nuts are the "seeds" of a tree and the shell is not consumed. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds serve a similar function for plants (not grasses) and because they are shelled before eating are they OK to eat? what about flax meal?
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In addition to the omega-6 problem, they also tend to have defenses like phytates and lectins. |
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As ambimorph said, all seeds contain toxins designed to deter predators because if the seed is destroyed, the plant cannot reproduce. Seeds with protective defenses like hard outer cases may be less so (like nuts) because they have put a lot of effort into the outer casing and may not have as much need for toxins. Other plants design the fruit to be tasty and nutritous but the seed inside the fruit is made to hopefully pass unharmed through the digestive tract and fall out somewhere far away from the mother plant. Thus plants design fruit to be good for you but seeds (their actual babies) to be bad for you. This is why paleo eaters do not feel that seeds are healthy foods, because they are full of toxins. |
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the big thing for all three of the seeds/nuts/whatever you wanna call them you mention is simply the omega six content. Like many have said, its not that omega six are simply bad for you, but rather the ratio of six to three in our bodies is important. The implication being that for the bulk of us in the US, and now around the world, we consume far too much omega6 and too little omega3. So, if you start going heavy on the seeds/nuts/blah blah you may be mistakenly giving your already taxed body quite a load of omega 6s. |
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