Dried fruits and nuts have been valued for centuries for their delightful flavors and extensive health perks. When blended with the sweet thickness of raw honey, these natural ingredients make for a powerhouse snack that offers a horde of benefits. From better heart health and disease prevention to improved digestion, immunity, skin, hair, bones, and more, incorporating this dynamic duo into your diet can be greatly advantageous. So, what exactly is so exceptional about pairing dry fruits mix with honey? Let’s break it down and discover what makes this combination so superlative.
The Dynamic Duo: Dried Fruits, Nuts, and Honey
Dried Fruits and Nuts
Drying concentrates the innate nutrients and flavors of fresh fruits, making their sweetness more pronounced and allowing their benefits to become more powerful. The drying process removes water to inhibit spoilage while retaining vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, fibers, and other essential phytonutrients. This makes dried produce a handy healthy snack that lasts much longer than its fresh counterparts without any need for preservatives.
Some popular dried fruits include raisins, cranberries, apricots, dates, prunes, figs, apples, pears, peaches, etc. They supply a wealth of key nutrients like potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, various B vitamins, vitamin K, etc. Their high fiber content also helps prevent constipation while their antioxidants fight inflammation and disease.
Nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, cashews, etc. are also nutritional powerhouses. They provide plant-based proteins, omega fatty acids, vitamin E, zinc, selenium, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium and more. The fiber, fat, and protein in nuts help sustain energy, control appetite and blood sugar, lower cholesterol, and encourage weight management.
Raw Honey
As a pure, unfiltered sweetener directly from the beehive, raw honey possesses a suite of health merits on its own. It harbors a trove of phytonutrients that serve as antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Raw honey also encases enzymes, amino acids, vitamins like B6, C, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, minerals like calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, etc.
The rich chemical composition of raw honey makes it antimicrobial and antibacterial. It has been used for wound healing since ancient times. Raw honey is also prebiotic, meaning it nourishes healthy gut bacteria. Consuming it can aid digestion and improve gut health. Moreover, the nutrients in raw honey help bolster immunity, mitigate seasonal allergies, and fight viral and bacterial infections.
Benefits of Dry Fruits and Nuts Mixed with Honey
When blended together, dried fruits, nuts and raw honey make for a tasty treat bursting with health advantages. Let’s explore the manifold benefits you can gain by adding this mix to your snacks repertoire:
Boosts Energy and Stamina
Dried fruits and nuts are dense sources of carbohydrates, proteins, healthy fats, and fibers that steadily release energy into your system. Honey steps in with a pleasantly sweet kick of natural sugars comprising glucose and fructose that provide an instant vitality boost. This makes dry fruits and nuts mix with honey a fantastic pre-workout or midday work snack to reenergize your mind and body without any ensuing energy crash.
Controls Blood Sugar and Insulin
Despite being sweet, honey has a low glycemic index, meaning the natural sugars enter your bloodstream slowly without dramatically spiking blood glucose. The fiber, protein, and fat in nuts and dried fruits also help moderate carbohydrate absorption and insulin release to prevent energy highs and lows. This steady supply of fuel helps manage diabetes and hypoglycemia.
Supports Heart Health
The vitamin E in nuts joins forces with antioxidants in fruits and honey to combat LDL cholesterol oxidation and plaque accumulation in arteries. This lowers your risk of cardiovascular diseases. The magnesium and potassium present also help regulate blood pressure and circulation.
Prevents Constipation
With around 70-90% fiber content, dried produce significantly exceeds fresh and even cooked varieties. The rich soluble and insoluble fiber bulk up stool to ease its passage, allowing smooth excretion and relief from constipation and hemorrhoids.
Aids Digestion
As a prebiotic, raw honey promotes the growth of beneficial Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli in the gut. The enzymes and nutrients in honey, nuts and dried fruits also ease digestion by enhancing absorption and cleansing toxins. This improves gut health and functioning.
Boosts Immunity
The natural phytonutrients and nutrients in nuts, fruits and honey raise antioxidant levels to combat disease and infection causing free radicals. Vitamin C in dried fruits along with vitamin E from nuts safeguards immunity. Minerals like zinc and selenium also bolster resistance against cold, flu and illness causing pathogens.
Alkalizes pH Balance
Most fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and unheated honey are alkaline foods with a high pH. Incorporating them in your snacks and meals counters the everyday acid-forming foods we consume to restore the body’s optimal pH balance. This eases acid reflux and reduces risk of kidney stones, osteoporosis and certain cancers.
Detoxifies Liver and Skin
As a low glycemic natural sweetener, raw honey aids liver function and glutathione production to eliminate toxins and waste products from the body. Its antibacterial nature also purges pathogens and promotes clearance of acne and impurities from the skin. The antioxidants in nuts and dried fruits assist by combatting damage from toxins and free radicals.
