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Has anyone lost weight while eating nuts in their diet? It just seems that NUTS are the first thing that people drop when they are looking to lose weight. I am starting to think nuts are one of my trigger foods --I only eat them 1x a week but boy do i get my fill!

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lol, title sounds kind of wrong... – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Mar 8 2011 at 20:11
haha! naughty melissa. i bet KL did that on purpose. – Jack Kronk Mar 8 2011 at 21:05
plenty of men are able to lose weight despite nuts! – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Mar 8 2011 at 21:44
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hey are women allowed to answer this question? – Jack Kronk Mar 8 2011 at 21:48
one track mind. – oliverh Mar 8 2011 at 22:17
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13 Answers

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Nuts are deceptively calorically-intensive. The fact that I can sit there and put down a bag of almonds because "they're small" doesn't mean I should. :D I'd probably eat more nuts if I wasn't trying to lose weight, though. They're a good little snack.

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I'm the same way. Fruit is definitely more of a culprit for me since I'm insulin resistant, but eating nuts never seemed to do as much harm as fruit did. I only garnish salads and cook with nuts. Try not to eat them as a snack because they're calorie heavy. But if you feel fine eating nuts and aren't seeing any weight gain then continue what you're doing. If there's anything I learned along this Paleo adventure is everybody's different so do what you need to do for YOURSELF.

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Agreed. Fruit is worse for me than nuts. – RK Mar 22 at 23:09
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I loathe ideas that smack of "woo" but it seems to me there may be something about nuts that does cause problems beyond just the calorie aspect (although I do think that is a big part of it for many). I've just seen SO MANY people over the years eating very small quantities of nuts and when they lose them they break their stall or the weight loss speeds up. Again, beyond anything that calories and carbs can account for. Maybe some kind of sensitivity? Surely this is not the case for everyone but for some it seems to be. I happen to be one of these people. I ate nuts for the first 100 lbs but after that they had to go. Believe me I am a crazy tracker and it wasn't calories or carbs. I hate even talking about it because I don't have any good explanation for it. I think far too many people get correlation confused with causation and nuts and dairy and all kinds of things get blamed for weight loss plateaus without evidence but I think for some these foods really are problematic.

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I think the effect of eating "mixed nuts" is probably a lot more inflammatory and potentially disadvantageous for weight loss than eating only macadamia nuts. In fact, I'm not so sure that macadamia nuts are bad in any reasonable amount since the fatty acid profile is favorable.

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Damn, 2011 Travis, what were you thinking? – Travis Culp Mar 23 at 1:04
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only nut I advocate is macademia nuts....

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the omega 3 content is weighted to threes. Only other nut I use clinically is brazil nuts for their selenium boron and maganese minerals. – The Quilt Mar 8 2011 at 19:36
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If you think about it, in nature you would have to work pretty darn hard to find a whack of nuts to eat, and even then you would have to take the time to de-shell all of them. Unlike today where you can buy a whole tin or bag of nuts and crush them in one sitting. If you choose to eat some nuts, I would keep it to a handfull every other day and the best choices in my opinion based on omega 6 content are macadamia nuts, almonds, and brazil.

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I buy them in the shell sometimes for that reason (especially around Christmas when the stores have them in bulk), but I can still go through too many of them in a hurry. Those also have the advantage of not being roasted in any unfortunate oils, though. – Aaron B. Mar 8 2011 at 20:53
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how about Hazelnuts? – KL Mar 8 2011 at 20:54
I actually meant to put hazelnuts instead of brazil nuts! I always get those mixed up, thanks for the commment! – Dr. Ryan Mar 9 2011 at 21:12
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I eat lots of almonds and pecans and lost weight while doing so. I know nuts in general get trash talked a bit in the Paleo world, but I think they are fine. The o6 content does not concern me, since I do not consume vegetable oils and eat plenty of o3 from natural foods. But something to note is that I ONLY eat them raw and ONLY after soaking/sprouting. I would not recommend eating roasted nuts. I eat homemade raw almond pecan butter too.

Other nuts are fine but there's so many that I had to just narrow it down. I want to start branching out a bit though, like pepitas (pumpkin seeds), pine nuts and macadamias.

I do not, however, eat peanuts or peanut butter anymore.

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i eat about 1-2 oz of almonds almost daily. I've lost over 20 pounds since the new year. I eat waluts on the regular also.

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Great job on the weight loss RV! I think serving size is key with nuts. It's common to eat too many because they are so easy to eat. I usually portion out "serving sizes" when I come home from the grocery store. That way they are easy to grab too! – sherpamelissa Mar 9 2011 at 2:00
I agree, I went from 13 to 10% body fat with plenty of whole natural almonds in my diet – primal D Mar 15 2011 at 3:09
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Does anyone use google anymore?

I'm a vegetarian, near vegan, and recently started eating nuts (prefer pecans and walnuts; sometime peanuts or cashews) and so I decided to do a LOT of research on nuts and their health benefits.

Pecans can actually cure prostate cancer! It kills the cancer cells. How can something that does that be only eaten once and a while?

All nuts, especially pecans, almonds, walnuts, and brazil nuts, are EXTREMELY good for you. Not all fats cause weight gain. Nuts, can and do promote weight loss. They also do SO MANY other amazing things for us.

I used to hate nits and until recently, would go years without eating one. I went months without eating more than a banana or two, I enjoyed salads but realistically didn't intake many nutrient rich vegetables; now, everything I eat comes directly from the earth with very little alteration (no processing) and I feel amazing. I've been dropping weight with little to no effort and the fun part is that when I do eat junk I don't feel bad about it (my body sure feels sick sometimes).

Please, stop bad mouthing nuts.

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This message brought to you from the Nut-Growers Association of America. Just kidding, I totally agree. – Travis Culp Mar 22 at 20:09
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For me, nuts are a binge food. If I sit down with an entire bag of raw cashews or pistachios, I'll stuff my face to excess and put on weight. But, on the two occasions that I used calorie counting to drop ~10 pounds, I actually used measured small quantities of nuts to dial in the caloric count to the right level. As is always the case with weight gain or loss, it's the quantity of food that matters.

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www.atkins.com

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keep it to a handful in a salad, not as a snack in between meals and macadamias if so

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I only keep it to 1x a week-- but then I tend to waaayyyyyy over do it-- BARF! – KL Mar 8 2011 at 21:34
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self control, will power, you can – oliverh Mar 8 2011 at 22:15
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Oliverh went all Yoda on us in his wisdom. :D – Kaz Mar 9 2011 at 1:58
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I still don't understand what is the difference between eating a handful of nuts/seeds or eating some other type of food with the same macro nutrients. I understand there is a higher level of Omega 6 than let's say a little beef jerky and some coconut flakes for a snack, but I don't see how that causes one to gain weight or impede the weight loss process.

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Yes, can somebody please elaborate on this? Why nuts, specifically? – Kaz Mar 8 2011 at 23:27
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I think the problem with weight loss and nuts is that a "serving size" of nuts is REALLY SMALL and most people eat far too many calories worth of nuts. – sherpamelissa Mar 9 2011 at 1:45
Oh, that makes sense, Melissa. Thanks! :) -keeps nomming down on her daily almond butter fix- – Kaz Mar 9 2011 at 1:57

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