. Vegetarians are always looking for ways to get enough protein. That's reasonable since vegetables on average has less protein than meat. One of the best ways to get protein into your meal plan is to add nuts. But a lot of people have called me up or texted me and asked if nuts are really a good source of protein. The answer is a yes and no type of answer. First, yes, nuts have protein. They are an easy way to get protein. There are some healthy bars that feature nuts as their primary source of protein. Peanut butter is a big staple in the bodybuilding world because it's a fast and tasty source of protein. But some people don't like to eat peanuts because they aren't the healthiest. One problem is that peanuts are not even nuts. Also, peanuts can sometimes have a fungus or mold that is really unhealthy. So, be careful with peanuts. My suggestion to people I train is that they eat whole nuts or make their own nut butter. Nuts that are healthy include walnuts, pecans, almonds, and other nuts. But the main caution I also mention to people is to be careful about calories. Nuts are very calorie dense. This means that you will really overshoot your daily calorie allotment if you aren't careful. Here is a good visual of what 100 calories in nuts looks like. It will totally surprise you. I suggest that if you are using nuts as a main protein source, then what you will want to do is locate a good calorie counting app. These can be a game changer when it comes to keeping track of how many calories you eat in a day. In the old days you might have had to deal with an Excel spreadsheet or pad and pen, but now you can just use an app. Most people like the apps made by companies such as MyFittnessPal. This is an UnderArmour product, and has captured the market. Most trainers and athletes who are aware of their diet and want to track their macros use it. It's free, so you can try it out and see if you like it. But you can still create a simply daily menu using a free calorie counting calculator that is available online. Just figure out your daily calorie need, then create a menu. If you use these apps, you will start to see that nuts are really loaded with calories. What I suggest for everyone is to add a few nuts to salads. This does two things. First, when you are eating a salad without a salad dressing, you can add nuts because the salad is so low in calories. So, the nuts are balanced out by the low calorie salad. Secondly, the other main reason that nuts are so good is that they have healthy fats. Especially when you choose nuts like Almonds, Walnuts, and Macadamia nuts. Comments are closed.
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