Episode 2: The Deeper Dive into
Nut-Nola and Seed-Nola: The WHY
In this month’s Power & Balance Fitness and Nutrition newsletter:
Your Access to Help Build a Healthy You!
CHECK OUT THESE TOPICS I CREATED THIS MONTH…JUST FOR YOU:
- Why do I train for life?
- What’s the deal with hazelnuts?
- What are lifestyle systems for supporting a healthy, balanced immune system?
- How to manage inflammation? It is simple but not easy…
- *Let’s dig a little into the WHY of sleep
WHY I TRAIN FOR LIFE
Time and time again situations and opportunities present themselves that require me fit and able to take it on fully. This month an example of this opportunity showed up in the form of a trip to Washington State and a visit with my dear friend of many decades. We have been friends since high school! She invited me out to her new home (2 years new and new to me) in the beautiful, evergreen and mountain landscape north of Seattle, Washington. She is an active person and loves to hike. I don’t get many opportunities to
hike and love the outdoors so I was all in for whatever she wanted to do. I am out-ofthe-box ready for almost anything because I exercise everyday. I didn’t need to exercise or train specifically for taking on mountain hikes. All I needed was a good pair of hiking boots. The day before I left for my trip, I went to an REI store where they outfitted me with a great pair of Keen boots with the recommended super duper socks to make it through long durations of steep, rocky, wet hikes. We hiked the Cascades and Olympic mountains! Saw the salmon work their way upstream. Our heads were literally in the clouds we hiked up so high in the Cascades! There are rushing waterfalls and the air is just amazing. In the Cascades we climbed almost 2,000 ft of elevation over 12 miles and 7 hours. Part of which we were lost! Ha ha! But well prepared and best to be lost with your dear friend if it was to happen at all. We had a wonderful day. This is my WHY for being fit and healthy. Life has a way of presenting challenges and opportunities so…be ready for your next adventure and train daily for your best life!
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH HAZELNUTS?
This month of The Deeper Dive into Nut-Nola and Seed-Nola: The “WHY” Series (first article in the series was last month (September 2020 blog and newsletter) diving deep into Brazil nuts — check it out if you have not yet. This month you will learn the many reasons why I chose hazelnuts as an ingredient in my Nut-Nola recipe. There are some fun facts about hazelnuts too in this article…like the fact they are native to the U.S. but in short supply also…hmmmm. And…you can grow hazelnuts fairly easily and reap their nutty rewards after just 4 years. There are many interesting interesting fun facts I want to fill you in on about Hazelnuts, but I have decided to pull out just 10, of many, fun facts about hazelnuts for you here:
1. Hazelnut trees (Filbert is the correct name for both tree and nut) are easy to grow when choosing the hybrid version. There are two varieties of hazel tree. The US native and the European native varieties. The best of these trees have been joined as a hybrid variety and are optimal trees to plant. The hardy US native and the best nut from the European variety. Also an Eastern Filbert Blight hit the US variety and can be in some native (non hybrid) trees today.
2. The largest consumers of hazelnuts, with Ferrero Rocher (think Nutella) leading at 70% of all Turkish hazelnuts, are Nestle, Kraft Heinz Co KHC.O, Mondelez International Inc MDLZ.O (a Kraft company, think Oreo, Trident, Hu chocolate bars, Toblerone, Cadbury). The Turkish hazelnut industry has documented humanitarian
controversy. Efforts in the works to boost US and Canada production with better employment practices.
3. Nut-Nola organic hazelnuts are sourced in the US. 99% of all US hazelnuts come from the Williamette Valley in Oregon.
4. People sometimes use the crushed hazelnut shells for walkways.
5. Hazelnut trees can produce nuts for more than 100 years.
6. The hazelnut got its name from the hazel color of the nut during its maturation in the summer months. It changes from green to hazel over the summer months.
7. The hazel tree is self-pollinating and pollinates itself in the winter during which it will be dormant until June. This pollinating process is done by wind blowing the catkins which blow the pollen onto tiny red flowers, then in June the nut starts to grow.
8. Heart health: The hazel (sometime referred to by this shorter name) because of its phytochemicals one being Proanthocyanidins (also found in wine, chocolate, seeds) have an antioxidant effect on the cardiovascular health and also the high levels of another antioxidant vitamin E as well as folate all together offer heart-healthy support. Hazelnuts studies also find these same properties offer Cancer risk reduction.
9. Bone and brain health: The hazelnuts contain high levels of copper and manganese with 25% daily recommended intake (DRI) of copper and more than 90% manganese. Copper is an essential mineral for the entire body and especially for brain, iron metabolism, energy production.
10. Summary of WHY I chose Filberts AKA hazelnuts is the cardiovascular, brain, cancer mitigation, and promoting US farming of this wonderful nut.
In case you want to grow your own hazelnut trees (you need at least two trees to make it work) here are resources for your seedlings:
- Grimo Nut Nursery layered and seedling trees at http://www.grimonut.com/
- Oikos Tree Crops seedling trees at https://oikostreecrops.com/
- Z’s Nutty Ridge layered and seedling trees at http://znutty.com/
What are lifestyle systems for supporting a healthy, balanced immune system?
