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Hierarchy of Nuts


Derval

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Macadamias and hazelnuts are alone on the "Best Choices" list. Almonds are on the "In Moderation" list and walnuts are on the "Limit" list. The best nuts are high in MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acids) and low in PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids). The worst are the opposite.

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Macadamia nuts are so expensive because their shells are CRAZY hard to crack on their own, so they have additional processing built into their costs. Buying shelled macs are actually pretty cheap, comparatively, but then you have to figure out how to get them out of their shells!

I'd rather pay for the convenience, tbh :)

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OK I posted this in the can i have but maybe this topic is better:

I know nuts are okay, but most of what I read here says "may not be best source of fat" "easy to overeat"... so here's the question: If I put a perfect portion of nuts in a baggie every day and take to work (almonds or macadamia, right now) to eat as a fat for a snack or breakfast, is that okay? i'm preventing myself from overeating them, and i stick mostly to macadamia, but i have some weight to lose and am wondering if a perfect portion of nuts is any different on this diet than say some guac for my snack veggies.

thanks!

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Let me start with a confession. I carried 3 cans of macadamia nuts with me on vacation recently and ate most of them in 7 days of traveling. Nuts are great when you are traveling, but I avoid eating nuts every day in my ordinary life.

Controlling your portion size is a good thing and I like your baggie idea.

I've never seen the Whole9 offer a hierarchy of fats, but I rank avocados, olives, and coconuts ahead of nuts and seeds. There is no perfect answer to how often you can eat nuts, but you might think twice about letting the convenience of nuts make them a bigger part of your diet than other foods that can give you more good per bite.

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  • 1 month later...

Tom, what are the benefits of a macadamia over an almond or walnut? I always viewed almonds and walnuts as the top nuts out there. However, I am definately overeating the almond and getting stomach aches, so today I am trying to be nut free to see if I feel better. What about pistachios? Thanks for this post.

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Hey Laura, macs aren't actually the ideal nut. I think it's second or third.

Whole9 (they may have been Urban Gets Diesel or Crossfit 603 at the time) posted something about the hierarchy of nuts. They ranked nuts and seeds on two factors: quantity of PUFAs and n6:n3 ratio.

Macs win on the ratio, but they also have a lot of PUFAs, so they dropped a bit on the list.

Definitely try ditching the nuts for a bit if you're having digestive issues. They contain lectins just like legumes, but while less problematic for most, there are still those folks out there that can't handle 'em well

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Of course, nuts in moderation because they are easy to overeat but in the Whole 9 seminar macadamia and hazelnuts are on the best choices for fats list...I don't think a serving of macadamias or hazelnuts daily would be much different than choosing a handful of coconut flakes as long as you are getting the other high quality fats in as well. I do also think it depends on your toleration of nuts and also your portion control.

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Thanks for the responses! I was nut-free yesterday and feel much better today, although I am going through my lunch bag fast and wondering what I am going to eat if I get a 4pm hunger craving! Sad becuase I love almonds, but perhaps they do not love me!

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I love nuts, but I generally agree with Martin Berkham that nuts are overrated and over-hyped "healthy" foods due to their caloric density and high Omega 6 content. I find that when I dump all nut consumption and pick up fat from other sources, it is \easier to stay lean. I wish I did that more often... :D

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  • 1 year later...

I'm thinking along the same lines as Dboothsummers and AndreaD.   If you don't have any trouble keeping your portion sizes to a closed handful per meal, and you stick with only hazelnuts and macadamias, could someone clarify for me why it's a problem to have these two types of nuts once or even twice a day as your eating fats?  When I looked at some nutrition facts labels, it looked to me like the PUFA/MUFA ratios in hazelnuts and macadamias are about the same as the ratios in avocados and in extra virgin olive oil.  (Obviously this is not the case for other nuts).

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