Ancient Chinese physicians believed that walnuts were brain food that increased intelligence and memory. The brain is called “ocean of blood” by Chinese acupuncture doctors. Walnuts are considered moistening, nourishing, and rejuvenating. A current study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology proves that walnuts improve blood vessel health.
The study, conducted by researchers from Barcelona’s Hospital Clinico, included 24 adult participants, half of whom had normal cholesterol levels and half moderately high levels of cholesterol. Tests found that eating walnuts after a meal high in unhealthy fats can reduce the damaging effects of such fats on blood vessels.
Each group was fed two high-fat meals of salami and cheese (Yish!), eaten one week apart. During one meal, the researchers supplemented the food with five teaspoons of olive oil. The following week, researchers added eight shelled walnuts to the other meal.
Both the olive oil and the walnuts helped reduce the onset of dangerous inflammation and oxidation in the arteries after the meals, which were high in saturated fat. However, unlike the olive oil, the walnuts also helped the arteries maintain their elasticity and flexibility, even in the participants with higher cholesterol. Good news for nut lovers!
Lead researcher Dr. Emilio Ros said walnuts’ protective effects could be because the nuts are high in antioxidants and ALA, a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid. Walnuts also contain arginine, which is an amino acid that the body uses to produce nitric oxide — necessary for keeping blood vessels flexible.
For maximum benefit, consume nuts in their raw, unprocessed and unsalted form. Cooking or roasting nuts destroys much of their nutritional value.”
Dr. Ros recommended consumers eat 1 ounce of walnuts each day, but warned against believing that walnuts could cure all the bad effects of an unhealthy diet. (Another caution: According to Dr. Woodson Merrell, Executive Director of Continuum Health and Healing in New York, arginine supplements and arginine-rich foods can increase or intensify herpes outbreaks.)
We should consider making walnuts part of a healthy diet that limits saturated fats. I add walnuts to cooked rice. Here is a traditional Chinese recipe for health and beauty.
Walnut Sesame Seed Candy
This recipe comes from New York Dr. Nan Lu, a Chinese doctor who specializes in preventing and treating breast cancer with diet, acupuncture and qigong exercise.
The “candy” sounds goohey, but is easy to make and is rather tasty. Consumed regularly, black sesame seeds are extremely nourishing and rejuvenating. They are more moistening than white sesame seeds.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. shelled walnuts
1/2 lb. black sesame seeds
3 – 4 ounces of raw honey
I rinse all produce with, at least, water and apple cider vinegar to help remove pesticides. After rinsing the walnuts and sesame seeds, strain them through cheese cloth. Grind the ingredients in a blender to make a thick paste. Put the paste into a stoneware dish and steam it for one hour in a crockpot (slow cooker) set at low heat. That keeps the honey from overheating. You can eat two tablespoons each morning and evening to help maintain a lovely complexion, healthy hair, and regular elimination.
I am enjoyjng your website immensely. Thank you for all the useful articles.
Regarding nuts and seeds, it has been recommended that before eating them, they be soaked from 4-8 hours to remove their enzyme inhibitors.
And if you choose to follow the raw food approach to eating, to keep the enzymes alive, this delicious walnut recipe could be modified by dehydrating the walnut paste rather than cooking it.
Hi
I made this recipe the other day. Steaming it at low heat in my crock pot does not really cook the sesame seeds or nuts. The temperature never reached boiling but helped to blend the ingredients.
Thanks for your very useful comments.
I think dehydrating will also work well because that also uses low heat, but it sounds rather messy for my dehydrator. How do you so it? In a 200 degree oven for several hours? That could work.
The original recipe calls for a double boiler, a popular method used by chinese herbalists. Whenever possible I avoid steaming or cooking in metal so I prefer using my slow cooking ceramic crockpot.
all best, L.
Regarding raw foods….the concept is to ensure that foods are kept ‘live’, ie that enzymes are not killed. Therefore heating should not exceed 115 degrees F. Dehydrators are available with trays which make the drying very easy indeed. And the temp controls assure keeping temps low….an oven could not do quite the same job unfortunately. For anyone interested in dehydrator suppliers, I find the most reasonable are from http://www.rawguru.com and the most reputable name is Excalibur. (Note I have no commercial interest in either of these firms).
Best wishes
Pat
I received a package of black sesame walnut paste in powdered form from an Asian acquaintance. There was very little English writing on the package, and I have no idea how to use it. I tried mixing it with boiled water, which gave it a “cream of wheat” texture. Each little envelope makes approximately a half cup. The taste is delicious. Would that be too much to eat as one serving? Would it be a breakfast cereal? I’ve learned on your website that the two ingredients are very beneficial to health.
Hi
Yes black sesame is a good source of cooling, nourishing protein and walnut is cooling and beneficial for blood vessels. If the mixture seems too heavy for you, I would start by mixing some into yogurt. Use it to flavor cereal and add what you can easily digest until you get used to it. When trying new or rich foods such as these, also increase your use of acidophilus.
all best, L.