Most of us know that incorporating nuts into our diet is important.  If you are like me you don’t necessarily know which nut is going to help with what, so you just eat a mixture and hope for the best.  After a lot of reading I’ve found that most researchers are putting walnuts on top!

Walnuts are part of the tree nut family which also includes hazelnuts, macadamia nuts (my favorite!), cashews, pine nuts, pistachios and Brazil nuts.  If you find you are having trouble getting your plant based omega-3 fats, grab a quarter cup of walnuts!  In that serving alone you will get 100 percent of the daily recommended amount.

Here are a few of the MANY benefits of walnuts for you to snack on:

1. Heart Health : Walnuts contain l-arginine (an amino acid) and omega-3’s which both offer numerous vascular benefits.  Due to anti-inflammatory properties, walnuts can actually reduce the formation of blood clots.  Walnuts will raise ALA...

Inflammation is a word that is used often, yet hard to define.  Most of us have a hard time separating inflammation from an ankle sprain vs. inflammation contributing to heart disease and arthritis.  In order to understand how to fight it, it’s important to understand how and why it occurs!

Inflammation is a very common and innate response to an injury, pain or stress.  It is part of our bodies natural defense system to prevent something worse and/or speed up healing time.

Acute inflammation is the first response to an injury or pathogen.  It’s acute because it should only last several days or less.

Examples of what can cause this:

• Illness (virus, bacteria)
• Trauma (punch, kick, sprain)
• Burn
• Frostbite
• Allergic Reaction

There are a lot of players involved in the inflammatory process, but the basics are: heat, redness, swelling, and pain.  Thus leading to loss of function.  Acute inflammation is an important part of healing.  Follow...