myth or truth? nuts: addiction OR allergy?

[gemini269]

Ok, so I've heard and read studies about how your body can crave the VERY thing/ foods it's allergic to. Sort of like candidas, how the overgrowth of yeast, makes you crave refined starchy sugars, bad carbs, etc.
I've read alot of EF'ers journal's who are ADDICTED to nut's or nut-butters ( including, uh, er, myself!!! ) I mean, my goal is to get most of my calories from protein.... which is VERY hard anyway being very vegetarian, but i could, eat my weight in nuts every DAY! In fact MOST of my calories come from nuts in a days time...or "good" fats, but still... they're tooooo many fat grams! So, two questions? One: do u think the allergy theory holds truth? and Two: If I eat too many fat grams, even if it were within my calories for the day, will it make me gain fat? Thanks for the insight You guys rock!

 

[badgergrl]

If I had an allergy to peanut butter, I'd be dead. I go nuts on it.

 

[believeNme]

I know! me too =) thats why im hoping it s NOT an allergy type thing!! i could LIVE on them!!

 

[2dagym]

Fortunately for us nut nuts (my addiction is to raw almonds), nuts have a lot of good fats in them. You shouldn't just be concerned with the actual fat grams without considering the type of fat grams. Saturated fats are a definate taboo as are transfats. Most raw nuts are actually low in saturated fats and high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (Polyunsaturated fats in almonds includes omega 3 fatty acids which are essential fats every human needs and can only get through eating certain foods). As for the monounsaturated fats, they are reported to help lower cholesterol, especially the bad cholesterol (LDL).

I eat my almonds every day and feel absolutely no guilt. Just pick and choose your nuts wisely and actually, you have a wide range to choose from because most are fine. You may want to question ones that are salted and roasted with extra fats added to the roasting process.

 

[mermaid]

Oh, I must have missed this...

Sometimes a craving doesn't mean an allergy, your body may be crying out for what it NEEDS.

With your condition, maybe your body needs those Omega 3s (see your journal).

 

[playmatesky]

I can blow the eyes out responding to this topic. I suffer with 26 food intolerances that can go away and 5 food allergies that are there to stay. The only thing I craved before I found out about this was peanut butter and yes I have an intolerance to peanuts. And I had never noticed any symptoms. I am glad I ran lab test to find out.
If you are craving foods it is probably your blood sugar or you may be lacking nutrients.
We become allergic or develope allergies from not rotatin our foods. I am a prime example of this. I had been told this back in the day from my Nutritionist but did I listen? Kind of. Sort of. But I didnt fully practive it. If you eat lets say peanuts on Monday...you need to wait until Thursday before having peanuts again. If you are not rotating your foods you will likely develope an allergy/intolerance.
Intolerances can usually go away if you do not comsume the food for 2 or 3 months. I would wait 3 just to be sure because who wants to start over?
This is especially hard for me too because I just went vegan yesterday after extensive research on toxins. And of course it went into animal rights. Poor things. But, lets not even go there. I have been looking into other sources of protein because I love to be muscular and fit so what I am finding is...legumes, beans, veggie burgers, nuts. ect..
Nuts are great for protein but be sure to mix them up and dont have to many because they are a very high calorie food.
Does this help?

 

[gemini269]

Oh my gosh!! Great stuff... to all of you ladies!! Mermie... Very true!! Actually, I've screwed up my body so bad, I don't know WHAT I'm missing =( 2dagym, I'm bad about eating any nuts my mom buys, usually lightly salted peanuts by Planters... AAhhh the joys of living at home, no money, at the mercy of the 'rents! And Playmatesky... Lots of questions... how would i go about finding someone who can test for food allergies? I was vegan for 2 years, although I did it incorrectly and ate junk ( i was 20-22) I wasn't working out at all, and got down to 112 pounds at 5'3. I looked really sick though since my frame is not meant to ever be that weight!! (with no muscle anyway). I'm still vegetarian for 22 years, and it's VERY hard to get adequate protein, and honestly alot of it's laziness =( If you come up with a meal plan on how to do veganism in a body building lifestyle...I WILL DO IT WITH YOU!!! =) we could encourage each other!!! =) let me know