With Diwali spirit entering houses, it is time to brighten up our homes with earthen diyas, colourful rangolis, twinkling fairy lights, scrumptious sweets, and a host of family get-togethers. An important aspect of Diwali is the tradition of exchanging gifts which embodies the essence of the festival. Though there’s nothing sweeter than spending Diwali with your loved ones, a thoughtful gift like almonds will bring a sweet smile to their faces, and will also help take care of their health in the longer run.
Traditionally, almonds have featured in Indian gifting patterns for thousands of years now, owing to their reverence as an auspicious gift and also their delectable taste and crunchiness. Almonds are a rich source of 15 essential nutrients including vitamin E, dietary fibre, protein, riboflavin, manganese, folate amongst others, making them a nutritious choice of gift.
Beyond this, years of global research and a large body of scientific evidence suggests that almonds can be beneficial in helping to manage heart disease risk factors. A recent study also highlighted that the inclusion of 45 gms. of almonds as part of a healthy diet may help in reducing dyslipidemia. Dyslipidemia is a condition marked by high LDL-cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins) or ‘bad’ cholesterol and triglyceride levels and low HDL cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins) or ‘good’ cholesterol levels, which is also known to be one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Indians.