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Going nutty on a Friday in October [UPDATED]
Published 6:47am Friday, October 22, 2010 Updated 7:20am Friday, October 22, 2010I have two snacks I really love. One is good for me. The other absolutely terrible.
I love spiced gumdrops. I get a pound bag at Walmart for just a buck and seem to go through at least a couple a week. As a matter of fact, I finished off another bag yesterday afternoon when I got home from work.
I also love almonds. Not plain almonds, but the canned ones that are dusted with some crazy choices of flavoring. My favoriteare the Wasabi-Soy Sauce flavor. I enjoy Habañero BBQ and Lime ‘n Chili, too. I bought a brand new flavor Saturday— Blazin’ Buffalo Wing. They’re hotter than the wings on the wing bar at the Z103 Bar!
As the Blue Diamond Almond ads state: “They’ll kick you in the tastebuds.”
They sure do.
This week our reporter Elizabeth Sias brought in a bag of flavored cashews. Sea salt and black pepper. Boy were they good.
Which leads me to nuts. I learned this morning that today, Friday, Oct. 22, is National Nut Day.
There is no record of Congress declaring it an official national holiday, but it’s mentioned lots of places on the Internet and that’s good enough for me.
A nut is classified as a seed covered with a hard shell, and these seeds covered with hard shells are very good for us — at least better than a bag of spice drops! That is, unless you are allergic to them. If you are allergic to nuts, you probably ought to stop reading this right now and wash your hands!
Nuts are a very good source of protein and they contain the kinds of fats that are good for your good cholesterol and help get rid of your bad cholesterol. Walnuts are especially healthy because, along with all the other nut benefits, they have those heart-friendly omega-3 fatty acids that are so good for you.
Almonds — my nut of choice —are high in antioxidants which is good because oxidizing is just another word for rusting, and we don’t want our innards to be all rusty, do we? They also have lots of other beneficial sorts of things that are very good for you. And they are tasty.
Peanuts are also good for you and less expensive than walnuts or almonds and way cheaper than Brazil nuts, but peanuts are not nuts either. They are legumes – a type of bean related to peas and beans and soy beans. They are naturally free of trans-fats and are 25 percent protein which is a higher percentage than any “real” nuts. Although they are high in fat, the fat they are high in is the good kind, so it’s okay. And they are very tasty.
I am also in favor of celebrating nuts of the human persuasion on National Nut Day, but the fact that there is a full moon the very next day does worry me a little. I am not a seed and I don’t have a hard shell, but I think I qualify as a human nut.
When it comes to our daily grinds, I’ve always said it’s alright to be crazy, just don’t let the world drive you nuts. But I think today, National Nut Day, is the exception.
Jeff Hage is the managing editor of The dAily Journal. Reach him by email at jeff.hage@fergusfallsjournal.com.
