Cashews, A Super Food
We always here about almonds and walnuts but I love cashews so what about them, are they healthy? In the back of my mind I always thought cashews were bad for me, I'm not sure where I heard that but I think at one point they were considered bad for you. I am always blown away when we find a food we thought was bad for us and now we are being told they are super food. I was so upset when I was a kid and they stopped making TV Time popcorn because they said the coconut oil was extremely unhealthy and now people are overloading on it from skincare to food to pills. I think there is an important lesson in there that moderation is key because too much of a good thing isn't always good for you. Honestly as I look back on it we were a little over reactive on foods that were real, whole, natural food but had no issue with feeding the family Happy Meal's with pink goo chicken nuggets. I tend to ramble and get a little soap boxy so back to the task on hand, cashews.
Cashews are healthy, full of minerals and vitamins with a multitude of benefits from fighting cancer to preventing alzheimer's and of course the most important is the anti aging effects. If you are anything like me you heard nothing except the anti aging effects because really that is the most important thing, cancer pishaw. There was a poll that basically said women would rather live a shorter life then be over weight, it's a little crazy but I believe it. I am happier when I am thinner and I think that is true for most of us. Cashews like almonds are high in calories and fat so moderation is key but that is pretty much in everything you eat. This is the biggest diet secret and I will give you my secret for free, losing weight is all about calories in and calories out so you need to create a calorie deficit in order to lose weight. I just saved you thousands of dollars on diet pills or other diet de jour products. This is my top secret, secret and normally I would have to kill you after I told but I'm feeling a little magnanimous only eat foods that have nutritional value. Stay away from empty calories but again the soap box is out so lets get back to the issue at hand, cashews.
Cashews are an excellent source of minerals and vitamins needed to protect your body from natural and unnatural causes:
GI they can help relieve issues from Crohn's to constipation
Heart Health because they can lower blood pressure and cholesterol
Bone and Teeth health but promoting bone growth
Eye Health cashews could prevent of slow down the progression of cataracts
Maintain Healthy Weight
Possibly Prevent of Slow down Cancer
Kidney Health
Antioxidants from anti aging to repair some muscle weakness
Here is the big question, what it the difference between Raw and Roasted Cashew? The nutritional value between them is minimal same goes for the fat and calories. Obviously eat unsalted nuts and stay away from honey roasted nuts whether they are cashews or almonds. In my research in trying to see which is better I did come across a study that stated raw cashews will help in weightloss. The study stated that the raw nuts will expand in your stomach so you feel more full which goes back to the million dollar diet secret, calories in vs calories out. I do eat raw unsalted nuts and I think that I don't binge eat them like I did with their roasted salted counterparts.