Although I am gaining more control of myself and having less of a problem, I still do this from time to time. I notice it's actually pretty common for some of us newbies to the diet. Just wondering what it is about them that draws us to them and causes us to occasionally lose control over our proportions? Is it the high-fat? High protein? I have also done this with black beans, chick peas, olives..

I'm probably not the best person to comment on nuts and seeds because I don't eat any nuts and the only seeds I eat come inside the fresh raw foods I eat. However, that dosn't stop me from having a theory and it has to do with how difficult it is to get truly raw nuts (even if they say their raw). Any cooked food that is eaten stirs up the cravings for more cooked food. So if the nuts are not truly raw then you have your answer there.

i suggest reading 80/10/10 its a low fat high fruit diet i think its the most natural way to eat raw good luck!

Oh I agree that that is the best way to eat raw, I'm just trying to figure out the science behind the nut/seed overeating that many of us do. Maybe if I understand what exactly it was that was making me reach for them, I would be able to find another food/replacement that could give me the same effect... hopefully that makes sense.

I agree 80/10/10!

I think a lot of people overeat on nuts because they're not getting enough calories from the vegetables and greens and small amount of fruit. Eating more fruit is the answer (but also staying fairly low-fat or complications could arise from excessive fat+sugars).

Nuts are also small but very dense in calories so our stomach doesn't get full on them easily, so it's hard to know when to stop eating them and we can go overboard. Beyond lacking this physical satiety trigger there is also no biological satiety trigger in the body for fats as is there for carbs.

Lastly, fats can tend to be numbing, a feeling which many of us may have been accustomed to from a lifetime of SAD eating and equate it to "feeling full" but it's actually a negative thing to eat food to feel numb or "comforted". Best to be light and in touch with our feelings so that we may deal with them rather than repress them.

With nuts it's easy to overeat, but with fruit it's actually easy to undereat.

80/10/10 book covers all of this and makes tons of sense. recommended book!

petrichor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh I agree that that is the best way to eat raw,
> I'm just trying to figure out the science behind
> the nut/seed overeating that many of us do. Maybe
> if I understand what exactly it was that was
> making me reach for them, I would be able to find
> another food/replacement that could give me the
> same effect... hopefully that makes sense.


If you go to the National Library of Medicine link [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov] and query "satiety" AND "fat" AND "carbohydrate" AND "protein" (without quotation marks, added for this response for emphasis), you can find out the scientific basis for it. In brief,of the three main macronutrients, fat, carbohydrate and protein, fat is the most "satisfying" meaning providing instant gratification (this is obviously a generalization) but also the least sating (filling). That is, we enjoy eating foods with fat in them but aren't as filled up by it. Add to the fact that gram for gram, fat is over twice as calorically dense (9 vs 4), and it's a recipe for disaster without portion control. Virtually all vegan authorities agree on one thing, limiting fats is essential to successful weight control. And the concept of "passive overconsumption", (plain english, mindless overeating) is more likely to occur with fats because they are more calorie dense and less filling than either carbohydrate and protein. We need essential fatty acids. And our diets should include some fats, facts not in dispute. But your question was what is the science. I hope this helps.

On 80/10/10, Preston and I have agreed to disagree, so I won't get into it here except to say that I believe sincerely that you should try to keep most fruits low sugar (think citrus, melons, berries, kiwi) and limit portions of high sugar high fructose fruits,some of which may be hybridized, such as bananas, mangos and grapes. So, I like a low sugar fruit variant of 80-10-10. How's that? Chacun a son gout [ To each, their own].

Paul

p.s. Dr. Joel Fuhrman who I greatly respect suggests a 1 ounce limit of nuts and seeds which I have abided and found very helpful. I tend to prefer seeds over nuts since they are easier to mix into smoothies, but still use walnuts and almonds in my zoom burgers.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2009 05:35PM by pborst.

Excellent, thank you all for such great info. I think it very well could be the fact that I'm not getting enough calories. I just feel like I'm eating (or drinking) all day long, and I'm not letting my body fully "rest" between meals. I will try to use higher calorie fruits in my smoothies and see if that does anything for me. Also, the "numbing" feeling could be another thing I'm going for. I didn't have the best relationship with food before I started this, it was at times used for comfort. I ate when I wasn't hungry, just because of time or place. A habit that definitely needs work. I have heard about a book for intuitive eating, maybe it's time I check that out and see if I can kick the old habit and replace it with a healthy one.

It can definitely be challenging at first esp. if switching from dense/cooked foods to a raw high-fiber water-rich diet, because the stomach just isn't used to the volume. But it does stretch nicely in a few weeks to accommodate this, just gotta keep giving it "workouts" and soon enough you should be ok with 3 meals/day or even 2. Just don't then use the larger stomach in a binge on the bad stuff (I speak from experience!)

I like nuts and seeds and include them regularly - but sparingly - in my raw food diet. As long as I eat a few everyday and as long as I vary the kind I eat, I find I'm much less likely to overeat them.

Works well for me.

Hi,

I also experienced the seed/nut overeating phenomena in the first few weeks. My theory was/is that the fat in the nuts is what satisfied me during my initial transition period. I'm assuming that my body had gotten used to the bad fat from the dollar menu at McDonalds for lunch, and cheese/meat filled dinners as well as the potato chips that I literally ate every night.

Now, I only eat about 1/4 cup per day of a pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, almond mix that I throw together. It was waaaay more than that before.

I find that 1/2 of an avocado is very satisfying as well. I also put olive oil on my raw corn (with sea salt) to get my fat fix.

Bill

PS - Even while overeating the nuts, I still lost 12 lbs in a little over 2 weeks.

i find i digest nuts and seeds much better when i stick to one particular one per day .. example .. if i start with almonds i just eat almonds .. next day ..something else .. mixing my nuts seems to cause me stomach stress

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist