Top 5 Almond Benefits for Skin, Energy, Weight and More

Almonds are one of the most nutritious nuts you can eat with many benefits for your health, particularly your skin and heart. They fill you up, provide vitamins and minerals for energy and eating almonds can even help with weight loss.

Here are 5 valuable health benefits of almonds for better skin, more energy, losing weight, protecting your heart and better nutrition for a healthier life.

1. Almond Skin Benefits

Good skin comes, not from expensive cosmetics, but from proper nutrition on the inside. A handful of almonds is a particularly high food source of natural vitamin E, monounsaturated fatty acids, biotin and copper, all very important for healthy skin. Here’s why.

Vitamin E in Almonds

Vitamin E assists in protecting the connective elastin and collagen fibers within your skin cells that maintain its youthful firmness. The more collagen and elastin break down in your skin, the more at risk you are of developing fine lines and wrinkles on your face.

Vitamin E is also an excellent skin antioxidant, protecting your skin cells from free radical damage that leads to wrinkled and sagging skin and other signs of aging.

Biotin Skin Benefits

The B vitamin biotin is needed to maintain healthy fatty acids in the skin that keep it soft and supple. Without enough biotin in your diet from foods like almonds, your skin can become dry, flaky and easily irritated.

Getting more biotin with almonds can also improve your hair and nail health. Brittle nails and hair, split ends and hair loss are more signs of biotin deficiency.

Almonds for Copper

Copper is a vital co-factor in one of your body’s most important antioxidants called superoxide dismutase. Without enough dietary copper, skin health can suffer from free radical damage and premature aging.

Copper is involved in elastin production, part of the springy connective tissue that keeps your skin young and wrinkle free. The mineral is also needed for natural skin and hair pigmentation, so almonds are good for people with uneven skin tone and those looking to minimize gray hairs.

Monounsaturated Fats

Almonds are a healthy source of beneficial monounsaturated fats to maintain moisture balance and moderate sebum production in your skin.

Getting more monounsaturated fatty acids in your diet and less inflammatory processed vegetable oil can help reduce skin problems like acne, blackheads and oily skin.

Eating Almonds for Better Skin

With their high levels of protective vitamin E, biotin, copper and hydrating monounsaturated fats, the skin benefits of almonds are significant. Replace damaging junk food snacks with a handful of organic almonds and eat other skin healthy nuts like walnuts for a few weeks and you’ll see the difference in the mirror.

2. Filling and Nutritious

Just half a dozen almonds makes for a tasty, filling and high nutrition snack. They are full of healthy fats, significant protein, important minerals like magnesium, copper, manganese and phosphorus, and are high in vitamin E and B vitamins.

While a quarter of a cup of almonds does have about 200 calories, they are a particularly high satiety food. This means they fill you up and satisfy your hunger in ways carbohydrate foods from the bakery never will.

Try keeping a bag of almonds in your desk at the office and have a few in the middle of the afternoon instead of going to the corner store for a junk food snack. I think you’ll be surprised just how filling they are and how much better you feel after eating them instead of those high sugar, energy draining snacks.

3. Almonds for Weight Loss

Most people wouldn’t expect that high-fat nuts like almonds would be beneficial for reducing your waistline. However, there are some very good reasons why the almonds are actually good for weight loss.

To start with, the fatty acids in almonds are primarily monounsaturated fat, the same healthy fats found in olive oil and avocados. In fact, research like this studyfound that in a weight reduction program, almonds specifically were far superior to complex carbohydrates for losing weight.

This isn’t surprising when you understand the way high carbohydrate foods tend to increase your hunger, while healthy fats in your food really reduce cravings.

The monounsaturated fats in nuts like almonds also moderate blood sugar rises after eating. In this way, they also reduce the amount of fat storing insulin being released into your bloodstream.

Additionally, almonds contain high levels of thermogenic protein, including tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin, which tends to relax you and reduce stress-induced eating.

There really are a lot of weight loss benefits in eating more almonds, especially if you regularly replace high carbohydrate snacks with a handful of organic ones.

4. Protect Your Heart

Heart disease continues to be the biggest cause of death in the United Kingdom. This is primarily due to our processed food diet, but the powerful nutritional properties of almonds may help protect your heart from damage.

Once again, the monounsaturated fats in almond are beneficial here. Studies have demonstrated that consuming sources of monounsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid can reduce blood levels of potentially damaging LDL cholesterol, whilst improving your HDL cholesterol profile.

Almonds are also a great source of antioxidant vitamin E, which specifically protects against free radical oxidation of cholesterol, strongly linked to cardiovascular disease.

This study of the health benefits of nuts like almonds said that frequent consumption was likely to protect against coronary heart disease and recommended eating nuts more than four times a week.

5. Extra Energy with Almonds

Any look at almond benefits must consider how the broad array of minerals and vitamins they contain can affect your energy levels. Many people eating a supermarket food diet are lacking in important vitamins and minerals needed for energy production within the body.

Crunchy almonds contain good levels B vitamins like by biotin, riboflavin and niacin. They are also high in minerals such as calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron and particularly copper.

All of these nutritional elements are needed by the processes within your cells that regulate energy production. The more of them you get, the less chance you’ll have of vitamin and mineral deficiencies that lead to low energy levels.

One especially good way to enjoy almonds for energy is with this sugar-free chocolate almond milk recipe you can quickly make up at home with a blender.

Eating Almonds for Better Health

There are 5 great reasons to eat more almonds: good skin, a healthier heart, more energy, a slimmer body and to fill you up with the nutrition your body needs to look and feel its best. Surely it’s worth eating almonds more often if you value your health and appearance.

When looking for the best almonds, freshness is particularly important and large online stores with high turnover are usually where you want to look. Especially check the recent reviews to see if it’s a good batch.

In the USA, these Californian almonds are organic and have many positive reviews on their texture and taste.

In the UK, I find these Spanish grown organic almonds are good value and a great size for the office drawer.

Have you tried replacing fattening carbohydrate snacks with healthy nuts like almonds? I’d appreciate hearing what you think of these almond benefits for skin, your heart and general good health, especially if you’ve noticed a positive difference since you started eating almonds yourself.