The Benefits of Eating Almonds

Almonds

Nuts in general are nutritionally dense powerhouses!  They're loaded with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that will aide your body in building muscle and staying slim!   This is something that is right in line with what I am always looking for and Almonds are one of your best options.

The antioxidants in almonds:

1. Help control blood sugar levels after meals
2. Protect against diabetes and heart disease
3. Raise levels of HDL (good cholesterol) cholesterol while lowering levels of  LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol)

Almonds are also chalk full of monounsaturated fats which help reduce your risk of heart disease even more! For males, mono fats also help boost natural testosterone levels.  Don't be scared of healthy fats!

Consuming almonds can also lead to more energy and stronger muscles.  A handful of almonds has:

• MORE PROTEIN THAN AN EGG
• CONTAINS ENERGY-BOOSTING MANGANESE AND COPPER WHICH LIMIT THE FREE RADICALS THAT CAN HINDER MITOCHONDRIA (POWERS OUR CELLS, FAT EATING MACHINES)

Almonds are also a great source of riboflavin, or Vitamin B2, which is an essential nutrient for producing oxygen based energy in the body.  Almonds may even help you burn FAT!  To this day, there is no scientific research that proves that eating almonds would make you gain weight.  Although some do argue that nuts in general are calorically dense.  But then again, eating to much of any given "thing" would make the waistline grow.

• A study in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders showed that over weight and obese people who were on a low-calorie, almond-enriched diet had a 56% greater reduction in body fat compared with those on a low-calorie, high-car diet.

Bottom line to all of this is SIMPLE!  Eating a handful of almonds a day can do nothing else but add extra goodness into your diet.  Chop them up and mix them in a salad, eat them as a snack raw, mix them up with some cranberries.  You can even throw them into your protein shake and chop them in a blender for some extra added fats and protein to your post-workout routine.  Any way you can think of really, just make sure you get in a handful a day!