I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at
the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the
pomegranates were in bloom.
Song of Songs 6: 11
Each nut carries the blueprint of a living monolith
that will stretch to the heavens and fill the sky with a canopy of
green. Giants that will stand outstretched in worship, bringing glory
to a Creator who is not small. When we harvest nuts we gather a
blessing of highly concentrated nutrients. Little packages of
proteins, oils, vitamins and minerals essential to growth and
germination.
Fresh raw nuts in their shells make the best snack
food for two reasons. First, the oil will be fresh because of the
natural protection of the outer shell. Secondly, cracking open the
shell forces you to eat more slowly instead of handfuls of nuts that
are improperly chewed and swallowed. You have time to mix this
concentrated food with ample saliva, making it much easier on the
digestive system. We eat food far too quickly and this is unhealthy,
especially with highly concentrated foods. Chewing nuts slowly will
help to eliminate the heaviness in the stomach. Mixing nuts with dried
fruits increases their digestibility and the combinations of flavors
are splendiciously delicious.
It is easy to overeat this luxurious treat. Learn
to be content with small amounts, unless you are a serious bodybuilder
or active.
Peanuts, which are not in the nut family, are 26%
protein, compared to 20% lean beef. Snacking on the variety of raw
nuts available to us is far more desirable than the average 4 to 6
billion dollars per year North Americans spend on snack foods. Nuts as
a snack food are filling and satisfying, being slower to digest than
fruits and vegetables. The high oil content wards off hunger pains for
hours.
Do not be beguiled by the flavor of roasted nuts.
They may taste delicious, especially when they are coated with salt
and monosodium glutamate, but the delicate oils have been transformed
into cancer-causing compounds. It will not take long for you to
readjust your taste to the delicate, fresh flavor of salt-free, raw
nuts. Once you do, you will never go back.
Raw food lends itself well to a disciplined life.
When nuts are roasted and salted, they become addictive. In one
evening, you can munch down a one pound container without a thought—until
you go to bed and your stomach hurts. Yet, when the nuts are raw, a
couple of handfuls are completely satisfying and can actually
contribute to weightloss.
Unshelled nuts should be purchased and stored in
the refrigerator. There are many nut butters sold in health food
stores but are completely useless because the nuts have been roasted,
exposed to light, air and heat, the three culprits that transform
essential oils. Besides, why not make your own nut butter fresh every
day? It’s simple and easy.
First of all, let us take a look at some individual
nuts. We left ourselves out!
THE NUTS WE’VE
KNOWN AND LOVED
ALMONDS It
is believed that almonds were first cultivated in Morocco. Today, they
are grown throughout the entire world. In California, there are 150,000
acres devoted to growing almonds. Almonds have been a mainstay for
vegetarians for hundreds of years. One hundred grams of this delightful
nut will yield 18 grams of protein. They are low in starch and are more
than 50% unsaturated oil. Almond oil is high in oleic acid and rich in
vitamin E, having a sweet aroma and extremely stable because the oil is
monounsaturated. It is an excellent skin conditioner and massage oil.
Almonds even have a greater effect on the skin when eaten. They also
contain linoleic acid and are a good source of phosphorous and iron. One
hundred milligrams of almonds contain 5 milligrams of iron compared with
3 milligrams of iron in two eggs. As with all nuts and seeds, almonds
are rich in B vitamins. They are also high in calcium—a cup of almonds
contains 332 milligrams of calcium.
Raw nut butters and nut milks are fabulously
delicious. Almonds are a great alternative for the elderly who find it
difficult to digest raw nuts. We are going to provide for you some
delectable recipes where you can discover the versatility of nuts,
especially almonds.
CAROB. Everybody loves the taste of chocolate. Chocolate pudding,
chocolate milk, chocolate pies, chocolate almonds, chocolate bars,
chocolate covered ants and the list goes on of the huge number of treats
commonly eaten from the cocoa bean. The problem is that cocoa contains
caffeine, making it addictive and unhealthy for children who are large
consumers of chocolate.
Caffeine is a stimulant. In the bloodstream, it acts
as a vascular constrictor which causes the arteries to contract. The
excess acid required to break down caffeine increases calcium loss.
Caffeine has also been linked to male infertility and birth defects.
Research done by Dr. Bruce Aims, from the University of California,
discovered a substance called theobromine that is present in cocoa. This
substance encourages certain carcinogens to be present in the cell,
which can damage DNA. Caffeine increases heart rate and adrenaline in
the bloodstream, forcing the body into wakefulness. The problem is that
our body adjusts to the stimulation, causing us to become dependent on
caffeine to maintain mental alertness. Cocoa is a common substance that
causes allergic reactions. It is also linked to the all-too-common
problem of acne amongst teenagers.
