In addition to their delicious flavor, pecans offer many impressive health benefits. They contain 19 different vitamins and minerals, including calcium, vitamin E, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc, and are high in dietary fiber, antioxidants, and several types of heart healthy fats. Eating 4-5 servings of pecans per week can reduce your chances of many health problems.

Here is more information on the health benefits of pecans:

1. Pecans help reduce weight: Pecans are a good choice for people hoping to lose weight because eating pecans increases metabolism, which encourages weight loss. Pecans are also high in fiber and heart-healthy fats, which contribute to earlier feelings of fullness and discourage overeating.
2. Pecans can help lower blood pressure: Unsalted pecans can help lower blood pressure due to their high levels of heart-healthy fats and magnesium.
3. Pecans keep your heart healthy: Pecans contains beta-sitosterol (phytosterol), a natural compound that lowers the bad (LDL) cholesterol in blood, and reduces the risk of heart attack. In addition, pecans contain relatively high levels of vitamin-E, which is good for the cardiovascular system and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and heart attacks, and heart healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
4. Pecans keep your prostate healthy: The beta-sitosterol content in pecans is also effective in treating Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), which is a non-cancerous enlargement of prostate gland in men. It has also been found that pecans contain a type of Vitamin-E, gamma tocopherol, which has the ability to destroy the cells without harming the healthy cells.
5. Pecans help prevent breast cancer: Pecan nuts are rich in oleic acid. This fatty acid, which is also found in olive oil, helps to suppress the action of a gene in cells which triggers breast cancer.
6. Pecans replace meat: Like meat, pecans are nutrient dense, flavorful, and high in protein, but unlike meat, they contain very little saturated fat, which increases the risk of heart attack. Instead pecans are high in healthy unsaturated fats ad contain compounds that can help lower cholesterol.
7. Pecans helps digestion: A single ounce of pecans provides 10% of the daily recommended value of dietary fiber. High fiber diets help maintain a healthy digestive system.
8. Pecans are an excellent source of antioxidants: Pecans contain many antioxidants, including lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotenes and ellagic acid. Beta-carotenes, zeaxanthin and lutien are good for eye health, while ellagic acid is beneficial in the prevention of cancer. Vitamin E, another antioxidant found in pecans, may help protect the nervous system and delay the progress of neurological diseases.
9. Pecan nuts are naturally sodium-free: This makes them the perfect choice for those people who are on a low salt or sodium-restricted diet.

The reason is clear: blueberries are both delicious and nutritious!

One cup of fresh blueberries contains just 81 calories, yet has one of the highest levels of antioxidants of any fruit. Anthocyanidins, a major component of the reddish-blue pigment of blueberries, are also powerful antioxidants that have been found to help neutralize free radical damage to the collagen matrix of cells and tissues that can lead to health problems such as cataracts, glaucoma, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, peptic ulcers, heart disease, and cancer.

Blueberries also contain sizable amounts of another antioxidant compound called ellagic acid, which has been found to reduce the risk of cancer. Blueberries seem to be especially effective at reducing the risk of colon and ovarian cancer.

Blueberries are closely related to cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) and share the qualities of cranberries that make them very effective at protecting urinary tract health and reducing the risk of urinary tract infections. Blueberries are also high in fiber, so like other high fiber foods, they reduce the risk of constipation, diarrhea, and type 2 diabetes.

Finally, blueberries are good sources of vitamin C, vitamin E, and manganese.

Sadly, commercially grown blueberries are considered to be one of the “dirty dozen” foods: foods best purchased organic due to their high level of pesticide residues. The USDA Pesticide Data program has found residues of 52 different pesticides on blueberries, including 8 known or probable carcinogens, 24 suspected hormone disruptors, 14 neurotoxins, and 7 developmental or reproductive toxicants.

Organic blueberries can be fairly expensive, so if your family loves blueberries, you can save money by gathering wild blueberries in areas where this is allowed, or by growing your own. Blueberries do best in slightly acidic, sandy soils that are moist but well drained and high in organic matter. Most varieties are ornamental as well as edible and make very attractive additions to any landscape.

