Trying get the bulk of my fats from nuts? Does this make sense, at least for vegetarians?

eric2light

Anyone here try to get their fats from nuts?

Anyone understand the research findings?

It appears that even inexpensive peanuts have actual longevity benefits. Most diet research, I believe, is about reducing incidence of disease or other things less impressive than improving longevity. When science shows longevity gains, boy, makes sense to pay attention, right? Make sense?

After all, I'm not just wanting to avoid getting a heart attack, I'm looking to live a long, healthy and productive life! So, longevity is an exciting research result.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/peanuts-linked-heart-longevity-benefits-pricey-nuts-201503057777

Seems like the claims for the value of olive oil are fair weaker than for simple, additive free spoon full of peanut butter! Why are our discussions about "getting enough fat" focused on olive oil rather than olives or the nut?

http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-health-news/two-tablespoons-olive-oil/38888

If I enjoy salad dressing on my salad, sure, use a range of oils including olive oil but wouldn't it make sense to TRY to get my fats from nuts, as much as practical, including raw minimally processed nuts?

(Please excuse the cross post but I thought this is an important question separate from issues around spraying oils for frying below.)

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10225474/kelapo-extra-virgin-coconut-oil-cooking-spray-or-what#latest

GreenTeaPotato

Yes. It's very EASY to get enough fat on a vegetarian/vegan diet. So easy in fact, that many people overdo it on the nuts and seeds and gain unnecessary weight.

Personally I get a handful or two of nuts and 2 tbsp of flax seed per day.

Some examples of nuts in my daily diet:
Make almond butter, then spread 2-4 tbsp on toast.
Sprinkle a handful of crushed walnuts in sautee spinach or on top of a salad.
Make "cheese" from cashew nuts to include in dishes.
Make a "pesto" sauce using basil and walnuts.

Same with seeds: sprinkle on food, include in a sauce or spread. I put ground flax seeds in my fruit smoothies.

On top of nuts and seeds, the small amounts of essential fats found in other whole foods add up throughout the day. Some are actually pretty high in fat. Olives and avocados are famous for being high in "good fat," for example.

eric2light

Right, the challenge is to NOT get them from other sources.

(Can you provide more ideas about "Make "cheese" from cashew nuts to include in dishes." @GreenTeaPotato.) I knew someone who did AMAZING things with cashew cheese like stuff many years ago..

GreenTeaPotato

@eric2light

My friend found a recipe for Cashew Cream Cheese in the newspaper recently:

2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water overnight.
1/2 to 1 cup water, as needed.
2 tbsp plain, unsweetened soy yogurt.
1/2 tsp kosher salt.

Put all in a blender and mix until smooth, adding water if/as necessary. Transfer to a glass bowl, cover and let rest 36-48/hours. Strain out any excess water by hanging in a cheesecloth overnight in the fridge. Can then store in a covered container in the fridge up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 4 months.

I haven't tried this recipe myself yet.

GreenTeaPotato

eric2light wrote: »

Right, the challenge is to NOT get them from other sources...

I assume you mean to avoid animal foods and free oils (like olive oil in a bottle instead of the whole olive).

I agree.

There are four kinds of fat:

Best: polyunsaturated (found in nuts, seeds, algae, leafy greens)
Good: monounsaturated (also in many nuts and seeds, avocado, whole olives, free oils)
Bad: saturated fat (found in animal foods -- meat, dairy, eggs -- also some free oils like palm oil and coconut oil)
Worst: trans fat (found in many processed foods, margarine, baked goods, fried fast food)

Some of these good and bad fats can be found together in a food. For example, fish contains some polyunsaturated fat (Omega 3) but it comes along with saturated fat and cholesterol. So be careful when people say fish is a "good" source of Omega 3. It is *A* source, not a GOOD source. A BETTER source of Omega 3 would be walnuts or flax seeds.

eric2light

Some people are pushing coconut oil pretty hard... not sure what to think! Coconut is a nut, right? Perhaps it should be in the mix?

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

NCGOALIEMOM

I eat a primarily raw vegan diet and I get my fats from coconut oil, nuts and avocados (plus flax and hemp seeds)

I make my cheeses out of raw cashews (I get ALL of my nuts in raw form, and actually order my almonds direct from a grower because any raw almonds purchased in a grocery store, are not raw... they have been pasteurized and therefore are "dead"). I throw nuts in smoothies to make them creamier.... same with avocados. Makes smoothies super creamy.... we make ice cream from avocados, bananas and raw cacao.

