Any supermarket you walk into you got your peanut butter, almond butter, even cashew butter, but what about the walnut butter?! It needs some loving too! It’s so rare to find walnut butter unless you go into a specialty store or whole foods, which idk why because I personally feel it’s delicious. Not to mention walnuts are such a nutritious nut with so many awesome properties, including many antioxidants and a great source of magnesium and copper.
Walnuts also contain a high amount of a planted based omega 3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) to be precise. Omega 3’s are an essential fat, meaning the body can’t make them, so we need to make sure we are getting them from our diet. Why should we make sure we do this? Well this type of fat is especially beneficial for inflammation, brain health, triglyceride levels, hair/skin/nails, and even your mood.
Walnuts have also been shown to alter gut microbes in rats which, incase you have’t heard of all the gut health craze lately, is pretty amazing. We all have trillions of bacteria in our gut that influence our health everyday. From our mood, to our weight, to how often we get the common cold, all these things can be affected greatly by our microbiome.
So to break it down a little, our body has some good bacteria and some bad bacteria, which is completely normal. But, it is important to make sure we have more of the good than the bad, makes sense right? However, depending on the food we eat, the environment we live in, and our day to day life, we can actually alter our gut bacteria. And I personally feel everyone can use this to their advantage.
A study by The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry found that rats who ate 2 oz of walnuts a day (about 1/2 cup) increased the good bacteria in their gut (specifically the strands Lactobacillus, Roseburia, and Ruminococcaceae), compared to the rats that didn’t consume the walnuts. How cool is that?
Walnuts are so easy to include in our diet… there great as a snack with some sliced apples, on a salad, or made into walnut butter! Give this easy recipe a try to increase your walnut consumption and start reaping the benefits of these delicious nuts right now. And the coconut in it just gives it some extra creaminess and flair.
Ingredients:
2 cups raw unsalted walnuts
2 Tbsp. coconut butter
pinch of sea salt
Optional 1-2 Tbsp. sweetener of choice (maple syrup, honey, coconut suger, etc.)
Directions:
Blend all ingredients in food processor or blender and Enjoy =]