Whenever I binge on something, it generally means that I have let myself get calorie deficient on the "good" stuff. If you are thin and not satietiated by nuts, I would suggest you might need to increase your intake of meat and vegetables at your regular meals instead of going to the nuts as snacks, etc.

If you don't choose to stop eating nuts you could try buying some unshelled nuts such as almonds or hazelnuts and some nutcrakers. I would guess that most people would get bored of cracking nuts before they overeat them.

I have been doing this lately as shops here traditionally sell unshelled nuts around Christmas time. Particularly almonds can be a right pain to get out of their shells. 10 minutes work will yield about 25 almonds or about 1 ounce.

Personally I find nuts quite filling.

Binging on nuts, nut butters and seeds is discussed here and in the comments. The explanation may lie in the fact that in a paleo context we would rarely have had opportunity to eat large amounts of nuts or seeds, rather they'd be a scarce, seasonal resource and requiring quite a lot of efforts to crack the shells for limited reward. We'd thus need quite an incentive to get us to bother to make use of this energy source. What the mechanism for them not being satiating might be I don't know, however. I've seen various people claim anecdotally that it's MUFA (oleic acid) or SFA that is satiating, rather than PUFA, but not come across anything that confirms this. It's possible that you find any source of more or less pure fat as easy to eat, it's just that nuts are tastier than lumps of butter (arguably). I must confess I don't find macadamia nuts particularly satiating either.

Guilty! My only solution is not to buy nuts or to buy them very sparingly

As someone with some severe compulsive reactions to some foods, I'd say dump the nuts as a snack food. I can't keep away from them if they're around, so I just keep some unroasted nuts in the freezer for when I want to use a few in cooking or make non grain "energy" bars. If you keep trying the same thing over and over, expecting the results to change and suffering the consequences of them not, it's time to change the behavior.

YES! Nuts are my heroin. I've found that 'out of sight, out of mind' is the best approach for me. But in the same way that sugar is addictive, if I eat nuts I continue to crave them for a few days. I am super lectin-sensitive and have wondered for a while if lectin sensitivity creates a sort of addiction? Any thoughts on that?

No matter what I do, I binge on cashews when I have them. I love them! On almonds, or pistachios, I'm fine -- but cashews not only get me to binge, but they also cause weight loss stalling. What do I do? I stop buying them! :)

I'm in 12 Step recovery from compulsive eating - binge eating disorder. The theory is that for some of us we have a physically abnormal response to certain foods which results in a mental obsession so we literally cannot have just one. The only thing that I've found to work for me in that situation is to entirely avoid the food. After all, if I do have a physically abnormal response then it's probably not doing my body a lot of good.

However, giving up a whole food source is a bit radical. And, in my case at least, impossible unless I'm certain that the particular food is not compatible with my body. In a weight obsessed culture we often try to limit high fat foods and so develop a mental obsession with them via that route. To be sure that I genuinely had a physical problem with the food I would first do what has been suggested here and allow unlimited access to the food. Within a month it's probably be pretty clear to me whether the mental obsession - and resultant bingeing! - was easing or in fact getting worse.

Experimenting is the key to knowing what's best for your particular body.

If you really feel that you have a problem, then you can give them up, no problem.

What I'd ask myself if I were you is how you feel otherwise. If it isn't making you feel sick and you aren't worried about temporary weight gain, then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I would maybe try eating something good and satiating first and then go for the nuts if you want them.

same thing here: i've been 'binging' on them... until i didn't have them: if they are something that makes you lose control, don't keep them around you, or yourself around them

ps: here is the ultimate ('ultimately' tasty i would say ) way of 'nutness': a nut omelet: take some 3 eggs to 100 grams of macadamia (or any other nut), blend them together until nuts are dissolved, and then nuke the mix in the microwave oven

I totally have treated nuts the way other people treat potato chips (those who eat bags at a time, I mean). Judging from what I've read on this site and from years of discussing food/nutrition with other people from myriad nutritional vantage points, the nut binge syndrome does indeed seem common. Like others who have responded, I simply do not buy them, even in small quantities, to consume as a standalone food.

