Nuts (original) (raw)
NutsJeff2021-04-01T03🔞26+00:00
Nuts
Going Nuts
Nuts are healthy foods, like most plant foods – no question. We eat and enjoy nuts and seeds!
However nuts are sometimes portrayed as super foods – foods that confer some magical quality, some special health benefits not found in other foods. And this is not true. It is the result of research paid in a large part by the nut industry.
The nut industry spends millions, pays for hundreds of studies, as part of their marketing strategy. They have a well known team of researchers who do nut promotional studies – and we name them.
The Adventist health study has shown that nuts are better than meat. Their evidence is about replacing meat with nuts – and nuts are better for sure! But they do not and never have shown evidence that vegans eating nuts live longer than those who don’t, or that vegans eating more fat live longer than those eating less. That’s a myth floating around some places, which is easily debunked.
We recommend nuts, if you like them, and generally say an ounce or two a day for people who are healthy and very active – is great. Some people who follow a lowfat diet and are very active may lose more weight than they wish, or have trouble keeping weight on. For such people, eating more nuts can be helpful, along with eating more whole grains, beans, lentils, breads, crackers, air popped popcorn, puffed grains that are all calorie dense, low in fat, and do not cause bloating.
Many people can’t eat nuts, perhaps they are allergic, or they have weight issues and nuts prevent them from losing or make them gain weight. People with heart disease should avoid a higher fat diet – Dr. Ornish limits nuts on his program to 3 grams. He gives examples of how much nuts he recommends – for exampe: 2 cashews. Dr. Esselstyn advises avoiding nuts altogether. He believes it’s hard for many people to limit nuts to only two. Since nuts are so tasty, he would rather people avoid the temptation altogether than try to limit to the extremely small amount Ornish allows.
But the point is – anyone having problems with heart disease, or allergies or overweight, or any similar issues – they should have no concern about avoiding nuts. They aren’t missing out on any established benefits. If they believe otherwise, they’ve fallen prey to marketing propaganda.
We’ve created a series of videos addressing and debunking many of the main arguments and “science” in favor of nuts. One popular idea is that you should eat nuts or fats with various other foods like vegetables and salads – in order to “absorb” the nutrients. This is another fabrication – which was created by highly biased and simplistic research designed and done by employees of Kraft Foods, in an attempt to market more full fat salad dressings.
If you were taken in by any of the nut-pusher nonsense, watch this series to learn more.
Bottom line: nuts are healthy and tasty. But they’re high in calories, and aren’t a super food. They won’t make you live longer or lower heart disease risk in any significant way – unless you are eating them INSTEAD of meat. Bottom line: they are easy to overeat which causes most people to gain weight.
