How to Eat Healthy with Beans and Nuts
Beans and nuts are an excellent, inexpensive source of protein and fiber.You can buy both canned or fresh. They are an especially important addition to a vegetarian or vegan diet.
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Instructions
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Eating Healthy with Beans and Nuts
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Indian dish made with beans.
Beans could almost be called a superfood. They are loaded with healthy nutrients like folate, magnesium, alpha-linolenic acid, calcium, potassium and vitamin B6. They're rich in protein (one cup of beans provides as much as 16 grams of protein) and are a great source of both soluble and insoluble fiber.
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Choose between black beans, pinto beans, aduko beans, garbanzo beans and many others. Add them to chillis, casseroles, dips and salads to name a few.
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Try and eat raw nuts rather than roasted, salted or honey roasted. Nuts that are roasted and salted or honey roasted have added oils, fats and sugars. Even better, try and eat organic raw nuts as they are not treated with pesticides or herbicides.
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In terms of nutritional value, almonds and walnuts rank at the top. Almonds have nearly 25 percent of your needed daily value of magnesium, they are rich in potassium, manganese, copper, the antioxidants vitamin E and selenium and calcium. Walnuts are rich in healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids and they contain the antioxidant compound ellagic acid, which is known to fight cancer and support the immune system.
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Other delicious nuts include pecans, Brazil nuts and cashews.
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Tips & Warnings
Nuts are a great addition to a vegan diet because when crushed into a fine powder, they can substitute for the dairy used in truffles and curries to name a few.
Watch the serving sizes in nuts as they are high in fat and calories and therefore a little goes a long way.
