Nuts for Nuts!

Eating about 1/4 cup of nuts, 5 times a week is associated with a 30-50% decrease in risk of cardiovascular disease. Nuts lower your LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) and do not have an effect on your HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol), unlike foods high in trans fats which may increase your LDL cholesterol and decrease your HDL cholesterol. 


Nuts are good for you because:

• they are low in saturated fats
• rich in mono and polyunsaturated fats
• high in fibre and various vitamins and minerals
• high in antioxidants 

But be careful! Nuts contain a lot of calories, so it is best to only consume small amounts as snacks throughout the day.


Health tip: choose unsalted nuts to reduce the amount of sodium you get each day - North Americans consume about 3 times the amount of sodium recommended by Health Canada. Sodium can be found in high amounts in foods you wouldn't expect, a cup of instant chocolate pudding has 420mg of sodium in it! You should aim to consume about 1500mg of sodium a day, to put this into perspective, one can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup contains a whopping 1200mg of sodium! Cereals, processed cheeses and CONDIMENTS (one tablespoon of ketchup can have 167mg of sodium!) can also contain high amounts of sodium, so be aware and read food labels.