Welcome to Episode FIVE! Today we're focusing on our old friend the WALNUT. Since it's officially fall, walnuts are in season right now. What better time to enjoy one of nature's tasty, heart-healthy treats?

Some health/nutrition summary info: Walnuts provide a great source of protein, fiber, B vitamins, Vitamin E, anti-oxidants to help prevent cancer, and Omega 3s to help your heart and vascular system. They also help lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure, and contain numerous beneficial amino acids and polyphenols (compounds linked with reduced risk of heart disease and cancer).

Some notes on FAT: As we point out in the video, raw walnuts are NOT unhealthy fats! Many people are confused about the role of nuts in their diets. A big part of this relates to whether or not they're eating roasted nuts or raw nuts. Roasted nuts are denatured. Their protein structure is changed by the heating process, which also destroys most of the nut's nutrients. Adding to this, most nuts are roasted in oil, adding unnecessary, unhealthy fat. So, stick with raw, unheated nuts and fats in your diet. Moderate quantities are best, however if you're feeling like you really want/need to eat a lot of them, then perhaps your body is telling you something. Only you will know this for sure.

As always, we'll provide a link to a raw foods recipe using the day's focus food. So, here's an ultra-gourmet recipe from Russell James -- Purple Pasta with Walnut Pesto & Tenderstem Broccoli. Wow! You may also want to search the All Raw Directory for Walnut recipes. To date, we have 650+ delicious raw recipes listed!

Stay tuned for more thrilling "Know Your Food" episodes! (It'll likely take us a few days to get to the next round of them, as "Walnuts" marked the end of our initial five episodes. But, we're planning to start shooting more very soon.)