So nuts (cashews, macadamia, pistachios, walnuts) seem like the PERFECT keto food: easy to transport, readily available, tasty, high in fat, high in protein, hunger-killing, etc. But there’s a LOT of carbs in there!!! Damn, that is so disappointing. I don’t suppose there is something magical about nut carbs that makes them less bad, huh?
Ugh… can someone invent a no-carb nut? We could get rich if we could!
Sue
Macadamia nuts are the closest you’ll get to the perfect nut on keto. Problem is you can easily eat a ton of them . But they’ by far my favorite!
pine nuts and macadamia nuts are pretty low.
walnuts not bad.
Pistachios are getting up there in carbs.
Pine Nuts are the lowest in Carbs I’ve ever seen ( 3 grams ? maybe 2 ?) … but macadamia nuts have super large amounts of the best fat - monounsaturated fats.
I keep a container of those at the office and have to count out 7-10 of them and put the rest back in the drawer, otherwise I would inhale them all!
Sue
Pine nuts… never ever had one but I will certainly get some! Cashews are apparently no picnic… I ate some at the office (didn’t go home for lunch so that was my lunch today) and when I got home and entered the data into my tracker the carbs came in high! Granted, I hopefully over-estimated how many I ate, but damn, it was an eye-opener.
Sue
Agreed. I am pretty sure nuts kicked me out of ketosis.
Either that or I am fat adapted.
My urine shows no ketones.
Yes, let’s hope you’re simply fat-adapted… then you’d really have something to be thankful for tomorrow! Today I noticed my ketone (urine) strips were lighter than usual so I was optimistic that I was starting to use some of my ketones. I used my breath meter and got zero. Granted, those aren’t always accurate and supposedly better used first thing in the morning but since I got bad results from urine and breath I guess I should accept I’m out of (or running out of) ketosis.
Sue
Don’t forget pecans! They’re one of the lowest in carbs. I like 'em roasted with some butter and salt. Good eats!
I don’t have good enough teeth to go crazy with them. A pound of them will last me quite a while. But they are a good snack when I need just a little something. Maybe 3 or 4, maybe a half dozen, it doesn’t take many to be quite satisfying, at least for me. I never eat enough of them to be a problem with the carbs.
Love macadamias but they are painful on the wallet.
Also have to watch the ingredients. I got some not long ago that had maltodextrin! Why??? Why would a company do that?
Hi VLC.MD,
Why do you think the best fat is monounsaturated fats? Omega-9 and oleic acid? Please show me the science. It is my understanding that most of the hype over olive oil and the “Mediterranean Diet” arose from what was at best rather flawed epidemiological data and a massive campaign on the part of olive oil consortiums.
I like the taste of pecans quite a bit better and they have a better protein profile and have a lot more omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. More importantly, I Like The Taste of pecans and I don’t like the taste of macadamia nuts.
I have also been cutting back on nuts in genneral and trying to get a higher percentage of saturated fats, so I would be very interested in any well constructed clinical research that shows that monounsaturated fats are the “best” for people eating keto.
What would an Eskimo eat? It is not like the Inuit consumed a lot of olive or plant based monounsaturated fats.
Keto for Life!
Most Respectfully,
Richard
@FatMan I think the results of the PURE study convinced me about monounsaturated fats being the best. Trans fats the worst. Saturated fat fared well and polyunsaturated fats did poorly.
KF does well at teaching people not to fear saturated fat and that is good. But the monounsaturated fats in avocados and macadamia nuts are great too.
A more complicated question might be what are the best fats for Keto ? Probably the same fats 
The PURE study was an epidemiological study and can only show associations, and not causation. Moreover, just like Dr. Ansel Keys, the study utilized a FFQ, a Food-Frequency Questioner, and also used the same multivariable Cox frailty model to calculate hazard ratios.
Association or correlation, is useful in two way:
Simply put, a correlation does not prove causality but all causal relationship are also correlated.
The PURE HR for total mortality, from best to worst for total fats and types of fats are as follows:
The PURE study would indicate that the “healthy” (lowest HR) fat is polyunsaturated and not monounsaturated but by such a narrow margin that I would never hazard my reputation by making such a claim. Just eating more total fat is more beneficial then specifically targeting any specific category of fat.
PURE no more justifies making a recommendation to eat monounsaturated fats then did the Seven Countries Study justify the imposition of a low-fat dietary recommendation on the part of the U.S. government. I thought we where never going to make that horrifying mistake again.
Respectfully, do you know of any clinical trials that would support the statement that monounsaturated fats are the best fats? Show me the science!
Keto for Life!
Richard
I’m not touching the science stuff but it always seems to me that the problem with nuts is portion control rather the inherent evil of the nuts. I love cashews which net out to 4g if you get one of those handy little 100cal packs (Emerald do them). Almonds are net 2g for the same size pack and either do enough to date the nut craving and are easy to add salt to.
Either buying them in little packs (the Emerald ones seem to be on sale a lot) or portioning them out yourself into little ziplocs (to be reused) seems to me to be the best way to handle the nutty problem.
Hi Capnbob,
I am not arguing that nuts are bad. I am just unaware of any clinical science that shows that monounsaturated fats are the best.
I also love cashews but I don’t eat them anymore. Cashews are about 30% total carbs by weight with about 6% sugar and 23% starch with only about 3.3% fiber. If we eat a very small portion of any food, then the net carbs of what we eat can be very small. What you said is true, by controlling portions you can reduce the amount of net carbs, but by that logic I can eat anything including table sugar.
In contrast, pecans are 14% total carbs with 9.6% fiber. For the same net carbs, I can eat about 5 times the weight of pecans to cashews. For myself, that is an easy choice even understanding that I like cashews more than pecans and both more then macadamia nuts.
What concerns me about eating large amounts of nuts is ratio of omega 3 n-3 and omega 6 n-6 fatty acids as many nuts are quite high in n-6 fatty acids, just like soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, cottonseed oil … As an example, 100 grams of pine nuts contains a massive 33.6 grams of omega 6 fatty acids but only 0.112 grams of omega 3 fatty acids. I have a very poor understanding of the science concerning this issue, but I have an impression that it is best to consume more equal amounts of omega 3 and omega 6. It is an item on my list to learn more about in the future.
Keto for Life!
Richard
With nuts and seeds, I sometimes wonder whether all of it gets absorbed. I faintly remember that the kcal/100g of almonds (with skins) was reduced by a significant percentage because our body isn’t as effective in digestion compared to bomb calorimeters. Maybe this could optimistically indicate that not all of the net carbs make it to our system.
Whoa ! Great post. Thanks. Lots of great points there.
I know the limitations of the study. I’ve mostly concentrated on the CVD data (not mortality). One reason advocated for monounsaturated fat was I figure alot of people here get enough saturated fat from bacon, beef, cheese, coconut and butter and some monounsaturated fat will help bring in some balance
I am going to do a deep dive into the PURE study when time permits. Let’s save this good debate for that time.
HA! I might learn more from you !
Your teacher will be Dr. Yusuf himself (The guy who did the study).
It would be quite a coup to get him on a 2 keto dudes podcast.
The dose-response relationship between CVD and carbs is a very keto friendly finding. He’s probably to busy to do it.
I wonder this too. My only treat is nuts and on occasion I over indulge but I have yet to see a response on the scale or in my blood glucose levels. But I do see it in my BMs with so much not digested. I do not snack though and only eat them with a meal.
