Source
r/nutrition•
Splorz

Are nuts healthy food or not?

Conventional wisdom is that nuts are healthy food, so health conscious people tend to eat a lot of them. I like the taste, and I would eat them all the time, but as I looked at the label, I was shocked to find that almonds contained more calories per weight unit than milk chocolate; weight for weight, twice as many calories as a Big Mac or a Cheese Burger from Burger King (I've never eaten a Big Mac or a cheese burger in my life, but it's supposed to be the cliche example of unhealthy high calorie food).

This can't be right, what is up with this? Does this mean a cheese burger isn't so bad for you after all, or is there something very wrong with the calorie labeling on nuts? This may sound like a joke, but would I be better off eating cheese burgers than a bowl of nuts?

Posted Aug 26, 2015, 8:15 PM UTC

021
anbeav•

They are calorie dense. They are nutritious and great addition to a diet in moderation as they are calorie dense

Calories alone don't determine the health of a food

3
SEMLover•

Nuts are very healthy, I think you have confused diet foods with healthy foods. Broccoli is very healthy and low in calories. Fish is very healthy and high in calories. What matters about "healthyness" is that the foods provide you with a good amount of good stuff, which nuts do. Big macs have a lot of empty calories, meaning you don't get a lot of good stuff along with the calories.

You might want to read http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-nuts-linked-to-healthier-longer-life-201311206893

2
SplorzOP•

I actually read about that study, the conclusion is there is a correlation between good health and the daily eating of nuts. It's not safe to conclude that eating nuts decreases your chance of death, as it's just as likely health conscious people eat nuts because they believe this to be healthy.

I have never eaten a big mac, and am not likely to ever try one. I'm actually doubting the accuracy of the calorie labeling on nuts, not whether nuts are healthier than cheese burgers.

2
SEMLover•

Again, nuts ARE a high calorie food. They are healthy. The label accurately describes them as high in calories. Lots of people gain weight from eating too many nuts, because of the calories in the nuts. Those same people get a lot of nutrients entering their bloodstream because the nuts have a bunch of happy nutrients. There is no contradiction here.

1
ruffntambl•

Healthy does not mean low caloric. It means it's nutritionally dense. Just because you're eating "healthy"- and for different people this can mean different things - does not mean you don't have to watch what you eat.

2
aesthetic-as-fuck•

Female friend does paleo, which is actually very useful for her because it seems to be solving her PCOS via reducing overall inflammation. But anyway she remarked that she's not as cut as she feels she should be given how healthy she eats. I asked her what she ate that day...something like 4 slices of turkey, an avocado, and "some nuts." I told her that nuts are 800 calories per cup and she was shocked. So, whole foods made her gravitate to a lower BF% and stabilize there, but with an average metabolism you're not gonna stand out without counting and tracking

0
ruffntambl•

Most people with PCOS actually do well on low carb/keto. Since paleo can be low carb, that's probably why it works for her. It's not the inflammation.

1
aesthetic-as-fuck•

The etiology is unclear but you can't make that statement.

1
ruffntambl•

Why not?

The effects of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet on the polycystic ovary syndrome: A pilot study

[A Low-Carb Diet for PCOS Symptoms] (http://www.livestrong.com/article/347395-a-low-carb-diet-for-pcos-symptoms/)

1
billsil•

I told her that nuts are 800 calories per cup and she was shocked.

I also do paleo and can go through a pound of nuts in 2 days. The thing about the diet is that it's generally very calorically sparse. That results in you eating the occasional very large amount of calories for a few days. As long as it works itself out, who cares?

I can out eat everyone I know at any given meal. I still have a BMI of 20.5.

1
pethebi•

Nuts are a great source of fats and other micronutrients. The reason nuts have a lot of calories per serving is because it has a lot of fat. Nuts are also very nutrient dense since their purpose is to provide nutrients for a tree until it's large enough to gather nutrients on its own. Nutrient dense foods are typically considered "healthy". The definition of nutrient dense is that it has a lot of micronutrients. A McDonalds burger probably doesn't have many useful micronutrients. I would consider it mostly empty calories.

Low calorie does not mean healthy--what's healthy also depends a lot on your goals and what nutrients you're missing in your diet. If you're not eating any fat, then fats will be very healthy for you, but if 95% of your diet comes from fat, then fats will probably be unhealthy for you.

As a general rule of thumb, eating a variety of food will ensure that you're getting your essential micronutrients. For macronutrients, i would recommend 40-60% carbs, 20-30% protein and fats. Hit those % while maintaining your caloric intake. You want to go lower than your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) to lose weight, above your TDEE to gain weight, and at your TDEE to maintain weight.

If you look up TDEE on Google you can calculate how many calories you need each day.

1
SplorzOP•

My TDEE, according to google, would be well over 3000 kcal. I can't imagine eating that much, my weight is stable at a much lower intake, so these numbers probably don't apply equally to everyone.

As an avid cyclist it's useful to stay a bit on the lean side, so I count calories. A hand full of nuts would just about use up my budget for lunch, if the numbers on the packaging are correct. My wife eats enormous amounts of nuts, and she's actually a bit under weight, so my question isn't seriously 'should I eat more cheeseburgers', but what is wrong with the calorie count of nuts. Were these measured by burning them in a calorimeter, or do these numbers represent the actual amount of energy we can extract from nuts by eating them? I feel the numbers just can't be right.

1
aesthetic-as-fuck•

TDEE calcs are almost always way high.

Nuts ought to be used like an oil or a dessert. If I want to make a stir fry or yogurt taste a million times better I'll add nuts...or a couple eggs. These are just much more useful fat sources for a cut. I put oil in a stir fry, it might as well not be there, I can't taste it, but the calories count. A couple eggs make it dank as shit though. If you have a hard time putting on weight, then nuts are probably top of the list of useful things to eat

1
pethebi•

If she's eating whole nuts, chances are she's not fully digesting them. Nuts are a seed and unless it gets ground into very fine particles, chances are it won't completely break down and digested.

You have multiple parts in digestion--mechanical digestion primarily happens in the mouth and outside the body, this breaks the foods into smaller particles so that there is more surface area for chemical digestion to occur.

If youre eating a whole but, not much mechanical digestion is happening, so your but gets partially digested.

1
pajamakitten•

Nuts have lots of valuable micronutrients and healthy fats which is why they are good for you, cheeseburgers don't have either of these. Healthy foods aren't always low calorie, olive oil for example, it's the nutritional benefits that they provide that make nuts healthier than other calorie dense foods.

1
Graham_R_Naughtsy•

Nuts have a lot of fat and fat is very calorically dense. Therefore, nuts have a lot of calories. How is this confusing?

1
tuttocuoio•

Nuts are not as fattening as they seem. A large part of them goes through the digestive tract undigested. Studies repeatedly show that a percentage of the calories seems to vanish.

So long as you are eating raw nuts, eat as many as you like. You will soon feel full anyway, and so consuming them is self-limiting. Keep an eye on your weighing scale, and you will be pleasantly surprised.

-1