Dieting and Exercise can be extremely overwhelming for the average person who is trying to start their diet. Instead of jumping in head first into hundreds of diet websites, although beneficial, these three easy steps will help you begin your adventure Today instead of Tomorrow.

1. Consume 1 oz of Almonds per day - After discovering the several benefits of consuming Almonds, I can say with complete certain that eating 1 oz per day is extremely beneficial and easy to begin doing. However, make sure the Almonds substitute in as part of your XXXX calorie diet as one of your snack meals. Also, if you’re allergic to nuts, eating Almonds will not save you - you’re still allergic. Sorry.
2. Eat Salad Before Meals - Supposedly it takes the brain 20 minutes before it realizes we are full. Starting your meal with a low calorie salad with minimal dressing or 10 spritzes (10 calories) of Wishbone Salad Spritzer and several vegetables will help insure you don’t eat too much of the food that has too many calories. However, don’t assume just a little bit of lettuce and dressing is a salad because although it has low calories, there is minimal nutrition.
3. Eat Whole Grain Bread instead of White - Although this is said regularly, switching the bread you consume really isn’t that hard. Yet, people still eat it. Why would they continue to choose to eat bread that lost most of its’ nutrition from bleaching and sifting is beyond reasonable or logical thinking, but maybe this is why a majority of America is overweight.
4. Increase Fiber in your Diet - Sprinkle your Special K cereal with flax seed, add some tomatoes or mushrooms to your omelette, add some chick peas to your soup or salad, and eat brown rice instead of white rice. Why should you eat an increased amount of fiber? Because it can help prevent Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, and most importantly Constipation - Who honestly likes that pain?

It is that easy.

Almonds are both delicious, healthy, and received a ton of press recently: they were featured on Oprah and on The Top Ten Foods for a Trimmer Belly [via: Celeb Diet] list. However, what exactly makes Almonds healthy? What will they do for YOU?

A current proposal presented to the FDA is suggesting eating “one ounce of nuts per day will decrease the chance for heart disease.”

Almonds contain mono-unsaturated fat, vitamin E, folic acid, magnesium, copper, protein, fiber, and antioxidants.

Benefits of some of these nutrients…

• Vitamin E: “Vitamin E acts as a powerful antioxidant by neutralizing free radicals in the body that cause tissue and cellular damage. Vitamin E also contributes to a healthy circulatory system and aids in proper blood clotting and improves wound healing” [source]
• Folic Acid: There is research indicating folic acid helps prevent Fetal Abnormalities, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Heart Attacks and Strokes, and cancer. [source]

In addition to all of the previous listed benefits, Almonds can play an important role in lowering LDL (bad cholesterol), raising HDL (good cholesterol), dilate blood vessels (help prevent hardening of arteries), decrease blood pressure, and assist in weight loss.

Have I convinced you to eating Almonds yet? If not, peruse some of these Almond Recipes that I have personally tried and prefer, but they are not necessarily the healthiest:

• Almond Amaretto Bars
• Almond Pistachio Saffron Curry Sauce

Also, I wouldn’t over indulge on almonds because although they are extremely healthy, 1 oz of Almonds is still 160-200 calories.

Is there anything else you would be interested in learning about on Almonds? Comment.