What is wrong with the peanuts? For example, natural variety roasted in hot air stream (not using vegetable oil) - Duyvis etc? Aflatoxin or something else? Why peanut butter yes and peanuts no? Does not make sense. Tnx.
I’m curious about this too. I saw in the essential berardi article that peanuts were purposely excluded in the list of good fats, while other nuts were allowed. I’d really like to know, cause I love dry roasted peanuts.
Peanuts have only 15 % saturated fats… Hmmm… I wonder is it aflatoxin…
First, keep in mind that I wrote the article, but it was a summary of John’s ideas. So there really isn’t any contradictory advice, just opinions of two different people. I recommend natural peanut butter a lot, especially for those that “can’t” get in enough calories. I placed them in the “okay” category in my “Foods that make you look good nekid” article (issue 172).
John recommends mixed nuts but not peanuts. I don’t know why exactly but I’m guessing it’s either the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio (I think peanuts have a lot more 6) or it’s the fact that they are so calorically dense. Walnuts and pistachios really are better choices, but I think peanuts or natural peanut butter are fine if not over done.
First, peanuts aren’t really a nut at all but grow in the ground and are a legume like peas. The main reason I’ve understood that regular nuts are better for you than peanuts is what Chris said regarding omega 3 vs omega 6 fat content. The omega 3 fats are the really good fats that do so many positive things in the body and are frequently referred to as the “good omega fat” and that is why we use our flax oil and most nuts have a lot of omega 3’s (walnuts, I believe is the next best source of omega 3’s to flax). But the peanut is mainly omega 6 and that is the omega that we consume way to much of already and is frequently referred to as the “bad omega fat” because of its effect on the body. Although omega 6 is an EFA just like omega 3 and as such, required by the body, too much omega 6 can cause things like inflamation among other “bad” effects and as such is refered to as the “bad omega”. We need both but in a balance and we usually get too much omega 6 the way our typical diet is already with out trying to add more. The omega’s are used in the body to make the messanger hormones and omega 3 makes good messangers which are anti-inflamatory and omega 6 makes the equally neccessary but bad messangers which are inflamatory so you want to try to shift the balance from bad to good messangers by eating less omega 6 and more omega 3’s. Dr. Barry Sears (zone diet fame) talks a lot about this in his books and does a really good job of explaininng it and his diet philosphy revolves a lot around omega 3 vs omega 6 in the diet and that is why he has always pushed fish oil (he was one of the first to praise the value of fish oil). Anyways, peanuts have a poor fat makeup compared to real nuts.
As mentioned peanuts are technically not a nut but a legume. They are a notorious source of aflatoxin, a carcinogenic mould. I prefer Tahini and Macadamia paste for my nut butter needs…
Florescence is used these days to weed out any bad nuts. There’s little to no risk of mould.
I also think it may have something to do with the carb content of peanuts. When i checked (I’m anal), peanuts had higher carb than other nuts (almonds and walnuts). I think it was about 7g of carb & 7 g of protein per 1oz of peanuts. And since John doesn’t want you eating more than 10g of carb with P+F, I think it’d make sense since 1 oz of peanuts is almost nothing. And there’s that omega 3/6 ratio too.