Go Nuts With This Definitive Guide To Nuts

Nuts are not only a great snack, with protein and healthy fats, but they also contain a number of vitamins and mineral in them too. They don’t cause your blood sugars to sour or insulin to spike and they’re satiating – so get involved. Here’s a definitive guide to nuts brought to you by Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple. I follow this guy closely – author of the Primal Blueprint. Well worth a read if you’re interested in being healthy!

Almonds

Remember when you discovered almond meal? Suddenly, the world got a whole lot bigger and brighter. You cranked out Primal pancakes, cupcakes, cookies. You dusted chunks of chicken with powdered almonds before plopping them in hot oil to produce a chicken nugget that even Loren Cordain would begrudgingly accept. And then you gained some weight back, and your stomach felt kind of funny, and you started worrying about your PUFA ratios. So the almond meal got thrown out, and the sack of raw almonds soon followed. But wait: almonds themselves aren’t the problem. Your inability to moderate your use of almond meal is the problem. Give almonds another chance.

In an ounce:

• 163 calories
• 6 g carbs: 3.5 g fiber
• 14 g fat: 8.8 g MUFA, 3.4 g linoleic acid (LA), 1.1 g SFA
• 6 g protein
• 50% vitamin E
• 22% vitamin B2
• 31% copper
• 18% magnesium
• 28% manganese

Benefits:

• Almond consumption improves fatty acid profile of serum lipids.
• Almonds reduce lipid oxidation biomarkers in older adults.
• Almonds reduce 24-hour insulin secretion in non-diabetics.
• Almonds improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetics.
• Almonds improve satiety and postprandial glucose when consumed as snacks and do not increase overall energy intake.
• Almonds possess potent prebiotic fibers, particularly in the skins.
• Almond consumption improves the endocrine profile of women with PCOS.

Concerns:

• Almonds are a thirsty crop, with 10% of California’s yearly water usage devoted to growing almonds.
• Phytate levels are high in almonds. Phytate has both good and bad sides (binds minerals and prevents their absorption on one hand, may be converted into beneficial compounds in the gut and have anti-cancer effects  on the other), but a good compromise is to avoid a nut-heavy diet. Almonds are snacks and supplements, not the main course. Soaking and/or roasting almonds can also reduce phytate levels.
• Raw almonds are hard to procure. Most almonds advertised as raw on store shelves have been pasteurized. Purchasing directly from the producer/farmer can help you obtain truly raw, unpasteurized almonds.

Can you soak? Yes. 12 hours.

Brazil Nuts

Lining the banks of South American rivers are towering trees whose falling fruits are large and hard enough to stave in skulls. On the bright side, cracking open the fruit reveals up to 24 triangular, hard-shelled seeds containing delicious, slightly sweet nuts. These are Brazil nuts, and they deserve a spot in anyone’s diet.

In an ounce:

• 186 calories
• 3.5 g carbs: 2.1 g fiber
• 18.8 g fat: 7 g MUFA, 5.8 g LA, 4.3 g SFA
• 4.1 g protein
• 15% vitamin B1 (thiamine)
• 55% copper
• 25% magnesium
• 15% manganese
• 988% selenium

Benefits:

The incredible selenium levels are the most obvious benefit to Brazil nuts, as unless you’re regularly eating animal kidneys and wild salmon, selenium can be hard to come by. But selenium is incredibly important for thyroid function, antioxidant capacity, immune function, cardiovascular health, cancer protection, and, you know what? It figures into just about every aspect of our health. And you don’t need to eat an ounce of Brazil nuts to get the benefits. A nut or two a day will get you adequate selenium.

• Brazil nuts acutely lower inflammation.
• A single serving of Brazil nuts improves lipid profiles.
• Brazil nuts improve selenium status, glutathione activity, and lower inflammation.

Concerns:

• The extreme selenium density of Brazil nuts causes some to worry about selenium toxicity, but I personally don’t. Extremely high doses of selenium in the form of Brazil nuts appear to be safe.
• Phytate levels are high in Brazil nuts, but since you don’t need to eat very many to obtain the benefits, it shouldn’t be problem.

Can you soak? Unclear. Some say yes, some say no. Do a trial run of a few hours with a couple nuts before soaking the whole batch.

Read more on Mark’s Daily Apple