Can someone please define "occasional"?

[satisfied7]

Day "2er", please forgive the silly question. I am also new to message boards so if I posted this wrong please forgive! I have read the book and am trying to follow this pretty darm close! My question is, for example, manadamia nuts are on teh "best" eating fats. So how much can you have? 1 serving per day? My biggest question is the "occasional" food items. Does this mean once a week, once a day?

Any help would be appreciated! I am super excited (still). You might want to check back in a couple of day!

[Robin Strathdee]

satisfied7 -

Totally not a silly question! This one's hard for some folks to get their heads around. What we mean is that we don't want you to rely on that food as a staple of your diet. There's no hard limit on number of servings but, for example, we would rather see you rely on coconut milk as a major source of fat than on nuts.

I hope that makes sense for you!

[Xandra]

Occasional macadamia nuts for me means no more than 3 nuts per day, usually fewer. I'm sure that's not an official definition but that's how I manage them.

[Tom Denham]

I frequently cook with macadamia nuts. I throw a handful in with stir-fries of greens, slow cooker beef or chicken, and onions. I often throw in a handful of dried cranberries too. I probably use macadamia nuts like this as much as 3 to 5 times per week. I avoid eating any nuts as a snack because I think it is a bad habit that often leads to over eating.

[Renee]

As with everything, context matters! I think if you go crazy with nuts (i.e, you can polish off a bag in a day), occasional would actually be a "don't eat" because this type of food would not meet the first criteria, which is promoting a good psychological response.

If you enjoy nuts and can easily limit yourself, then I would guess occasional is a small handful per day (at least, that's what I do). One of the main problem is that most nuts are very rich in omega-6. Eating a large quantity of nuts would put your omega-3/omega-6 ratio out of balance (it probably already is if you're used to eating a lot of seed oils, like canola. And seed oils are in everything that's processed). So if that's the case, make sure you supplement with a good quality omega-3 oil, or eat a lot of omega-3 from your food.

I would also recommend to eat nuts as part of a meal (like what Tom does) as opposed to a snack, when possible. Snacks should actually look like a "mini meal" and contain a bit of protein, a bit of fat, and a bit of veggies.

[satisfied7]

Thanks everyone!!

[Delaine Ross]

You've gotten good answers to your questions, so I won't weigh in but do I want to let you know there is no reason to be timid on here. This forum is very positive. Members -new, advanced, and moderators- all want to see each other succeed. Ask anything you need to know. Goodness knows I was a neurotic mess on the forum at the beginnng of my first Whole30! And I'm thankful for all the help!