How would you like to have the delicious flavor of
chocolate without the unhealthy properties of cocoa? To have your cake
and eat it too!
Isn’t God wonderful? He really spoils us. Like
cocoa, carob is bitter and not palatable alone. When mixed with Sucanat
or honey or added to nut butters, it becomes a safe healthy alternative.
Carob’s nick name is St. John’s bread because it is suspected of
being one of the foods that sustained John the Baptist in the
wilderness.
Carob is grown in the Middle East producing a long
pod which is ground into powder. It contains a high amount of
carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, silicon, iron and is
plentiful in trace minerals. It is also a good source of B vitamins,
thiamin riboflavin and niacin. It is approximately 7% protein and has a
very small amount of fat. Carob is an excellent source of pectin which
makes it a good colon cleanser. Carob flour has been used widely in
controlling diarrhea in children during sickness. One tablespoon in a
cup of water, a few times a day, will be highly effective. Carob powder
and carob products can be found in your local health food store. You can
use it in any of our nut butters. Mixed with Sucanat it makes an
excellent garnish on fruit salads or breakfast mixtures. Works well in
avocado milk-less milkshakes, and nut milks.
CASHEWS Raw, fresh cashews are a supreme delicacy. As you chew
them, they turn into a milky, smooth cream in the mouth. Cashews make an
excellent nut milk with a superior flavor and are better for you than
milk. They make a great addition to salads. Try to buy whole, raw
cashews.
PEANUTS It looks like a nut, it tastes like a nut and it's
called a pea-nut, so we listed them here. They are supposed to be
in the bean section because peanuts are in the legume family. We have a
bean with an identity crisis!
Four out of five North Americans depend on the peanut
and its byproducts as a main food source. One pound of peanuts contains
more protein than a pound of meat and 2 ½
times the protein of a pound of eggs. In the vegetable kingdom, only
soybeans and yeast contain more protein. Peanuts are rich in B complex
vitamins, especially niacin. They are plentiful in phosphorus, iron and
magnesium. Half the oil in peanuts is unsaturated and half of that again
is the essential oil, linoleic acid. Peanut oil is preferable for
cooking because of its greater stability. It can withstand temperatures
up to 2140F
before transforming into transfatty acids.
Name brand peanut butter is filled with salt, sugar,
corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oils, artificial flavorings, chemical
preservatives and synthetic coal tar dyes to give it a healthy color.
The food industry seems to have an agenda to make everything unwholesome
and addictive. Why couldn’t they just leave peanut butter alone. It
tastes great by itself. Adding hydrogenated oil to a legume that is
already over 50% oil is ludicrous.
Often a health food store will have a peanut butter
maker, enabling you to make your own peanut butter on the spot. This is
the most nutritious way of having fresh peanut butter. Premade peanut
butter should be purchased from the refrigerator of a health food store.
Large amounts of oil separation show that the peanut butter is old.
Peanut butter from ground-up peanuts, even in its
natural form, is inferior to our home-made nut butters because the
peanuts have been heated to deepen the nutty taste. Here is a suggestion
that we will be expanding on in the Recipe Section. If your children are
nuts about peanut butter, slowly introduce raw nut butters, mixing them
with peanut butter. Quietly increase the percentage of the natural nut
butter each day. Before you know it, your children will have switched
over to raw nut butter.
If you enjoy the flavor of raw peanuts, which is the
best way to consume them, try mixing raw peanuts with raisins or dates,
making them a delicious healthy alternative. Never eat deep-fried,
salted peanuts commonly sold in stores. Instead, look for peanuts in the
shell. Yes, they have been dry roasted, but are better than deep fried
peanuts.
WALNUTS The early Persians and Greeks used walnuts for oil and
powdered them to thicken desserts much like the way we use corn starch
today. Ninety-five percent of all the walnuts eaten in North America
come from—you guessed it, California. When the nuts are ready to be
harvested they attach a tree shaker which causes the walnuts to fall
from the sky like rain.
Walnuts in the shell are a messy, delicious treat.
Raw, unshelled walnuts should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
They can be broken into fine pieces for baking by rolling them with a
rolling pin. Crushed walnuts sprinkled on cooked vegetables or salads
are excellent. Some enjoy walnuts in rice or pasta dishes, even using
them as garnish in soups.
Click
here for nut recipes: spicy salad dressings |
