Secret 12: Have a Handful of Nuts and Seeds Daily

You truly are what you eat. An essential part of our nervous system including our brain, as well as all the membranes of our cells are derived from and consist of fat. Thus it is very important that we fuel ourselves with the best oils and fats available. In Secret 11, Sally wrote about fish oils.  In Secret 12, she concentrates on nuts, seeds and their oils.

Before we examine her findings, let us first refresh ourselves with a basic introduction on the parts of a plant and the real definition of 'nut' and 'seed'. Plants consist of six parts: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit and seeds. Seeds consist of three main parts: the embryonic plant, food for the seed, and the seed coat. Not all seeds are fit for human consumption. Seeds from fruit such as apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, plums and quinoa contain amygdalin which can cause cyanide poisoning.  The largest seed on Earth can weigh up to 50 lbs.  This is the coco de mer.  Most cooking oils used around the world are derived from seeds.  Seeds come in three edible versions: beans (or legumes), cereals and nuts.  Let us have a closer look at these three types:

i. Beans (or legumes) tend to be soft and rich in protein. They include peas, lentils, soybeans and peanuts (although we refer to the peanut as a 'nut', it is, in fact, a legume)

ii. Cereals are the seeds of certain types of grass. These dry seeds are often ground into cereal.  50% of calories consumed world-wide come from cereals. Of these calories, 50% are provided by three types of cereals: wheat, corn and rice. Other cereals include barley, millet, oats, rye and teff. Amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa are considered pseudocereals.  

iii. Food that we refer to as nuts are really a type of fruit. The hazelnut is a one-seeded hard-shelled fruit. Sunflower seeds are a dried fruit. Pine nuts, on the other hand, are edible, nut-like gymnosperm (from flowering plants) seeds. Popular 'nuts' include the almond, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia nut and pistachio. 

So what does Sally tell us about nuts, seeds and healthy centenarians?  Seeds and nuts are a great source of omega-6s. The SAD (Standard American Diet) is both deficient in omega-3s (think oily fish, flax oil a.k.a. linseed oil, walnuts) and omega-6s (nuts, apricot kernel oil, almond oil, evening primrose oil, black currant oil, borage oil) AND has an unhealthy ratio between these two essential fatty acids.  The ideal balance, and the balance consumed by prehistoric people, was closer to 1:2 or 1:3; in the SAD the ratio is closer to 1:20.  Hemp provides the ideal balance between omega-3s and omega-6s and is starting to become more mainstream in Western diets.  Consider replacing butter on your breakfast toast with hemp seed oil mixed with flax oil. Not only do people in the blue zone enjoy seeds and nuts, but they also limit their intake of saturated and hydrogenated fats. Animals eaten by blue-zoners are either wild or grass-fed and automatically have a much healthier ratio of 3s to 6s than feedlot, steroid-, antibody- and hormone-fed cattle. You can cover your minimum omega-6 requirement by taking one tablespoon of cold-pressed seed oil or by eating a handful of nuts daily.  

Take-home message: reduce your fat intake from saturated and hydrogenated fats, avoid anything containing trans fats, and enjoy stilling your afternoon hunger pangs by snacking on your favorite fresh nuts and seeds.