Eating a few walnuts every day as snack is recommended for everyone, but don't eat more than 100 grams, lest it cause indigestion. Eating a few when you feel tired can act as a pick-me-up, relieving fatigue and stress.
Walnut, sesame and he shou wu (fleece flower root) drink
Ingredients: Walnuts (100g), sesame (100g), fleece flower root (50g), honey
Preparation: Grind all ingredients into powder. Mix with honey. Store in sealed jar. Add two tablespoons to boiling water, making a drink or paste.
Dosage: Take frequently.
Function: Reinforces blood, nourishes skin, helps prevent gray hair.
Walnut wine
Ingredients: Five walnuts, sugar (30g), yellow wine (50ml)
Preparation: Mash walnuts and sugar. Cook with yellow wine, gentle heat, for 15 minutes.
Dosage: Eat half in the morning, the rest at night.
Function: Helps reinforce kidney energy and soothe nerves. Helps relieve headache, insomnia, poor memory, and chronic cough.
Tips: "Warm" walnuts are not recommended for people with excessive internal heat. Walnuts' fat may aggravate diarrhea. The brown coating is nutritious and should not be removed.
Almonds
Nutrition: Rich in protein, unsaturated fatty acid, sugar, carotene, fiber, vitamins B and C, bioflavonoids, microelements like calcium (twice much as that in milk), iron and selenium. Helps lower cholesterol and reduce cancer risk. The high unsaturated fatty acid and rich fiber can aid in weight loss. Recent research shows that regularly eating sweet almonds can promote microcirculation and thus improve complexion.
TCM function: Nourishing the lungs and relieving constipation are the major uses of "warm" (yang energy) almonds, according to Li Shizhen, pharmacist in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), in his "Compendium of Materia Medica."