Have you ever wondered whether eating 2 almonds a day is enough for you? Or should you include more? What about pistachios, cashews and walnuts? What is the right ratio for them? The same question remains for dry fruits.
Firstly, there is a difference between dry fruits and nuts.
Dried fruits as the name suggest are fruits that are dried or simply fruits with no water content. Examples of dry fruits are dried mango, dried raisins, dried cranberries and dried figs. Dried fruits are rich in fibre, potassium (dried bananas) and antioxidants (dried cranberries). Nuts on the other hand are kernels of plants. This includes cashews, walnuts, almonds, pistachios and exotic options like hazelnut and macadamia nuts. Nuts are a good source of protein along with omega-3 and omega-6 fats. They also have decent quantities of vitamins and minerals.
When you are consuming dry fruits or nuts make sure you eat the right quantity. Eat too many nuts and the fat count in it would take a toll on your weight. Make sure you don’t start binging directly from the package. One can eat up to 30 grams of nuts. When it comes to dry fruit pay attention that you don’t end up eating the same portion as a regular fruit. Dried fruits have higher calories than normal fruits. It is recommended to eat only 40 grams of dry fruits.
Recipe -
A great and fun way to ensure your daily dose of dried fruits and nuts is to make turn them into a dessert. Dark chocolate is both healthy and tasty. Add your favourite nuts to a pan and dry roast them for five minutes. On the other side, melt your dark chocolate. Add the roasted nuts to the melted chocolate and transfer this mixture to your preferred mould. Add dried fruits of your choice to this and refrigerate. After 15 minutes your healthy and tasty chocolate will be ready for consumption.