Are Macadamia Nuts Good for You?
Have you ever wondered if macadamia nuts are good for you or if you were just falling into the latest health trend? Macadamia nuts, in fact, provide a variety of nutritional benefits due to their high vitamin content.
Raw nuts and nut snacks, in general, can provide your body with a multitude of benefits including decreasing body fat, decreasing heart disease, and decreasing blood pressure. These are all due to the rich vitamin and complex nutrients in nuts. Raw nuts are paleo-friendly and gluten free.
Benefits of Macadamia Nuts
Although macadamia nuts are known as having a high fat content, they have one of the lowest protein and carbohydrate content of any nut. They also have a high makeup of vitamin B1, magnesium, manganese, thiamin, dietary fiber and more. Below is a breakdown of the health benefits per 100g of raw macadamia nuts:
- 8.9g of dietary fiber that includes phytosterols
- 718 calories making them a rich source of energy
- 15% of recommended daily levels of niacin (2.5 mg)
- 21% of recommended daily levels of vitamin B-6
- 100% of recommended daily levels of thiamin
- 12% of recommended daily levels of riboflavin
Additionally, macadamia nuts are an excellent source of calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium and phosphorus with small amounts of vitamin A and vitamin E.
Many people mistake the high fat content of macadamia nuts to be an unhealthy factor, but up to 86% of the fat is monounsaturated, or the healthy fat. Monounsaturated fat can lower cholesterol and decrease your risk of heart disease and stroke. In fact, macadamia nuts are one of the only sources of naturally occurring palmitoleic acid. Palmitoleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid that contributes to increasing metabolism speed.
Do Seasoned Macadamia Nuts have Health Benefits?
Many people don’t like eating raw nuts and turn to seasoned macadamia nuts instead, but do these provide the same health benefits? Some seasoned nut snacks will not be majorly affected by their seasonings, but pay attention to the ingredients. Seasoned nuts such as Legendary Food’s wasabi macadamia nuts, that are made using ingredients found in nature without added sugar or artificial sweeteners won’t be affected significantly. Most of the time sugar levels are elevated by seasonings, but our wasabi and soy sauce macadamia nuts have a low sugar content of 1g per 28g serving. Seasoned macadamia nuts are a great choice when you are craving that junk food taste but don’t want the unnecessary caloric and fat content.
The best way to incorporate macadamia nuts into your diet, whether they are seasoned or raw, is to replace other fatty foods with them. For example, instead of grabbing a bag of your favorite potato chips while watching a movie, opt for a handful or snack-size bag of macadamia nuts or nut mixes.
Seasoned nuts have become increasingly popular so you can buy seasoned macadamia nuts almost anywhere, whether it is online or in a store.