It's pretty easy to get all the fats you need from them.

rsclause

I saw a doctor on one of the weekend news shows that opened my eyes about nuts. I away heard that nuts are beneficial and hey, I like peanuts. He said you don't want just any nuts, you want tree nuts for your healthy eating. From that day forward almonds and walnuts are mixed into my morning oatmeal along with other fruits and seeds. Now if I can just get some of that benefit from pecan pie.

Furbuster

9 months ago I went from eating dairy, meat and eggs to a 95% plant based diet - I'm still omnivore as occasionally I have dairy cheese and meat at my Mum's.

I have to say I've never felt better, more alert and look better. My skin looks the best it's been in my life and I'm smaller in size. I'm pretty convinced this has a lot to do with my big intake of nuts and withdrawal of the animal stuff (I ate veggies and whatnot before). I would say 90% of my fat comes from nuts - the occasional avocado or oil for something so yeah I do..

Plus they taste delicious

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Everyday-Gourmet/dp/1570672830

rybo

I get my fats from a lot of different sources. Nuts, seeds, butter, olive & coconut oil, eggs, cheese, yogurt primarily. But I also get some from fish & chicken on occasion. Nuts, seeds & eggs are things I eat daily.

GaleHawkins

@eric2light it sounds like we have similar goals. I want to be walking and talking to the end.

The main driver of forever diet change was to manage my arthritis pain without Rx meds. Replacing sugar, grains (keeping total carbs under 50 grams daily) with fat knocked out my pain. The side effect has been I have lost another 35 pounds over the last year.

Keep in mind a peanut is not a nut.

I start my day with 500 calories of coconut oil and 300 calories of heavy whipping cream (name for 36% butter fat milk in the states) in my coffee. I eat about 200 calories of coconut flakes and often 200 calories of cottage cheese and one boiled egg so that gives me 1300 hundred calories of mainly fat to start the day.

Between 3-5 pm I prefer to have 5 fried over easy medium eggs and 6 strips of fried bacon that gives me my protein and more fat. I add enough half and half cream to total 800 more calories in my four cups of coffee with that meal.

If I am just maintaining my weight I also eat some before I go to bed.

Ditching the carbs and moving to medium protein and high fat was not easy but when the pain dropped from a 7-8 level to 2-3 in the first 30 days it was not hard for my old brain to get the message. When the IBS went away after about 120 days then I know on both ends I had found a way to eat for the rest of my life.

yarwell

GreenTeaPotato wrote: »

Some of these good and bad fats can be found together in a food. For example, fish contains some polyunsaturated fat (Omega 3) but it comes along with saturated fat and cholesterol. So be careful when people say fish is a "good" source of Omega 3. It is *A* source, not a GOOD source. A BETTER source of Omega 3 would be walnuts or flax seeds.

But walnuts have a lot more omega-6 than fish, which has very little omega-6. So fish is a better source of omega-3 if you don't want a load of omega-6 along for the ride (4:1 ratio of n-6 : n-3 )

I think there's an argument about the chain length too, as n-3 doesn't define the fatty acid precisely. From memory the fish n-3 is a "better" chain length than vegetable sources, but I'm a bit hazy about that. Edit to add - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22698270

GreenTeaPotato

^^ Omega 6 is still a polyunsaturated (good) fat. If eaten whole from a food it has benefits. When taken excessively from a free oil (mainly vegetable oils for cooking), yes it could contribute to some dietary diseases.

Technical minutiae about potential harm of Omega 6 doesn't change the fact that fish still contains saturated (bad) fat, not to mention cholesterol. Neither of those is an essential nutrient and both are well known to cause harm. Even the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which are not exactly unfriendly to the meat and dairy industry, say to replace "saturated fat" with poly and mono unsaturated fats as much as possible.

Walnuts are still a healthier source of polyunsaturated fat than fish.

NCGOALIEMOM

GaleHawkins:

I am going to assume that you have likely ditched the gluten during this dietary transition (I'm making assumptions since you indicate you eat primarily low carbohydrate?) I found the removal of gluten had a SIGNIFICANT impact on my arthritis pain. If I eat one slice of bread, I can't walk the next day.

yarwell

GreenTeaPotato wrote: »

Walnuts are still a healthier source of polyunsaturated fat than fish.

