Are Nuts Good For You?

 

Level – Beginner

Words – ~500

Reading Time – 2-3 minutes

On the one hand you could say yes, absolutely.

Depending on the type, they are full of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats which have shown to improve cholesterol, heart health and maintain hormone function.

On the other hand you could say no, absolutely not.

Nuts may be an excellent fat source but that also means they are incredibly calorie dense as each gram of fat contains 9 calories. If you over consume calories, you can potentially reverse all of the benefits mentioned above.

You can eat all the good foods you want but if you’re overweight and carrying a bit too much fluff, you’ll still be considered unhealthy and at a higher risk of health issues. It’s also likely you’ll be unhappy with the way you look and frustrated with your lack of progress despite seemingly doing everything right eating these so called good foods.

The Portion is the Poison

So are nuts good for you?

It depends. Every food can be good for you and every food can be bad for you.

“The portion is the poison”

Lets take something like water which absolutely no one would question is good for us, we need water to survive. Drink too much of it however and it becomes toxic and has the potential to cause devastating effects. Is it good for us now?

You really can have too much of a good thing. Yes, even water.

 

Now lets take something which most people would consider universally bad like ice cream. It’s:

• High in fat,
• High in sugar
• Extremely calorie dense
• Offers very little in the way of nutrition (it also tastes DAMN GOOD).

BUT what if having a scoop of ice cream, on occasion, kept you ticking over and stopped you having a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson style blow out?

You’d probably consider it pretty good then, wouldn’t you? Restricting yourself of certain foods for too long can cause an unhealthy relationship with food and result in episodes of massive over consumption which isn’t healthy, no matter what your goal is….

Rather than asking yourself:

“Is this food good or bad?”

Ask yourself:

“Is this portion appropriate for my goals?”

If you’re trying to lose weight, having a big bag of nuts that amounts to 25% of your daily calorie intake and has you hungry an hour later, might not the best idea.

If you’ve had a week of being bang on with portion sizes and made great progress, is a scoop of ice cream going to sabotage all that hard work?

Unless you can’t stop at just a scoop, then absolutely not and in fact, will probably be healthy psychologically too.

We’re not for a second suggesting you should bin off the nuts and replace them with ice cream. We are suggesting however looking at food through a different lens.

Regardless of the food in question, overeating a seemingly healthy food can quickly become unhealthy. It’s not as simple as labelling a food as good or bad, it all depends on the context of the diet as a whole in relation to your goal.

If you need help working out what portions are appropriate for your goals then get in touch and we can help.

 

 

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