Welcome to the first edition of the Monthly Nutfruit News Round-up. Each month we will bring you a selection of some of the top articles about the health benefits nuts and dried fruits and how they can contribute to an overall healthy living lifestyle. In this era of “new normality”, immunity is becoming a high priority so, this month we’ve focused our round-up on the importance of a healthy diet to strengthen your immune system.
How to strengthen your immunity during the coronavirus pandemic
There are no specific foods or supplements that will help protect against coronavirus. However, eating a nutritious diet, especially one consisting of foods containing nutrients (vitamins and minerals) such as vitamin A, vitamin B6, selenium, zinc, iron and copper, could help contribute to the normal function of the immune system.
Many foods, including nuts and dried fruits, can help you incorporate immune-boosting nutrients into your daily diet. This article, published on CNN Health, will provide you with a list of food sources that contain the above-mentioned vitamins and minerals as well as the role each one plays in immunity.
The article also gives a short break down of the best ways to cook vegetables to maximize their nutritional value. As it turns out, steaming is one of the best ways to cook all vegetables as it keeps the temperature and the amount of liquid to a minimum when cooking.
Snack on nuts and seeds to boost your immunity
“When it comes to healthy eating, snacking is usually the Achilles heel for most of us”, says this article published in The Telegraph (India). As discussed in one of our previous blogs on healthy snacking, snacking is still seen as an unhealthy practice involving over indulgent “treats” eaten between meals. However, as both we and The Telegraph mention this does not have to be the case with the article even discussing that healthy snacking could become an “integral part of your immunity-building habit”.
As the article discusses, nuts and seeds are a good snacking option as not only are they are easy to store and ready to eat but nuts and seeds are packed with essential vitamins and minerals that could help immunity. Almonds for example, are high in vitamin E while walnuts are high in vitamin B6, both known to help with the normal function of the immune system. However, as also conversed there are certain things to keep in mind when snacking on nuts and seeds.
6 foods proven to relieve stress and reduce anxiety
During a time of adapting to the “new normal” there have been several mentions of increased stress and anxiety levels which, as the article discusses, may lead to feelings of increased or constant hunger said to be caused by longer term stress. This article published by Daily Sabah, informs us about foods that we can add in to our diets that have been proven to relieve stress and reduce anxiety and how “the key to coping with stress lies in supporting the immune system and lowering blood pressure, which can be achieved by following a healthy diet…”. Within the six tops foods are nuts and oilseeds as the article states “consuming a handful of pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds every day may help lower cholesterol levels, reduce your risk of diabetes as well as protect against the effects of stress.” Read the full article to discover which other foods could help to relieve stress and reduce anxiety.
Well that’s all for this month. Hope you have enjoyed the reading and we’ll be back with another Nutfruit News Round-up in August.
The information above is a review of news the INC has compiled from press media. This article is not intended to be exhaustive and it does not reflect the opinions of the INC. While the publishers believe that all information contained in this publication was correct at the time of publishing, they can accept no liability for any inaccuracies that may appear or loss suffered directly or indirectly by any reader as a result of any advertisement, editorial, photographs or other materials published in this news article.
