Eating nuts bad??
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miriamtob
Posts: 436 Member
Hi There, I've been following the paleo lifestyle for 4 months and I love eating this way. I'm concerned about nut consumption after seeing all these studieson pubmed about nut consumption and mortality. I'm mostly concerned for my husband because he has a family history of heart disease and nuts are our main snack food. Is it really unhealthy to have a serving or two of nuts a day?
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Here is something to read. There are other posts by Mark about nuts and you should search his site for information on this. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nuts/#axzz3QqGz4VYp
A family history of heart disease? How long? How young? Are we talking age 35 heart attacks or over 50'?
An important point about paleo/primal, snacks are great and fun but are you eating snacks because you're not eating enough animal, plant, roots and fruit (that order); or are you not eating enough to sate yourself and supplementing with nuts. I ask because you might limit nuts, which have there place, but you do not want to be throwing them back like candy.
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His dad actually had a heart attack at 36... I will check the link you posted. I just read the Primal BluePrint.0
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Early heart disease like the dad could be diet related or it could be due to being genetic. If his family has the ApoE4 genetic varient, they are very predisposed to have heart disease. If this is a common trend... Grandfather/mother, uncles, aunts, etc. it may well be worth getting tested for this genetic mutation. I say this because eating for this mutation requires a being a low carb low fat person. It's a tough eating style, but better than a heart attack at 30-ish. Not to say you cannot have treat, but treats are once a year/twice a year thing.0
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Well put, punchgut. Always such sage advice. I read the link in MDA and then clicked another and another and found answers to questions I hadn't even got to yet. Thanks again.Here is something to read. There are other posts by Mark about nuts and you should search his site for information on this. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nuts/#axzz3QqGz4VYp
A family history of heart disease? How long? How young? Are we talking age 35 heart attacks or over 50'?
An important point about paleo/primal, snacks are great and fun but are you eating snacks because you're not eating enough animal, plant, roots and fruit (that order); or are you not eating enough to sate yourself and supplementing with nuts. I ask because you might limit nuts, which have there place, but you do not want to be throwing them back like candy.
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Early heart disease like the dad could be diet related or it could be due to being genetic. If his family has the ApoE4 genetic varient, they are very predisposed to have heart disease. If this is a common trend... Grandfather/mother, uncles, aunts, etc. it may well be worth getting tested for this genetic mutation. I say this because eating for this mutation requires a being a low carb low fat person. It's a tough eating style, but better than a heart attack at 30-ish. Not to say you cannot have treat, but treats are once a year/twice a year thing.
Thank you for telling me about this test! I can't beleive his doctors never recommended it. Also, do you know the name of the test that looks for the small, hard LDL proteins? Thanks again!0 -
Thank you for telling me about this test! I can't beleive his doctors never recommended it. Also, do you know the name of the test that looks for the small, hard LDL proteins? Thanks again!
They mostly use the ApoE4 test as a determinant of Alzheimer's Disease these days because of it's strong association of late onset AD. The medically community is a bit behind on the link between poor fat metabolism, AD and cardiovascular disease. Science has been pointing to this for a while, but there is always time between showing an association and getting a reliable model that is both accurate and predictive. Until science is at that stage it's hard to get it into the human treatment stage.
There are many different genetic issues that can cause early heart disease, so most doctors do not go poking around with genetic testing unless there is a strong indication for it. It get's expensive and spending the money unless you really suspect that's the issue is money poorly spent. Also, there is a large portion of the population that is ApoE4 genetic variant. It's kind of common, and they all have familial history of poor lipid profiles and heart disease. Also, and this is important in relation to high fat/low carb diet, their lipid profile will not improve like it will for the rest of the population. Either will a low fat/high carb diet. This is a pool of people that the only thing that has any success is low fat/low carb. That's the point that needs to be taken.
The test for the various particle sizes and numbers that you want to get is an NMRlipoprofile. Most places have an option for this on their test forms, but most doctors do not know about it. Avoid getting the VAP test, that most doctors will give. It is more informative than the standard test, but not as good as the NMR. http://www.liposcience.com/nmr-lipoprofile-test
If no one is metabolically on the road towards diabetes, you can skip the diabetes testing they do with this too.
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Here is something to read. There are other posts by Mark about nuts and you should search his site for information on this. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nuts/#axzz3QqGz4VYp
A family history of heart disease? How long? How young? Are we talking age 35 heart attacks or over 50'?
An important point about paleo/primal, snacks are great and fun but are you eating snacks because you're not eating enough animal, plant, roots and fruit (that order); or are you not eating enough to sate yourself and supplementing with nuts. I ask because you might limit nuts, which have there place, but you do not want to be throwing them back like candy.
I've been in this community for awhile and am unfamiliar with "punchgut"! lol Nice to meet you!
I agree with punchgut that if one is reaching for nuts often, one is not eating enough of those other foods, in that order as well. I am careful with nuts. I do not agree that they are very healthful for me. On the rare occasion that I eat them, I try to eat only sprouted and unsalted, or raw and unsalted. I can easily be satisfied on a small amount unless they are roasted and salted and then all bets are off.
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Akimajuktuq wrote: »I've been in this community for awhile and am unfamiliar with "punchgut"! lol Nice to meet you!
I'm new to the MFP community. I've done paleo and primal for years on and off. I'm back to being a bit more hardcore with it and using this to track for honesty sake. I have hip surgery March 23. I also spent a bit too much time this last year enjoying awesome food and not exercising due to a shoulder injury. As I age, my body seems to be quitting on me. Something about the years of biking, skiing, climbing, etc. and the injuries from them... Anywho...
I have an extremely large scientific background, so it makes parsing and understanding the various science stuff easy. I happened to have spent a few years studying lipoproteins and interactions with cholesterol ester transfer enzymes. When my mother had a heart attach, I spent quite a bit of time studying the etiology of heart disease because all the information they were telling her seemed counter to what I understood from my years researching lipid metabolism. That's why I'm able to shoot this information off so fast. I also read. A lot.
I also thought the name punchgut would be a ridiculous name for a site like MFP, and was surprised when nobody had taken it.0 -
Thanks for the intro. I have done a lot of research (via reading, including scientific papers) on a variety of subjects that all seem interrelated to me when it comes to human health; everything from anthropology, agricultural science, biology and all things human health and diet related. I don't tend to get too much into discussing the science part with those that disagree with Paleo as I'm tired of constantly doing research for others who just rip it apart anyway without having any direct experience. What I put most value in is my personal experience. When I eat the right foods I am never sick and I lose fat. When I don't I'm sick/fat constantly. That's all the evidence I need.
btw: I live amongst Inuit people in the Arctic and it's very shocking to see first hand how rapidly health can deteriorate when a people go from eating totally biologically appropriate foods to eating a majority of processed food over just a generation or two. It's heart-breaking and immensely frustrating that the health "professionals" continue to give the worst possible dietary advice and there are projects springing up left right and centre to try to determine why the health of Inuit is deteriorating so rapidly. While "junk food" gets the blame, all the other biologically inappropriate grain, dairy, and sugar based foods are totally being ignored.0 -
Nice to meet you
Akimajuktuq wrote: »While "junk food" gets the blame, all the other biologically inappropriate grain, dairy, and sugar based foods are totally being ignored.
What you said here^!! It's happening globally now days and you can see the effects pretty clearly if one pays attention.0 -
The reason no one pays attention is because the victims of these terrible foods are usually poor and seen as disposable.0
