Sunflower Seeds: Mother Nature’s Delicious Gift For Better Health
The mildly sweet, nutty and creamy flavor of sunflower seeds is just the beginning of your pleasures. Sunflower seeds give you an energy boost from their store of proteins and carbohydrates.
Do you know that Israel and Turkey have sunflower seeds available at their movie halls as the snack of choice replacing popcorn? It is due to their nutrition and better taste.
Sunflower seeds belong to that rare class of foods that are as healthy as they are delicious. Because of no cholesterol content and cholesterol-fighting they’re really good for the heart.
In addition to that, they’re rich in fiber, minerals like zinc and calcium, iron for blood and also magnesium, selenium. Oh! and they have very high levels of Vitamins B and E.
In fact, sunflower seeds are particularly a great source of vitamin E, the body’s primary fat-soluble antioxidant.
Tiny sunflower seeds package an entire “winning team” of hard to-get nutrients, including 76 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin E. In fact, sunflower seeds are the richest whole food source of vitamin E.
Mother Nature has created a nutritional power pack that is hard to beat in sunflower seeds. Healthy unsaturated fats, protein and fiber, plus important nutrients like vitamin E, selenium, copper, zinc, folate, iron and phytochemicals come wrapped up in this small and perhaps unsuspected package – a sunflower seed.
Sunflower seeds are like a multivitamin—only better, since they deliver many powerful nutrients in a naturally small, flavorful morsel.
They are also very rich in unsaturated fat (about 90%). This may help keep the level of ‘good cholesterol’ high in the body, thereby countering the ill-effects on ‘bad cholesterol’.
The seeds are 22% protein and contain 50% oil. For every 100 grams, sunflower seeds contain 30 grams of unsaturated fats and 30 milligrams of essential linoleic acid, which reduces cholesterol deposits in the arteries and veins. If you are trying to break an addiction to high-fat foods, they may be a healthy alternative and will satisfy fat cravings.
A Few Quick Serving Ideas:
Add sunflower seeds to your favorite tuna, chicken or turkey salad recipe. Sunflower seeds complement tuna salad, hummus, fresh vegetables, and lean deli meats especially well.
Garnish mixed green salads with sunflower seeds.
Adding sunflower seeds to scrambled eggs will give them a unique taste and texture.
Use fine ground sunflower seeds to dust your meats with in place of flour.
Sprinkle sunflower seeds onto hot and cold cereals. Combine sunflower seeds, golden raisins, peanuts, and granola or crunchy cereal for a tasty trail mix
* How to Roast In-Shell Sunflower Seeds
| Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the sunflower seeds evenly on a cookie sheet or shallow pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.
The seeds will often develop a small crack down the center as they roast. Test after each stirring to see if the seeds are completely roasted by tasting. After roasting, remove seeds from the oven and allow them to cool completely. Then store the seeds in an airtight container for future snacking. |
| * Sunflower Seed and Cilantro Pesto Recipe
Great on pizza! Ingredients: |
1. 1/2 c sunflower seeds-hulled, roasted, unsalted
2. 1 bunch cilantro-washed and chopped
3. 3 cloves garlic-peeled
4. 1/4 c olive oil
How to make it:
- blend first 4 ingredients in a processor or blender until it becomes a paste.
- Add olive oil slowly while processing,
- blend until it is incorporated.
Want to know more about sunflower seeds? Then, click here:
Eager For Sunflower Seeds Loaded With Nutrition & Flavor | Your Organic Gardening Blog
Yours truly for great health, mind and body,
Michelle, natural health advocate
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September 07 2010 09:44 am | Fitness and Green Living and Healthy Eating and Natural Beauty and Natural Remedies and Weight Loss