Ever felt like that plate of cookies in the kitchen is literally calling your name? Sounds a little dramatic, but over our lifetimes we train our brains to respond to stimuli like food. In fact, foods that are high in fats in and sugars tend to be hard-wired into the brain as desirables. Before the adoption of industrial agriculture this probably helped us get motivated to look for nutritious foods, but with the abundance of sugars and fats that can be found in your average grocery store aisle... Food can literally change your body's chemistry, and can make your brain behave like that of an addict (literally).

Fortunately, our problem isn't that there are a lack of foods that are actually beneficial. There are a host of whole, unprocessed foods that boast great health benefits. Enter the lowly Walnut, researchers at Pennsylvania State University recently looked into the ubiquitous holiday nut and cardiovascular health. The result of the study showed that regularly eating a handful of walnuts can affect the blood pressure response to stress, and not in a bad way.

The findings of the study showed that including walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress by two to three points. A pretty awesome benefit for people at risk of heart disease, and for those whose exaggerated responses to stress increase their risk of heart-disease. Adding flax-seed oil to the mix stepped up the benefit a little more, adding an anti-inflammatory character that could help to counter that inflammation that aggravates heart disease.