I do, however, sometimes cook with nuts; nuts enrich myriad recipes, especially for soups and vegetable dishes. If you can stop looking at nuts as a stand alone food to pop in handfuls, you can still enjoy that yummy nutty flavor and avoid going overboard.

Do you deny yourself nuts, as a general rule?

Back when nuts/seeds/nutbutters were 'forbidden' foods to me, every time I got my hands on some nuts (ahem) I'd binge on them. Now that I permit myself to eat them whenever I crave/want them, I don't binge on them anymore.

Honestly, I have limited willpower and there's only so many times I can tell myself 'no' before I snap and go crazy on whatever food I'm denying myself.

So yes, I permit myself free reign around nuts -- which might be a bit much for some -- but if they're always in the house, they're no longer a 'forbidden treat' and the novelty wears off fast. I went from eating 1/4-1/2 cup of nutbutter a day to maybe a tablespoon or two whenever I fancy it, which may not even be every day. :)

Nuts do have considerable carbs, and your body is probably going crazy over it because it lost all its other carb sources. I noticed the same reaction with me, I just decided to cut it out for now because I cannot control myself.

I have to avoid ALL nuts most days because they end up being like that potato chip commercial (whichever one it is). "Bet you can't eat just one!"

When I go for a handful, it ends up being three handfuls.

Nuts get me like that, too. I've stopped buying them and they're not in the house at the present. We'll get some again, but we've stopped for the past 3-4 weeks.

Until we stopped getting them, I was having 4 handfuls/day on average. I'd buy bulk amounts of unsalted mixed nuts and mix them with 90% chocolate bits. Like crack, I imagine! I couldn't stop.

"I can't control myself."

I have said that. I no longer believe myself when I say that, though.

Now I say things like, "I didn't control myself last night." Sometimes I ask: "I wonder what was going on last night?"

Nuts, alcohol, sex, gambling, caffeine, approval.

We all have something. Against the allure of which. We might. Sometimes. Believe.

We are powerless.

Except.

We aren't. Not really.

Though I sometimes tell myself...

I am.

Go figure.

I keep such obsessive control over my diet that I am not similarly afflicted, but I still don't bother eating nuts because I don't see the value in them. I may add some walnuts back in at some point, though.

are you willing to soak the nuts?

Everyone reacts differently to food. The mere fact that they cause you to "binge" seems to indicate a significant insulin response (like eating carbs).

I have a similar reaction. I eat them in moderation and under very controlled conditions (I set aside my portion before I have the first nut!). Also, out of sight seems to help keep them out of mind.

For example, yesterday I had a small portion of salted macadamia nuts and was dieing for more. Today, I am making a point to not eat a single nut all day.

Are you getting enough fat in your diet? Nuts have fairly high fat content. Maybe your body's really just craving fat?

I've also read that upping fat intake can help eliminate sugar cravings. Maybe it could work for nut cravings as well?

Also, what do you usually snack on? If you've given up a lot of your favourite snacks in order to be paleo, then maybe you're just overindulging because it's "paleo-approved"? Maybe find some alternative snacks to replace the nuts. Or, maybe increasing fat in your diet, or how much you eat in general will make you less likely to even want to snack?

Nuts are high in Omega 6, so it's good that you're trying to get to the bottom of this..

I'm the same way; it's good to see people in the same boat, I've a pantry filled with TJ's Raw Crunchy Almond Butter. Yeah it's gluten free, and yeah it's got a good carb/fiber ratio (and a good amount of protein) but it's a calorie dense food that's high in omega 6 (PUFAs are scary in this stuff) but if I'm going to have a vice I would have to say that TJ's Raw Crunchy Almond Butter is a lesser evil.

I can think of thousands of different foods, and vices that are 10x's worse for you but to have a chink in my armor of normally clean eating I don't think Almond Butter is too bad.

Who'd have thunk there would be a blog for Paleo Hacks who binge on Nuts.

After a day of exercise, work and regular well balanced Paleo food including a big dinner at night, I finally sit down to relax. That's when I usually start eating raw nuts. I'm hopeless. If only I could stop at 4 handfulls.

No guys this serious, sometimes I only stop when I'm in physical pain or asleep or both. If I didn't have them I would binge on something else, probably far worse for me.

