Nuts: which ones to eat and which ones to avoid. Eat cashews, they are a good source of protein and dietary fat. Cashews are actually legumes and not nuts, so they are not Paleo. Eat walnuts – they have a lot of omega 3. Don’t eat walnuts though – they have a lot of omega 6. Don’t eat macadamias – they have the worst calorie density. Don’t eat peanuts. Don’t eat nuts at all if you want to lose fat. Pecans are the best. I have read just about every single sentence in various paleo blogs since I started with Paleo. As you know, I’m neither scientist, nor nutritionist – merely an occasional nerd who reads a lot and questions a lot of things I see written. What Is Known About Dementia Healthy Steps: Dementia—First Steps Healthy Steps: Dementia—Full Program Preventing Dementia From Dr. Deborah's Desk. This week an article titled Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet was featured in the New England Journal of Medicine. Advanced glycation end products in our diet may suppress sirtuin enzyme activity and play a role in age-related brain volume loss. These include the obvious sweets like candy, pies and cakes. So with the help of my high- powered researcher, Victor, who was kind enough to dig out nutritional values of the 5 most popular nuts that are considered “okay” on Paleo, I did some numerical analysis in an attempt to get some real answers. Let’s dig in. Which nuts have the most carbs and calories ? We discourage folks from counting calories. The only exception we make is when it comes to nuts. HUGE. In comparison, most vegetables will fall around 3. On the other hand, we know that hormones play a larger role in your fat than calories alone. Your insulin function is directly influenced by the amount of carbohydrates you consume. All nuts, unless you eat half a pound or more (seriously? Eat up, people. Another new analysis shows that diet high in cholesterol probably won’t give you a heart attack. Neither will a diet rich in eggs. A commonly held fear for those following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is not being able to get enough calories to gain/maintain weight on the diet. Which nuts cause/prevent inflammation? This question requires looking at the omega 6 : omega 3 ratio and the amount of monounsaturated fat. Omega 6 and Omega 3 are both polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). If it’s been a while since you buffed up on your PUFAs, here’s a quick refresher course: most people get way too much Omega 6 and not enough Omega 3, and you want a ratio of 2 grams or less Omega 6 for every gram of Omega 3. Since all these nuts have much more Omega 6 than Omega 3, we want to choose nuts that have relatively low amounts of PUFAs in order to limit the Omega 6 / Omega 3 imbalance we are exposed to. From the chart above we can see that the least Omega 3/6 imbalance risk is in macadamias, with only 1. PUFA’s, and almost 6. The second best would be cashews and almonds. Walnuts have the worst Omega 6 / Omega 3 imbalance. Ironically, walnuts have the best Omega 3 : Omega 6 ratio and cashews have the worst ratio, but walnuts are the worst in terms of Omega 3 / 6 imbalance. The Omega 3 : 6 ratio does not have much significance when comparing nuts because none of these nuts have what we consider a “good” Omega 3 : Omega 6 ratio (i. Although walnuts do contain a bit more Omega 3 than other nuts, they are also 4. PUFAs, and therefore contain over 5 times more Omega 6’s than cashews. That means you would have to eat a lot of foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids just to counteract the inflammatory effects of walnuts. What is the conclusion here? Macadamias are a clear winner and are a highly anti- inflammatory nut contributing to your health with their high monounsaturated fat content. Almonds are the second most anti- inflammatory nut and should be a good back up option. The bad guy in this category is the walnut, because it can actually contribute to inflammation unless cancelled out with foods with high omega 3 content. It kind of reminds me of the “part of a well balanced breakfast” commercials, where manufacturers of sugary cereals show the cereal as a side course next to fresh fruit and veggies. Yeah, right. 3. What about vitamins and minerals? Great question. Macadamias are a great source of Thiamin and Manganese (2. However, Almonds are a great source of Vitamin E (1. DV), also manganese (1. DV), riboflavin (5. DV), copper (7. 0% DV) and phosphorus (7. Cashews, walnuts and pecans are equally great source of manganese and copper, but no other significant (meaning more than 5. Manganese is key for absorbing other nutrients such as thiamin, biotin or ascorbic acid. Manganese contributes to bone health and strength, it helps your body maintain low cholesterol levels, and is a valuable antioxidant preventing free radical damage. The Thiamin (also known as vitamin B1) from madadamias strengthens your immune function, contributes to cardiac health, and studies have lately linked Thiamin supply to improved eye health as well as improved mental health and dementia prevention. Riboflavin (also known as B2) in almonds has some fabulous benefits as well. Firstly, it is necessary for proper iron absorption. If you have ever been iron deficient and had to deal with dizzy spells, you will know just how important that is. Riboflavin is also a component of several antioxidant enzymes that prevent free radical damage in your body. Perhaps the most interesting fact about riboflavin is a survey referenced by the Livestrong Blog showing that higher intakes of riboflavin helped prevent of headaches: http: //www. So what’s the conclusion? Nuts have a lot of great nutrients, yet a ton of calories. Some nuts have more inflammatory Omega 6 fats than others and should be avoided. Your best choice is macadamia nuts and, while almonds and cashews are OK as well. If your primary goal for following paleo is fat loss, consider removing nuts altogether – vegetables are a much better way to get vitamins and nutrients and are not nearly as calorie rich. If you decide to eat nuts as a snack, limit them to no more than a handful a day. Moderation is easier said than done, so if you have a history of over- grazing on nuts, take steps to limit your access to nuts, like only keeping a day’s supply on hand at once or portioning your daily nut allowances out a week in advance.
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