Improves Bone Health
The magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, and manganese in this combo encourage bone building, collagen production, and mineralization for improved bone density, mass and strength. These minerals prevent brittle bones and lower chances of osteoporosis, fractures, injury or inflammation.
Boosts Brain Health
Omega fatty acids from nuts join up with key brain nutrients in dried fruits and honey like zinc, iron, potassium, folate, phosphorus, magnesium, etc. to sharpen memory, concentration, cognition, reflexes, and nervous system functioning. The natural glucose in honey elevates tryptophan conversion to the mood regulating neurotransmitter serotonin for an emotional lift.
Promotes Weight Loss
The protein and fiber keep you satiated for longer by slowing digestion while the complex carbs provide sustained energy for active weight management. This helps curb mindless snacking and overeating. Dried fruits assist by expediting metabolism and fat burn via thermogenesis while honey suppresses grehlin – the hunger inducing hormone.
Bolsters Oral Health
Rich in antimicrobials, raw honey inhibits cavity and plaque causing oral bacteria. Its antioxidants also protect gums from free radical damage while minerals like phosphorus and calcium strengthen teeth. Phytonutrients in nuts and dried fruits further deter growth of infection spreading pathogens.
Boosts Respiratory Health
The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of raw honey calm respiratory tract inflammation to relieve cold and cough symptoms. Its antimicrobial properties also combat airborne viruses and bacteria. Combining honey with dried fruits and nuts magnifies these therapeutic influences by further reducing phlegm and wheezing while easing breathlessness.
Improves Reproductive Health
The boron in nuts raises testosterone in males along with sperm health and mobility. Zinc in pumpkin seeds enhances prostate function. For females, fenugreek seeds in the mix can aid lactation and ease menstrual cramps and menopausal symptoms. The mix’s therapeutic properties also nurture fertility and reproductive wellness in both sexes.
Enhances Sleep Quality
Tryptophan in nuts converted to the calming neurotransmitter, serotonin, with honey’s help relaxes the nerves and mind after a long day allowing sounder sleep. Magnesium and potassium also unwind muscles and steady heartbeat. Better sleep recharges energy, cognition, immunity and overall health.
Slows Skin Aging
Vitamin E works with vitamin C and antioxidants from the fruits, nuts and honey to combat free radicals and deter collagen and elastin breakdown. This diminishes wrinkles and age spots while plumping up fine lines for younger, firmer skin. Antimicrobial honey also clears acne and infections.
Boosts Hair Growth
Zinc and iron deficiencies often underlie alopecia and hair fall. Dried fruits and seeds supply these minerals to enhance growth and thickness of hair. Biotin and folic acid in the mix also curb greying and baldness. Vitamin E boosts scalp circulation for healthier strands while antibacterial honey keeps follicles and roots germ-free.
Conclusion
Dry fruits mix with honey laced with a drizzle of raw honey make for a winning snack or smoothie topper with a wealth of benefits encompassing practically every organ. Discovering which dry fruits are good for diabetes becomes a proactive step in promoting overall health, as their wholesome nutrition and healing phytonutrients crossover beautifully to safeguard your heart, liver, gut, skin, hair, brain, bones, and more by lowering inflammation, aging, disease risk factors, and much more. With so many gains from these three basic ingredients, mixing up a batch to keep handy makes perfect sense, offering a delicious and diabetes-friendly way to support your well-being.
FAQs
Q1. Can dried fruits and nuts mix with honey help you lose weight?
Ans: Yes, the fiber, protein, and good fats in nuts and dried fruits encourage weight loss by improving satiety, digestion, and fat metabolism while honey helps suppress appetite. Their nutrients also curb fat storage and boost energy expenditure.
Q2. What are the best nuts and dried fruits to mix with honey?
Ans: Some excellent nuts to blend with honey include almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, pecans etc. Raisins, apricots, dates, figs, cranberries, prunes etc. make tasty dried fruit additions along with seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, flax or melon.
Q3. How much dried fruits mix should you eat in a day?
Ans: Around 1 ounce or 30 grams of dried fruit and nut mix is considered one serving. 2-3 such servings spaced out through the day make a healthy addition without overdoing the natural sugar. Drink water to aid digestion of all that fiber as well.
Q4. Can kids or diabetics eat the dried fruits and nuts honey mix?
Ans: Yes, but limit quantity. The complex carbs and fiber help control blood sugar spikes. But dried fruits are extra sweet and caloric without water, so restrict kids to 1 or 2 small servings max. Diabetics should also monitor portions and blood sugar response.
Q5. Does heating or baking ruin the benefits of the mix?
Ans: Yes, heat can damage delicate nutrients like vitamin C and antioxidants. It also alters the enzyme, amino acid and micronutrient profile that offers most benefits. Raw consumption maximizes preservation of therapeutic properties. Light roasting nuts though can intensify flavors.
