Disease Proof

Almonds are great! I eat some everyday. Like this recipe for example. Have a look:

Almond-Carob Fudge

1/2 cup dates
1/4 cup soy milk
1 cup raw almond butter
1/2 cup raw carob powder
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chop dates and cover overnight with the soy milk to soften. Mash and mix all ingredients, including the soy milk soak, together and press in glass dish. Chill in refrigerator or freezer before cutting to serve. Serves 4.

That’s Fit forgot about almonds, but, has recently rediscovered them. Check it out:

A handful of almonds can make for a great, healthy snack. Packed with good fats, vitamin E, and calcium, almonds can help protect against a myriad of physical maladies.


In fact, a recent study, conducted at the University of Toronto, led to the discovery that eating about an ounce of almonds per day can lead to a decrease in LDL cholesterol by as much as 20 percent over time. Incredibly, this decrease in LDL is comparable to the reduction caused by some medications.

Hey, Dr. Fuhrman would never forget about nuts and seeds, especially for the heart. He explains:

Perhaps one of the most unexpected and novel findings in nutritional epidemiology in the past five years has been that nut consumption offers such strong protection against heart disease. Several clinical studies have observed beneficial effects of diets high in nuts (including walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and other nuts) on blood lipids.1 A review of 23 intervention trials using nuts and seeds demonstrated convincingly that eating nuts daily decreases total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.2 Not only do nuts and seeds lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol, they can help normalize a dangerous type of LDL molecule (the small, dense LDL particles that damage the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels).3

See…its okay to go nuts!
1. Hu FB; Stampfer MJ. Nut consumption and risk of coronary heart disease: a review of epidemiologic evidence. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 1999 Nov; 1(3): 204-9.

2. Mukuddem-Petersen J; Oosthuizen W; Jerling JC. A systematic review of the effects of nuts on blood lipid profiles in humans. J Nutr. 2005; 135(9): 2082-9.

3. Lamarche B; Desroche S; Jenkins DJ; et al. Combined effects of a dietary portfolio of plant sterols, vegetable protein, viscous fiber and almonds on LDL particle size. Br J Nutr. 2004: 92(4):654-63.