Who doesn’t know about cashew nuts? Kaju is what we call them in India. We mostly use them for sweets and children love to eat them raw, as they are. They are full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals which are required for the normal functioning of the body.
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They belong to Brazil, but the Portuguese invented them in India before the 16th century. The kidney-shaped or bean-shaped nuts have a lot of health benefits, a few of which are presented below.
Cashews are rich in Vitamins C, E, K, phosphorous, iron, magnesium and zinc and also contain antioxidants, phytochemicals and protein. Adding cashews to your balanced diet can have many benefits.
What Are The Benefits Of Cashews?
1. Enhances The health Of Your Heart
One of the necessary health benefits of cashew nuts is that cashews can enhance the health of your heart. A significant amount of the fat that cashews contain is the same healthy, oleic acid that is found in olive oil.
Research has shown that oleic acid decreases triglyceride levels, which is associated with the onset of heart disease. Cashews are also cholesterol free and consist of a significant number of antioxidants, which aid to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
2. Promotes Healthy Bones
Health benefits of cashew nuts consider encouraging healthier bones. Cashews are especially rich in magnesium, which is required, in addition to calcium for your bone health and cashews has them all and hence they are helpful for the maintenance of stable, healthy bone structure.
Inadequate levels of magnesium can also be the cause of high blood pressure and even migraines.
3. Can Help Prevent Cancer
Health advantages of cashew nuts don’t stop there. Cashews contain a type of flavanol called proanthocyanidins, Many studies have shown that it helps to limit the growth of cancerous cells and starved tumours.
In addition to this, cashews are an excellent source of copper, which help eliminate free radicals from the human body.
4. Improves The Health Of Skin And Hair
So as you already read above that cashew are rich in copper, Copper is also an important ingredient contained in enzymes that are good for the skin and even hair. Without a sufficient supply of copper, these enzymes would be impotent to do their job of creating the pigments that give hair and skin their colour.
5. Aids Weight Loss
Weight loss aid is another one of the best health benefits of cashew nuts. Although cashews are relatively high in fat, the fat that they do contain is the right kind of fat.
It has been proven in the number of studies that people, who eat nuts twice a week, are far less likely to put on weight, than those who don’t. Cashews should not be consumed to an excess level, but as a healthy, high fibre snack, they can form a crucial part of your diet.
6. Enhances The Nerves In Your Body
Top health benefits of cashew nuts also include an enhanced nervous system in your body. The high amount of magnesium found in cashews aids prevents calcium from entering the bloodstream. If you consume too much calcium and it enters in the blood, it can lead to overactive of your nerve cells, as well as being the cause of muscle fatigue, soreness and also tension.
7. Can Help Cure Depression
Cashew nuts can even help treat depression. It has been declared that a handfuls of cashews has the equivalent effect of a prescription anti-depressant. Cashews include an amino acid, known as L-tryptophan, which is broken down in the body into niacin and also serotonin, compounds that calm anxiety and promote a sense of well-being.
8. Provides Large Amount Of Essential Vitamin K
A 100 grams serving of cashews gives you with 4.1 µg of vitamin K. Without sufficient vitamin K, blood would not clot properly, so when you cut yourself, a considerable blood loss could occur.
9. Assists The Body In Creating Energy
Cashews contain thiamine, which plays an essential role in converting sugar to energy. Generally, lack of thiamine in your diet can lead to some severe medical issues ranging from muscle pain to even the memory loss and few bodily changes.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 30 gms
Calories: 164
Protein: 5 g
Fat: 13 g
Saturated: 2 g
Monounsaturated: 7 g
Polyunsaturated: 2 g
Carbohydrate: 8 g
Sugar: 1 g
Fiber: 1 g
Key Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin K
Amount: 9.8 mcg
Daily Value: 12%
Magnesium
Amount: 77.1 mg
Daily Value: 19%
Phosphorus
Amount: 150 mg
Daily Value: 15%
Zinc
Amount: 1.5 mg
Daily Value: 10%
Copper
Amount: .6 mg
Daily Value: 29%
Manganese
Amount: .5 mg
Daily Value: 24%
Below are the recipes in which you can consume all the goodness of this special nut –
1.Cream of Cashew Pea Soup
Ingredients
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 big onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly chopped
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
2 large cups of raw cashews
2 tablespoons of raw or light brown sugar
1 teaspoon finely crushed red pepper flakes
2 pounds frozen sugar snap or green peas, thawed
1 tablespoon of vinegar
Thinly sliced spring onion and crushed potato chips (for serving).
Preparation Process
Heat oil in a big saucepan over medium-low. Include few onions, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring often and adding a splash or so of water if the bottom of the pan gets too brown, until golden brown for 30–40 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper. Include cashews, sugar, red pepper flakes, and 3 cups water and bring mixture to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are very soft and also losing their structure, 10–15 minutes.
Mix one-third of sugar snap peas with one-third of vegetable mixture in a blender, including some cooking liquid from the vegetable mixture as required to thin, until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Press purée through a small fine-mesh sieve into a medium saucepan; discard solids.
Working in 2 batches, repeat with remaining peas and vegetable mixture, adding water as needed if you run out of cooking liquid. If soup is still very thick, thin with some amount of water until you get a velvety, pourable consistency. (You should have about 7 cups soup.)
Stir vinegar into soup; season with more salt, pepper and warm over medium-low until heated through.
Serve soup topped with spring onion and potato chips.
Do Ahead
Soup can be prepared 2 days ahead. Let it keep aside, now cool; cover and chill. Repeat this over medium-low, thinning with water as needed until pourable.
2.Banana, Coffee, Cashew, And Cocoa Smoothie
Ingredients
1 full banana, preferably frozen
2 Medjool dates pitted
1/2 cup of cold-brew coffee
1/4 cup of raw cashews, preferably soaked overnight
3 tablespoons of old-fashioned oats, preferably soaked overnight
1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of ground cardamom
Pinch of salt.
Preparation
Using smoothie or ice crush setting, purée banana, dates, coffee, cashews, oats, cocoa powder, cardamom, salt, and 1/2 cup of ice in a mixer or blender until smooth.
Studies Done on Cashews
Regarding some of the essential roles of magnesium in the body, one popular study reported that insufficient magnesium intake could lead to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), myocardial infarction, hypertension, chronic renal failure cancer, kidney stones, premenstrual problems, and also few psychiatric disorders.
However, a large segment of the world population may be suffering from these issues as a result.
Along with a truly impressive list of what consuming nuts can do for the body, a few of them are a decreased incidence of coronary cardiovascular disease and gallstones in both genders and diabetes in women.
Data collected on 80,718 women from the Indian Health Study, demonstrated that women who consume at least one ounce of nuts each week, such as cashews, have a 20-25% lower risk of developing gallstones.
Famous research showed that roasting cashews and the thin skin between the nutmeat and the shell, called testa, actually produced higher levels of beneficial nutrients than eating them raw. More specifically, the antioxidant activity of cashew nuts increased as the roasting temperature increased.
Above all are the benefits and yummy recipes of cashews and you can know the information by reading this article. I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Feel free to exchange your thoughts and healthy eating tips in the comment section below.
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