Nuts !

[Sully]

Hi all, hope your all well, thoroughly enjoying my cycling and mileage and average speed going up nicely, if come to the obvious conclusion that the wrong diet ie trying to loose weight and upping my mileage and pace doesn't necessarily go hand in hand, I've list 2 stone in a little over 4 Months, from 13 to 11 I'm 5"10, whilst lowering my calories I'd find myself very lethargic on the bike, I suppose it's normal, I'm however getting a slightly strange tendency to eat nuts ! Well fruit and nut mix to be precise, peanuts 65% Almonds 5% Cashews 5% and Brazil nuts 5% along with 20% raisins and I'm assuming is cooked in vegetable oil @ 5% it's got to the point were I actually feel an urge to nibble, firstly is this normal and is there any problem me consuming perhaps a 250g bag a day ? Thanks in advance for your advice

 

[bozmandb9]

Seems like a healthy way to snack, I don't see a problem. I tend to snack on nuts to. High protein, certainly better than snacking on processed foods. Raw nuts certainly preferable.

 

[Sully]

Thanks for your prompt response,I'm a thicko I know but I was under the impression that nuts weren't cooked, they were just taken out their shells and hey presto...so what's with the @ 5% veg oil ?

 

[michaelcycle]

is there any problem me consuming perhaps a 250g bag a day ? Thanks in advance for your advice

If your goal is to try and lose weight then it may prove to be an issue given how caloric nuts and dried food tends to be. A 250g bag will be approaching 800 - 900 calories (the equivalent of a big mac and fries worth.)

A couple of servings should be fine but watch your consumption of it.

Personally, I think nut and dried fruit are massively over rated as health / diet food but they sure do taste nice...

 

[Sully]

Oh blimey Michael, no wonder ice put a few lb's back on, there's been days I've had 2 bags @ 250g each :0

 

[Sully]

Oh and sat and snacked on a full coconut and banana

 

[michaelcycle]

Lol - you have really been going for it eh?

I wouldn't worry about a short term fluctuation in weight as it could be a number of factors other than fat gain. The reason your body is responding in the way it is and cravings are occurring is because it is looking for energy (calories) to support your attempt to increase performance from the easiest source it can find (sugar - dried fruit is a highly concentrated form.) The fruit and nut mix provides the perfect mix of sugar, calories and ease of consumption.

Unfortunately, dieting and performance are usually opposing goals. Performance relies upon energy availability, dieting depends on energy restriction.

I would suggest going back to first principles re: your diet. Are you eating plenty of fresh vegetables, particularly fibrous / green leafy variety, a few servings of whole fruit, sufficient quantities of quality protein sources a day as well as keeping hydrated. If so you will have wiggle room to eat a few servings of cake, beer whatever, perform well and keep your weight in check.

 

[Fubar]

I think the fat content in nuts is a bit misleading as it is polyunsaturated fat (i.e. good fat) - there was a programme on recently (can't remember the name offhand) about good/bad foods where the presenter was made to eat a certain amount of almonds everyday for a month (I can't think of anything worse personally) and although the fat content was huge she only gained 1-2 pounds - the advantage of nuts is a small amount stops you snacking on more processed foods. I find a handful of walnuts puts me off wanting to eat anything for a good hour!

 

[Sully]

Brilliant replies thank you, makes absolute perfect sense to me, re my diet I try and ram as much veg down me as I can, (not the biggest fan) 3 teenage children the wife tries to do at least 3 or 4 "dinners" a week, I'm so glad I asked the question as it all falls into place, I'm now looking at another food source that I can turn my snacking attention too, as well as the nuts

 

[Sully]

Not the biggest fan of any nut in particular it's just together they really fulfil my cravings, and with a cup of strong coffee WOWZA...hope I'm not pregnant

 

[wait4me]

I have had similar problems in the past. The thing that I find helps me the most is to use "My Plate" at http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/
this lets me see the calories, fat, fibre etc that my food has plus using the exercise facility brings a balance.
I'm sure there are many other web site to give similar guidance but this one suits me

 

[Sully]

Does the nuts equate to much energy du recon ?

 

[Shut Up Legs]

That's the trouble with too much cycling: you get a bad attack of the munchies, almost like you get after smoking... err, you know what .

 

[Gravity Aided]

At least cycling doesn't make you paranoid.
Here, you need these:
http://www.beernuts.com/

 

[Kies]

Brilliant replies thank you, makes absolute perfect sense to me, re my diet I try and ram as much veg down me as I can, (not the biggest fan) 3 teenage children the wife tries to do at least 3 or 4 "dinners" a week, I'm so glad I asked the question as it all falls into place, I'm now looking at another food source that I can turn my snacking attention too, as well as the nuts

Almonds