HELP FATHER

Science is proving these little gems can help protect us from disease. One of the favourite childhood snacks of most of us was a heaping spoonful of peanut butter. You can lick it like a lollipop until all traces of the delectable butter were gone. As you got older and realized how much fat was in that spoonful, you traded your peanut butter for something healthier. Years later, you can regularly indulge in a handful of nuts, guilt-free, thanks to the research that shows the nuts can help to ward off disease. You still can’t eat them by the truckload, but nuts could substitute for less nutritious foods such as the cake slice or chocolate bar, or cheese and crackers. While you should limit them to four to five 30-gram servings a week, you would be nuts not to include them in your diet.
The polyunsaturated fat in nuts lowers LDL, or bad cholesterol levels, and their monounsaturated fat raises good HDL cholesterol levels. By helping to reduce LDL cholesterol, which eventually leads to atherosclerotic plaque formation and hardening of the arteries, nuts help protect your heart. The fat and nutrients in nuts may improve glucose and insulin stability in people with Type 2 diabetes. Nuts could slow the progression of some cancer cells, and help destroy free radicals that can cause cancer. Nuts have fibre and other nutrients that interfere with the absorption of fat. And they are satisfying, so people feel full longer.