What Are the Benefits of Eating Virginia Peanuts Daily?
There are many reasons to include nuts into your daily diets. Many dietitians focus on nuts such as almonds, pecans, pistachios, or walnuts; but what about peanuts? As most of you now know, Virginia peanuts are not nuts at all. Instead, they are considered a legume. Along with peanuts, soy nuts are also incorrectly named as a nut. Despite its imperfect naming, the peanut continuously provides health benefits and I’ve provided some below!
Brain Health
You brain needs fat—good fat. Without good fats, the brain cannot function at its highest capacity. Think of peanuts as one of the best brain foods! Additionally, peanuts contain high amounts of folate, which is a B vitamin. Folate is essential for unborn babies as the vitamin helps support healthy brain development and prevents congenial anomalies. Unfortunately, most women are folate deficient in majority of childbearing women worldwide. Virginia peanuts are an excellent addition to any diet as a means of adding folate and increasing prenatal brain health.
Heart Health
For the non-childbearing peanut lover, there is still good news regarding adding peanuts to your daily diet! Peanuts are good for your heart and help to prevent heart disease. With a single handful each day, Virginia peanuts provide essential minerals and vitamins that specifically target heart health. More importantly, peanuts are cheaper than any other heart healthy nut. As Harvard noted, Virginia peanut health benefits extend across all income levels. This means lower income consumers receive the same heart benefits that are associated with the more expensive heart healthy tree nuts such as almonds, pecans, and walnuts.
Salted versus Roasted
Great news! Hope & Harmony Farms salted Virginia peanuts contain only 110 mg of sodium and are well under the recommended 140 mg to be considered a low sodium snack. While our salted Virginia peanuts contain added sodium, they are by far the best choice when attempting to satisfy any salty craving. Luckily, peanuts help you to satisfy salty cravings in a healthy way. If you require a low sodium snack you are in luck, Hope & Harmony Farms’ unsalted Virginia peanuts contain 0mg of sodium per serving (1oz 28g). A bag of regular salted potato chips contain 170 mg per ounce. I know which snack I choose!
Happy Eating!
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