Learn More:

• Nature’s Antioxidant Super-Fruit
• Grow the Best Blueberries

The orchards also supported Afghanistan’s legendary carpet industry. Agricultural by-products such as walnut husks and pomegranate rinds were used to create the brightly colored dyes prized by Afghan carpet makers.

Sadly, decades of war have taken their toll on both the country’s famous orchards and the store of knowledge required to tend them. 70% of Afghanistan’s orchards and vineyards have been destroyed since the outbreak of war in the 1970′s. Today, Afghan farms are best known for illegal opium production, and less than 2% of the country is forested, increasing not only poverty and food insecurity, but also environmental degradation. Flooding exacerbated by loss of tree cover due to war and drought devastated 11 central and eastern provinces of Afghanistan in 2010.

Several organizations are working to fight poverty, terrorism, and environmental degradation by rebuilding Afghanistan’s orchards, restoring food security and a legal source of income to Afghan farmers and households. Two of the most prominent include Roots of Peace, which works to clear agricultural land of land mines and replace them with crops such as almonds, grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, apples, and apricots, and the Global Partnership for Afghanistan, which provides training and plants to farming families, with a special emphasis on empowering widows and other female heads of household.

Afghanistan isn’t the only country benefiting from efforts to alleviate poverty by planting trees. Several innovative programs have sprung up to help the poor and hungry in the United States as well. The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation hopes to plant 18 billion fruit trees worldwide, about three for every man, woman, and child alive today. This goal would not only make a major dent in world poverty and hunger, it would also help fight global climate change, desertification, and deforestation. The FTPF strategically donates orchards in areas where they can do the most good, such as low income neighborhoods and international hunger relief sites, community gardens, Native American reservations, and public schools.

Another interesting US program that uses tree fruits to fight poverty and hunger is Seattle-based City Fruit, an effort to harvest unwanted and surplus fruit to feed the homeless. Depending on the size and variety, a single apple tree can produce up to ten bushels of fruit (more than 400 pounds), yet the average American eats just 50 pounds of fresh and processed apples per year. Pear trees can produce as much as 15 bushels, peach trees as much as six. Most families with fruit trees leave tens or hundreds of pounds of good fruit to rot every year because they simply can’t eat it all. Founded in 2008, City Fruit harvested and delivered more than 10,000 pounds of this fresh, nutritious surplus fruit for the city’s hungry in 2009. City Fruit also works to educate homeowners about fruit tree care in order to improve the health of Seattle’s urban forest and is currently engaged in an urban orchard mapping project.

Innovative programs such as Roots for Peace, the Global Partnership for Afghanistan, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, and City Fruit are just a few of the ways mast-producing trees can be used to fight poverty and hunger. Here are some ways you can help:

• Donate to Roots for Peace, the Global Partnership for Afghanistan, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, City Fruit, or a similar organization.
• Call your local food bank to see if they will accept donations of good quality extra fruits and nuts from your trees.
• Encourage your local parks department to plant fruit and nut bearing trees in parks – and encourage local residents to harvest them.
• Start a fruit or nut tree farm or business, or support fruit and nut based businesses in your local community.
• Educate your friends and neighbors about the importance of landscaping with mast-producing trees, and how to plant and care properly for them.

• black walnuts
• pecans and hickory nuts
• wild plums and cherries
• blackberries and raspberries
• blueberries, huckleberries, and cranberries
• elderberries
• currants and gooseberries
• mulberries
• pawpaws
• persimmons

Some native edible species have been largely replaced by more prolific cultivated species from Eurasia, including many of North America’s native apples, hazelnuts, and chestnuts.

Other native edible species were widely used by American Indian tribes for food, but are lesser known as edible plants today, including oaks, serviceberries, chokeberries, salal, and some viburnums.

For a large and growing collection of fruit and nut recipes online, check out our Delicious account: Fruit and Nut Recipes.