GOING NUTS OVER PISTACHIOS-HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PISTACHIO MILK

Going Nuts Over Pistachios – How to Make Your Own Pistachio Milk


By Heidi Kristoffer
Posted Thursday, June 4, 2015 at 01:36pm EDT
Keywords: health benefits of eating pistachios, Pistachios, pistachios milk, Pistachios Nutrients, pistachios recipe
If you have never considered pistachios to be a healthy snack, maybe you need to reconsider. Here are a few ways that pistachios can benefit your health and lifestyle.

1-Heart Healthy

Pistachios are known for reducing bad cholesterol – LDL as well as increase good cholesterol HDL. The great thing about this is that you don’t need to eat a bunch of pistachios for a long period of time, just a few small handfuls and in a few weeks or even months you will start seeing significant changes in your diet and health. These little nuts are also very high in anti-oxidants such as Vitamin A and E, they help fight inflammation which means they are good for things like arthritis and joint swelling and they have also been known to protect the vessels in your blood which help in reducing the risk of heart disease.

2-Healthy Blood

While many other foods out there do have B6, pistachios are an incredibly rich source for this vitamin. Vitamin B6 is one of the top 10 most important vitamins to have in your system because it helps make hemoglobin – this is a protein whose main job is to carry oxygen through the blood stream to cells.

3-Nervous System Health

Because B6 is so rich in pistachios it should be no surprise that these nuts also have a wide range of positive effects for the nervous system too. Messaging Molecules require amino acids to develop and B6 can help create multitudes of these molecules. B6 also helps with the creation of myelin, this is an insulting case of sorts that surrounds the nerve fibers in our body that allows for maximal communication between nerves.

4-A Carrot A Day…

As a kid I am sure you always heard about how important eating your carrots was. Chances are your parents probably told you that eating carrots would help you keep your eye sight one day. This is true – your parents did not lie. But, there is a new eye healthy snack on the scene – that’s right, pistachios! Pistachios contain two carotenoids (carrot!) that is not usually found in nuts. This complex compound of lutein and zeaxanthin operates as protective and healthy antioxidants which defends the tissue in your body against things like free radicals. Free radicals have been linked to aging, but other things as well such as wrinkles, cancer, heart disease and blindness.

Thankfully the two carotenoids in pistachios help fight against visual impairments to the optic nerves which helps reduce blindness, the same way carrots do, but in this case you might enjoy nuts more than carrots. Studies were done on this specific topic, but only in the US.

5-Healthy Skin

Pistachios also have another really great vitamin in them that help with skin health; vitamin E. This is a vitamin that is important to have in your body because it’s what helps give you healthy skin that is also beautiful and smooth. Vitamin E is an excellent way to protect your skin from things like UV rays and it can also keep blemishes and acne at bay too.

6-For Healthy Hair

Pistachios have various benefiting fatty acids which may stimulate hair growth. And they have considerable amount of biotin, as we know, biotin deficiency is one of the important factors contributing to hair loss, so eat pistachios regularly may help you combat hair loss effectively.

Pistachios can be included in your diet in many ways, here is a recommended recipe:

Make Your Own Pistachio Milk

Ingredients:

1 cup shelled pistachios
4 cups filtered water
Directions:

Soak one cup of pistachios in water for at least five hours. Then drain the soak water and place the soaked pistachios in your blender with about four cups of water.

Blend on high for about 50 seconds or until you don’t have any more nut pieces.

After you are done blending, you’ll have a thin pale green liquid with lot of froth on top.

Strain the pistachio nut milk through a nut milk bag or use a fine sieve. Collect the pale green liquid in a clean container. Using a nut milk bag will allow you to get more of the milk, but it may be slightly messier.

When using a sieve to strain nut milk, use a spoon to scrape the bottom of the mesh to remove built-up pistachio pulp. Once all of the pistachio milk has been drained, remove the pulp before adding more milk to be strained. You can use a large spoon to press the pulp into the sieve and get more of the milk.

The finished product will yield about four cups of fresh pistachio milk. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed glass container and try to use within a week.

Other ways to enjoy pistachios:

You can add pistachios in cookies, muffins, breads or biscuits.
Sprinkling chopped pistachios onto ice-cream is also a good option.
Add it in cream cheese spreads for sandwiches or crackers.
Pistachio can also be a crunchy addition to regular salads and yogurt.
Sources:

mensjournal.com

incrediblesmoothies.com

stylecraze.com

medical-base.com