It’s October 2020 and 8 months living life in a pandemic situation. The colder months will bring us indoors more and more so let’s do more to build an immune defense and in doing so try to build an advantage to defending against contracting COVID19 and the Flu. During my 30 years living with, and managing Lupus, I have also been busy researching all things health and wellness much of my research was all about the the immune system. My research took me into other areas of health and fitness too. Working with people who have heart, metabolic, and a wide range of autoimmune disease and dysfunction. So, through all my research I have learned what works best is to balance the immune system. This means it won’t over react or under react to the demands needed to keep disease, illness, metabolic imbalance in check and in a healthy homeostasis. As a result of balancing my immune system I do not need to take medication to manage Lupus in my body anymore. The most recent lab work I have had shows all signs of Lupus in my system is in remission. As of about 2 years ago, I cracked the code for managing and balancing my immune system. How do I know? It is the first time in 3 decades I am without medications to manage Lupus nor have I had a flu in as long as I can remember. It has been recommended that, because of Lupus, I don’t ever get vaccinated so I have not had a flu shot — ever. Ultimately, it is between you and your doctor to make these decisions. My doc said a live vaccine is not recommended.
This month is the perfect month to discuss systems that build and balance the immune system. Because we have settled into the reality that illness and disease are a reality and thus, we require a healthy body to live in a world where our health is severely threatened. The best way I can describe finding a balance for optimizing the immune system is to think about managing inflammation. If systemic inflammation is kept at a lower level then the immune systems are not overworked. Certain types of foods and lifestyles are factors that can bring on inflammation which require the immune system to get busy “fixing it.” By fixing it I mean the immune system ramps up to reduce inflammation so the body can go back to the state of homeostasis. Ultimately, this is what the immune system’s function is…make sure everything works optimally for survival. If there is something to take care of like an inflammatory response to an injury or digesting toxins in food then it must do the work to reduce the inflammation so the body can aim towards the balance it constantly seeks.
How to manage inflammation? It is simple but not easy…
Eat foods that serve you and your health. “Make every bite count. For example, fried foods are inflammatory and put undo stress on your immune system.”
- Exercise daily with low risk of injury. “Master your skills and build on those mastered skills. For example, if you have never been a runner and start running miles right away without conditioning or mastering a sprint, you can become injured.”
- *Sleep to recover and repair. “Consider sleep your daily vitamin and take a proper dose each night — no exceptions.”
- Socialize with people who are mutually caring and loving. “Communicate with loved ones daily.”
Just remember: Don’t overdo or underdo your food and exercise. Use the Goldie Locks approach of “just right.”
*Let’s dig a little more into the WHY of SLEEP:
- Regulates hormones and this helps keep your immune system in balance.
- When you are tired your body wants more food. (Ever notice this? Instead of snacking when tired try taking a nap instead.) This can create a pattern of overeating and thus gaining weight that can cause health problems. Health problems can put your immune system out of balance.
- Sleep is time for cleans up and repair. This is the time your body takes out the trash so to speak. This is by way of proteins and processes that can do the work of repair while your body is at rest.
Sources:
Cekander, C. C. (2016, October 3). Hazelnut Trees Are Easy! Cornell.Edu.
https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2016/10/hazelnut-trees-are easy/#:~:text=Yet%2C%20hazelnut%20trees%20are%20native,is%20a%20shortage%20of%20nuts.
https://www.mondelezinternational.com/
Nickel, R. (2017, November 2). Nutella-maker Ferrero seeks to crack Turkish grip on hazelnuts. Https://Www.Reuters.Com/. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-agriculture-hazelnuts-ferrero/nutella-maker-ferrero-seeks-to-crack-turkish-grip-on-hazelnuts-idUSKBN1D22L4
Segal, D. (2019, April 29). Syrian Refugees Toil on Turkey’s Hazelnut Farms With Little to Showfor It. Nytimes.Com/. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/business/syrian-refugees-turkeyhazelnut-farms.html
https://www.kptv.com/on-the-go-with-joe-for-hazelnut-harvest/video_e48b1829-ffe1-5998-81af-c257d725987c.html
Oregon Hazelnuts. (2020). Oregon Hazelnuts. http://oregonhazelnuts.org/about/
NIH. (2020, June 3). Copper Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Copper-HealthProfessional/
WebMD. (2020). Health Benefits of Hazelnuts. Nourish by WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-hazelnuts#1
Bolling, B., McKay, D., & Blumberg, J. (2010). The phytochemical composition and antioxidant actions of tree nuts. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5012104/
USDA. (2020, April 1). Hazelnuts. Https://Ndb.Nal.Usda.Gov/ https://ndb.nal.usda.gov//fdcapp.html#/food details/784380/nutrients
Grant, C. (2019, April 30). The bitter truth behind the Nutella economy. The Hustle. https://thehustle.co/farming-hazelnuts-nutella-working-conditions/
Sleep Foundation. (2020). How Sleep Affects Your Immunity. Sleepfoundation.Org. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-sleep-affects-your-immunity
