One of the things that I started eating that I used to avoid in my pre-Paleo days is nuts. I used to eat reduced fat peanut-butter (and peanuts aren’t nuts!) but would steer clear of almonds, cashews, walnuts etc because of their fat content. Shifting my thoughts around what is healthy and what makes me feel good now that I’m Paleo, nuts are pretty much a daily part of my diet.
So is that OK? It’s interesting I do lots of self experimenting, n=1, type stuff and have given up lots of things for much longer than a week – chocolate, alcohol, sweet potatoes,vinegar, foods high in fodmaps…but have never been able to successfully go more than 1 day without eliminating nuts and then cracking out on them the next day! What gives?? Why is the call of almond butter so darn alluring?
Well this week I’m taking on a new challenge, I’m going to cut nuts out for 1 week, that’s right 7 days and I’m publicly announcing it so that I have more people to be accountable to. I’ve learned a lot from my past failed nut free attempts, so I’m not going to do what I normally do which is just not eat nuts and not replace the calories and fat that I get from eating them – its important to make up that fuel, that is inevitably (I think) why I keep failing. I’ll make it through the day, then it’s 9:30pm, I’m starving and I’ve already eaten dinner + a second helping…that’s when I hit the jar of almond butter for a scoop or two.
My strategy is to make sure I eat breakfast, everyday, next week. I dabble with intermittent fasting, but recently have been making it a protein fast verses a total fast while having my “bulletproof” coffee – blended – in the morning which has a healthy dose of grass-fed butter and coconut oil in it. My goal is to make sure that I’m eating enough real good food, that is nut-free, and make sure I’m adding a little extra fat to keep me from hitting that jar of almond butter, grabbing a handful of almonds, or whatever other nutty snack is hanging around. My sister is allergic to nuts and at first said that she couldn’t follow a Paleo diet because it was so focused on nuts…I told her that wasn’t true, yet here I am eating something with nuts in it almost everyday! Now I’m going to prove to myself that I can do it and go nut free for a week, and hopefully learn some really good things about myself in the process. Anyone else up for the challenge?
About Laura Pappas
I’m in, although I will say I don’t eat nuts all that much anymore. I used to have a nut addiction before I went Paleo and I would eat a small handful of macadamias or hazelnuts pretty much everyday after I went Paleo because I read that they had less Omega-6 fats than other nuts so I figured I had the green light to eat them everyday. Then, I stopped buying the macs and hazels and have ended that snack indulgence as a result. Now I have bags of sliced almonds and walnuts that just sit in my cabinet because I use them as an occasional ingredient in a dish, not as a snack or extra fat source. That being said, I haven’t been buying nut butters because I think I have more of a tendency to overindulge in nuts when they are in that creamy form. The only time I eat nuts these days are when I eat Lara Bars or when I eat homemade Paleo pesto. I don’t really make treats with almond flour, although I have a huge bag of it sitting in my freezer to keep it fresh. But, I HAVE been cracking out on Lara Bars lately, so I’ve decided to give them up (although I think it is the concentrated source of sugar I’m addicted to, not the nuts). I’ll also have to forgo making pesto for this challenge I have confidence in you that you’ll be able to still have nuts, just in moderation, after the 7 days are over. I think you may be onto something with replacing the nuts with a different fat source. Good luck!
I commented on my Facebook page, but wanted to share that I made it 2 whole weeks nut free! The most important thing is that I tamed this as my trigger food, I’m not staying nut free but am using nuts more as a condiment or part of food rather than depending on nuts as a snack or calorie source. Anyone else have this experience?