With mental health week, RUOK day and "insert other catchy mental health campaign title here" going on around us this month, I've been thinking a lot about what actually happens when our mind body connection is off and what we can do to prepare for these moments and in some cases, prevent them. One factor in the likelihood for developing depression is the unmanaged presence of inflammation in our bodies. Inflammation is not necessarily bad, in fact it actually helps by signalling when and where healing and regeneration is needed. But when inflammation gets out of control, it can cause major depressive symptoms. Recent studies showed that depressed patients with higher inflammatory markers who were treated for inflammation showed a significant decrease in depressive symptoms. It is important to note that this study also showed no change in symptoms of the patients who did not have higher inflammatory markers to begin with which indicates there are many complicated factors at play when it comes to mental health. Depression can develop due to many factors and inflammation will not be the cause for everyone. Okay, okay, you came here for the almonds. Almonds, olive oil and tumeric all help to fight inflammation and this simple recipe will leave you with an inflammation fighting tasty snack or an addition to any healthy salad.
Tumeric Honey Roasted Almonds Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup raw almonds
1 tbsp of honey
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground turmeric
a pinch of cinnamon
a crack of pink rock salt
Directions: Preheat the oven to 180c on bake. Put honey in a mug or small ramekin and heat on high in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mix in the olive oil, tumeric, cinnamon and pink rock salt. Line an oven safe tray with baking paper and place the almonds on the tray. Pour the mixture over the almonds and mix them around in it slightly so that all the almonds are covered. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn/mix the almonds back in with the honey mixture and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove almonds from the oven and mix them one last time with the honey mixture before allowing to cool for about 10 minutes. Enjoy hot or cold, on their own or on a salad! PS. These almonds are delicious and particularly high in calories so they make a great snack for athletes or on days where you are using a lot of energy. Monitor your intake on sedentary days.