The goal: You want your blood to flow more freely through your arteries, like it did when you were a kid. The plan: Eat 8 nuts a day for 4 weeks.

Yep, it could be that simple. When people in a study replaced some of the monounsaturated fats in their diets with 8 to 13 walnuts a day, their blood vessels expanded after just a few weeks, allowing better blood flow.

The Alpha Factor
Walnuts are rich in cholesterol-lowering alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) as well as antioxidants, a heart-healthy form of vitamin E, and L-arginine -- an amino acid that helps lower blood pressure. So it makes sense that when people with moderately high cholesterol eat a daily helping of the nuts, good things happen. And it did: In one study, not only did their blood vessels open wide, but also their total cholesterol fell and their bad LDL cholesterol dropped 6 percent! (What causes high cholesterol? Find out here.)

Antioxidants and More
In the study, people ate walnuts for snacks, with meals, and in desserts and salads to replace some monounsaturated fats in their diets. For specific ideas, check out EatingWell’s no-brainer ways to add nutty crunch to just about any food under the sun.

• Veggies -- Give them some munch-factor with this Warm Green Bean Salad with Toasted Walnuts.
• Pasta -- Toss your noodles with this ready-in-minutes walnut-based sauce: Basic Basil Pesto.
• Poultry -- The seasoned walnuts in this dish give chicken an Asian twist: Stir-Fried Chicken with Wilted Spinach & Tamari Walnuts.
• Dessert -- A cookie is a cookie, but your holiday cookie platter will lean to the healthier side of things with these Lusciously Nutty Holiday Logs.

Watch this quick video on how to toast nuts.