Eating nuts for protein

guest — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:20:44 GMT

Question:

I just finished reading an article you write about protein for athletes and you did not mention nuts at all.

I thought nuts were a good source of protein?

Answer:

Nuts are indeed a healthful food and offer a nice array of vitamins and minerals.

People who eats nuts (including nut butters) two or more times a week reduce

their risk of heart disease by more than 20%! And despite popular belief, nut-eaters

are not fatter than people who refrain from eating nuts.

That said, nuts are a good, but not great, source of protein.

Nuts are called an "incomplete" protein, because they lack

some of the essential amino acids needed to build muscles.

But you can solve that problem by eating nuts with beans/legumes,

whole grains, and dairy foods. Think toast with peanut butter and

a yogurt for breakfast. Or soynuts mixed with almonds.

You have to eat a lot of nuts to get a hefty dose of protein:
--2 tablespoons of peanut butter has only about 8 or 9 grams of protein.

--25 almonds (two lady-like or 1 macho handful) has only about 5 or 6 grams of protein.

If your goal is 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal, you'll likely want a

tall glass of milk with your PB sandwich or cottage cheese with the almonds!

Or just go nuts over nuts!

Nancy

For more protein info:

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Nancy Clark RD CSSD Tagged With protein_in_nuts