can help improve many issues within the body.
Consuming pecans is known to boost one's immune system, helping in correcting heart disease issues and balancing factors to aid in cancer victims. Pecans, like many other types of nuts, have mono-unsaturated fatty acids. These acids are a main reason for decreasing the LDL levels of the body. The LDL is the bad cholesterol in the body and the pecan nut can help lower this problem. The same mono-unsaturated acids will also increase the good cholesterol that everybody needs. Eating the pecans can reduce strokes, heart attacks and many other problems that directly involve the heart. This dramatic effect to the body is one main reason to add the pecan to any heart healthy diet. Regardless whether you are eating raw or roasted pecans the healthy affects can be the same if not adding any salt, sugars or coatings.
For women, the pecan is a great source for oleic acid. This fatty acid is the same acid found in olive oils. Oleic acid has been studied and tested to show its ability to suppress the cells that bring about the onset of breast cancer. Eating one ounce of pecan nuts 5 times a week can have a powerful affect against the issues of many of the problems noted here. For men, the pecan nut can help with prostate cancer issues. This too is the reason oleic acid is needed to help with the onset of this problem within men and their health.
Pecan nuts have been regarded as a fatty type food. In contrary to this information it is known that people that consume this type of nut also maintain body weight. In some instances, many who eat a daily amount of these nuts even lost body weight over a period of time. With the pecan low carbohydrate rate and high fiber content it is easy to see how someone can balance their body mass.
Pecans are also high in protein. For those who do not eat meat products, eating pecans is a great way to get that substitute for protein. The fact that the pecan nut is cholesterol free and red meat is not, this is another way to improve a heart healthy diet and maintain a life away from red meat and even less fatty meats like chicken.
Antioxidants in the pecan nut also give its characters to help some in the fight against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. These antioxidants are the same that make the pecan work to fight cancer and heart disease. They also help with the lipids in one's blood and also deter strokes, heart attacks and other issues associated with the cardiovascular system.
Another property that is not widely known to some is the content of ellagic acid. This acid is the front runner to the antioxidants abilities to work within the body. When combined with several vitamins, minerals and other compounds it is a known ability for the pecan nut to reduce the amount of toxic issues within the body. This is a powerful defense weapon again cancers, diseases of the body and infections.
There are so many ways to enjoy pecans, whether it be in baking, salads or even sprinkling over ice cream. Anyone can figure out the different ways to enjoy this powerful nut and bring it to the table in so many different ways. Dry roasted pecans can be an easy way to enjoy this type of nut also. Anyone can roast their own pecans as it is an easy process where you are actually toasting the nut on baking sheets within an oven.
Harvesting of pecans usually comes in the fall but with worldwide production it is easy to buy pecans year round. It is sometimes best to buy whole unshelled pecans if you are storing the nuts. If not storing and consuming with a week it is best to buy shelled or cracked nuts. By buying in this manner one can store in a cool dry place for months as a time. If buying just the nut in its natural form, one should store them within an air tight container and put into a refrigerator to keep from going bad.
Susan White is writing an e book all about the common nuts.
