Sunflower seeds

[perrybucsdad]

I know you can have sunflower seeds (at least I think you can since they come from a flower and not the ground) but I just wanted to make sure.  I Love those David Sunflower Seeds in the shell where you have to crack them and spit out the shell.  I know the flavored ones would more than likely be out as I'm sure they might have some non-W30 stuff in them, but what about the plain old salted ones?  

 

I guess my thought was to take a handful of these as my fat source for a meal.

 

Thanks,

 

John

[Tom Denham]

Plain, salted sunflower seeds are okay. 

[perrybucsdad]

Thanks Tom. I was a little confused as I read that Sunflower Butter is a good alternative for Peanut Butter, but Sunflower Oil is a bad choice for cooking fat.

 

I assume it would be bad, and not with the W30 program though if I sat with a bag of plain salted sunflower seeds on the couch and watched a football game or something else and used that as "junk food"?

[praxisproject]

You could eat some Whole30 football food instead as a template meal

 

Ultimate Paleo Super Bowl Recipes - there's a couple not Whole30 on here, they're marked with asterisks *

http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2014/01/31/ultimate-paleo-super-bowl-recipes/ 

[LadyM]

I assume it would be bad, and not with the W30 program though if I sat with a bag of plain salted sunflower seeds on the couch and watched a football game or something else and used that as "junk food"?

This definitely would not be recommended, but technically it wouldn't be noncompliant. However, how you eat is almost as important as what you eat. Noshing anything in front of the tv is discouraged, and mindlessly eating any hand-to-mouth snack wouldn't fall into the category of making you more healthy, which is what we're going for, right? So, I'd say your gut instinct was right in that using sunflower seeds as a kind of "junk food" isn't a good idea. Plus, nuts and seeds are notoriously difficult to digest, especially in volume, and they tend to be food without brakes for lots of people.

 

Remember, it's just for 30 days. Try watching football without the old stand bys and behaviors and see how it goes. You might learn something pretty wonderful about yourself.

[perrybucsdad]

Thanks... I kinda thought it would not be encouraged.  I always use this as my go to snack, as it keeps my mouth busy (cracking and spitting the shells out) and it keeps me snacking slowly, but it is just that... a snack.  I think if I used it in the context of the meal, and allowed myself 1 handful of nuts and that's it for my fat, then it may not be a bad thing... I just couldn't use it for the entire game.

[GFChris]

I always use this as my go to snack, as it keeps my mouth busy (cracking and spitting the shells out) and it keeps me snacking slowly, but it is just that... a snack.  I think if I used it in the context of the meal, and allowed myself 1 handful of nuts and that's it for my fat, then it may not be a bad thing.

Right.  For the Whole30, it helps to get out of the mindset of having the need to snack.  The goal is to create meals that satiate you for 4-5 hours.

Until you get to that place, if you find yourself genuinely hungry in between meals (litmus test: you could eat something bland like steamed fish and broccoli), the recommendation is to have a mini-meal containing protein, vegetables and fat. 

 

[perrybucsdad]

Right.  For the Whole30, it helps to get out of the mindset of having the need to snack.  The goal is to create meals that satiate you for 4-5 hours.

Until you get to that place, if you find yourself genuinely hungry in between meals (litmus test: you could eat something bland like steamed fish and broccoli), the recommendation is to have a mini-meal containing protein, vegetables and fat. 

 

 okay, so that is a mini-meal containing all three, not just one or two (like the nuts)?

[GFChris]

 okay, so that is a mini-meal containing all three, not just one or two (like the nuts)?

Yes, ideally all three.