Fish are a better source of EPA & DHA omega-3 for human health than walnuts which provides ALA. Omega-6 is generally inflammatory and walnuts have a high ratio of 6 to 3. Garvald suggest ALA is primarily oxidised for energy http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/omega-3-fats/

It's nostalgic to read the 80s view but now we know that sat fat levels in the body are not a function of sat fat in foods (ditto cholesterol) I think we can all move on.

melimomTARDIS

I personally think getting fat from nuts is fine. I find I have to cook in a bit of oil, use full fat salad dressings, And eat some nuts/ high fat food (like olives)daily to meet my fat macro.

RodaRose

eric2light wrote: »

Some people are pushing coconut oil pretty hard... not sure what to think! Coconut is a nut, right? Perhaps it should be in the mix?

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

Coconut is botanically a fruit. I like Walnut oil and Coconut oil and rarely use olive oil.

eric2light

RodaRose wrote: »

eric2light wrote: »

Some people are pushing coconut oil pretty hard... not sure what to think! Coconut is a nut, right? Perhaps it should be in the mix?

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

Coconut is botanically a fruit. I like Walnut oil and Coconut oil and rarely use olive oil.

Why "rarely use olive oil" @RodaRose ?

NCGOALIEMOM

eric2light wrote: »

RodaRose wrote: »

eric2light wrote: »

Some people are pushing coconut oil pretty hard... not sure what to think! Coconut is a nut, right? Perhaps it should be in the mix?

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

Coconut is botanically a fruit. I like Walnut oil and Coconut oil and rarely use olive oil.

Why "rarely use olive oil" @RodaRose ?

Not who the question was asked to, but I rarely use it because I don't feel it's all that it has previously been cracked up to be. I prefer coconut oil (organic). I feel it's a better fat all around.

RodaRose

eric2light wrote: »

RodaRose wrote: »

eric2light wrote: »

Some people are pushing coconut oil pretty hard... not sure what to think! Coconut is a nut, right? Perhaps it should be in the mix?

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

Coconut is botanically a fruit. I like Walnut oil and Coconut oil and rarely use olive oil.

Why "rarely use olive oil" @RodaRose ?

There is nothing special about olive although we have heard lots of hype over the years. Mostly, it is about the taste for me. I find that Walnut and Coconut taste better.

Need2Exerc1se

I don't believe there is evidence that nut fat is healthier than say, olive oil or avocado. I think it's best to get fat from a variety of sources. I have no evidence to back that up, it just seems logical to me.

I eat a variety of nuts, avocado, vegetable/seed oils plus some animal fats, but olive oil is my biggest source. I have to really try not to eat too much olive oil. I've eaten this way for decades and never had a single health problem, even when I was overweight. That's really the only evidence I need.

lemurcat12

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

I don't believe there is evidence that nut fat is healthier than say, olive oil or avocado. I think it's best to get fat from a variety of sources. I have no evidence to back that up, it just seems logical to me.

Same here.

I eat a variety of nuts, avocado, vegetable/seed oils plus some animal fats, but olive oil is my biggest source. I have to really try not to eat too much olive oil. I've eaten this way for decades and never had a single health problem, even when I was overweight. That's really the only evidence I need.

This too, although I'm sure part of that was just luck/genetics (for me, anyway).

Need2Exerc1se

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

I don't believe there is evidence that nut fat is healthier than say, olive oil or avocado. I think it's best to get fat from a variety of sources. I have no evidence to back that up, it just seems logical to me.

Same here.

I eat a variety of nuts, avocado, vegetable/seed oils plus some animal fats, but olive oil is my biggest source. I have to really try not to eat too much olive oil. I've eaten this way for decades and never had a single health problem, even when I was overweight. That's really the only evidence I need.

This too, although I'm sure part of that was just luck/genetics (for me, anyway).

For me, luck, sure. But family history would not suggest genetics are on my side. Both my parents had high BP and cholesterol, one has diabetes, the other had CHF. Most of my siblings, including the only one of us to never be overweight, have high cholesterol and 2 have high BP.

lemurcat12

My dad has high cholesterol and my mom's dad had heart disease, and there's various cancers, among other things, but no diabetes, and the health issues my dad has my mom doesn't and vice versa, so I may have just been lucky in the genes I got. (In some ways, relating to medical tests. Obviously, still early, knock on wood, all that.) ;-)