Eating keto: Going nuts (literally)

I have to admit, in my pre-keto life, I didn’t eat a lot of seeds or nuts. I had serious allergies, particularly when eating oily nuts, like walnuts and pecans. They would swell up my throat, make my mouth tingle and cause my skin to break out into hives. I was deathly afraid of peanuts, which triggered the worst reactions.

Post-keto, a lot of my food sensitivities mysteriously went away. Nuts are now on the menu every day, often baked into my sweet treats, or eaten plain with my favourite dark chocolate. I often top my salads with seeds, or use them to make low-carb bread, for that added crunch.

WHY SEEDS AND NUTS ARE IMPORTANT

Nuts and seeds are a great source of minerals and B-vitamins. A handful of pumpkin seeds packs a day’s worth of magnesium, equivalent to a small avocado. Pound per pound, sunflower seeds have twice as much potassium as a banana, without the sugar rush.

GETTING MORE NUTS AND SEEDS INTO YOUR DIET

Getting more nuts and seeds into your diet is easy. Here are some of the ways you can incorporate them into your diet …

• Plain but definitely not boring: If you buy your nuts unshelled and raw, I find roasting them helps enhance the flavour. I always dry roast raw almonds and hazelnuts^[1]. If you want to get fancy, toast them in a skillet with some coconut oil, and coat with salt, cinnamon, stevia and/or paprika. Be warned, they are quite addictive, so I only toast a handful at a time.

• Top your salad: In my pre-keto days, one of my favourite salads was topped with salted chopped almonds, cranberries and goat cheese. “Salad toppers” are now found in most grocery stores. They usually consist of nuts, seeds, raisins and/or cranberries, typically roasted in vegetable oil, with added salt and sugar. For a healthier, lower carb, and much less expensive version, make your own blend at home. I usually just sprinkle some raw seeds over my salad, typically pumpkin and sunflower seeds, about 2 grams each. If you can afford the extra carbs, add chopped cranberries. The added crunch and tartness makes a nice contrast to a plain salad.

• Add to your yogurt parfait: As noted in an earlier post, I like to eat berries and “yogurt” in the morning (actually, I prefer a high-fat sour cream over yogurt, but there are plenty of low-carb yogurts in the 10% fat range). I sometimes add some chopped, salted almonds for that crunchy texture. Chia or pumpkin seeds work great too.

• Grind into a low-carb flour: Although almond flour is easy to come by, note that any nut or seed can be ground into a flour for baking. Ground walnuts or pecans are great for cookies, cakes and muffins. I use a mix of ground sunflower, pumpkin, chia and sesame seeds in my bread. As an added bonus, grinding^[2] helps your body better absorb the vitamins and minerals, very important for high-fibre seeds, such as flax and chia.

• Bake into your cookies, muffins and “granola” bars: If you like a bit of crunch in your cookies, just add chopped nuts or seeds to your favourite low-carb recipe^[3]. My hubby likes to melt dark chocolate, add chopped nuts, a splash of booze and plenty of salt. He then presses them into small chocolate molds for little savoury bites.

So skip the multi-vitamins, and just add an ounce of nuts and seeds into your diet, each and every day.

NOTES:

¹ For whatever reason, I find walnuts taste better unshelled (it prevents them from drying out). I never roast walnuts or pecans, and prefer to just eat them plain.

² I use a $10 coffee grinder (circa-1995) to grind my seeds and nuts. It’s not a perfect grind, but it works. Just be sure not to over grind, or you will emulsify the nuts/seeds into a paste, due to the high fat content.

³ If adding chopped or whole nuts and seeds to your recipe, they won’t absorb too much liquid, and shouldn’t mess up your recipe too much. But if you find your dough gets too dry, just back off on the nut flours, or add more liquid to compensate