I think we could be onto something with the carbs in nuts that's setting me off or maybe the problem is psycological. If I'm busy on a physical project, food (even nuts) are the last thing on my mind. But at 59, maybe I'm too grumpy, indifferent or poor to be passionate enough about anything to drag myself away from the Television and NUTS.

Giving up Dairy and Grains was easy, lots of Meat and Veg, whenever I'm hungry or every 3 to 4 hours (even easier) But nuts.........I can see the autopsey report now: "A Muscular, Healthy looking 60 year old who appears to have been stuffed with 2KG of assorted, semi-digested, mixed nuts"

Paul Pav.

Just had 200gr of roasted macadamias and had 0 exercise. I had abstained from them for 1 month and only now do I remember the reason why....1000 extra calories I didn't need :( but they were goooooood!!!!!!!!

I believe this is a sign of a copper deficiency. How long has this been going on?

I too am a nut binger. I'm 99.5% per Paleo, have very low body fat for a 46 year old and ride bikes competitively.

Should I even be worried about eating too many nuts? The old body is telling me something. Also, the urge to eat them seems to come on in the evening after I've eaten dinner.

I too eat nuts until I feel ill. I used to binge on sweet things but now I binge on nuts instead as I don't eat grains, dairy or fruit.

I eat heaps of fat in my diet and get more than enough calories for my size and activity level, but nuts, especially cashews send off a major eating frenzy for me.

I don't know if this is a clue, but I have been doing hydrogen/methane tests for malabsorption of FODMAPS this week and was not allowed any nuts. I felt completely fine and did not crave the nuts that were in the house much. Then today I did the fructose test where I drank the concentrated fructose solution and then breathed into special bags for three hours. Afterwards, despite feeling sick as a dog I relented to a massive craving for dried figs and cashews and ate a whole packet of both.

I have a nut binge story of my own that I hope is helpful to you:

This past summer, I also experienced crazy nut binges. Earlier in 2012, when I first went paleo, I was VLC. I needed this because I had 25-30 pounds of fat to lose from my 5'1" frame. I experienced no nut cravings for the first 3 or 4 months as I was losing weight. However, once I achieved a low body fat rapidly, I began to experience intense nut cravings. I could not have a handfull of nuts or a scoop of almond or sunflower butter without going wild and killing the whole thing. This continued for about six months. I was training hard, running intervals about 4 times a week and doing long crossfit-style bodyweight exercises and kettlebell exercises. All of the calories from the nuts added up, and I gained back some of the weight. Every subsequent attempt to go VLC failed. I would binge on nuts every time. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to add a small-to-moderate amount of paleo starches to my diet. I couldn't personally do fructose. I had an apple and got a sugar headache and crash, finding myself hungry within an hour. However, I found bananas, sweet potatoes, and chestnuts to be successful. I still keep carbs under or very close to 100g per training day. I found that coupled with a zone-style meal with protein and fats, I was fuller longer and no longer craving nuts. I can now eat a scoop of almond or sunflower butter on my banana and be satisfied.

At the end of the day, everyone is different, but this is what has worked for me. Adding a little bit of safe starches prevented the thousands of calories worth of nut binges. I hope this helps! :)

I CRAVE THEM DAILY, I OVER EAT THEM DAILY, IM ADDCTED AND IM NOT LOSING WEIGHT, I AM GAINING BUT NOT AS RAPID AS I WOULD EATING SUGAR/CARB JUNK. NUTS ARE TRIGGERS, IM NOT GOING TO HAVE ANY QUICK SNACK FOOD TO EAT. I COULD EAT MORE MEAT BUT IM NOT A HUGE MEAT EATER. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO.

Nut binges happen for different reasons for different people. I never ate nuts until I started the Zone 12 yrs. ago. Sears recommends adding almonds to balance out fat-free protien, or evoo. For an overweight person like I used to be, this would lead to nut binges-esp. after drinking. Having switched to paleo, i realize that nuts are a "sometimes" food, esp. if binges have been in your past. They are salty, crunchy, fatty, have awesome mouth feel. What's not to want or binge about that? But, would we now eat a bag of Doritos?

My biggest complaint of the Zone is the fat-free, or low-fat protien dogma......