15 replies to this topic

[ForeverBulking]

I have an extremely active job, lift weights three times a week and play soccer daily, and I find it very difficult at times to meet my energy needs. I have experimented with huge amounts of sweet potatoes and beans, but they make me gassy. Large amounts of rice and potatoes make me dizzy and give me sleep problems. Too much meat makes me smell, and dairy and eggs don't agree with me. Nuts and nut butters have been a lifesaver, and give me long lasting energy without the side effects. However, when I input my food intake into Cronometer, my Omega 6 consumption is close to 40 grams! I eat fish 3 times a week but that is not enough to fix the skewed ratio. Could these large intakes of Omega 6, even from nuts, be problematic in the future? Does anyone else here have any suggestions to consume enough calories?

[pamojja]

Macadamia and Hazelnuts as second have lowest omega-6 content. https://www.marksdai...s-omega-6-fats/

[ta5]

How about extra virgin olive oil? I don't think I've seen a negative study on olive oil, regardless of intake. 

[ForeverBulking]

How about extra virgin olive oil? I don't think I've seen a negative study on olive oil, regardless of intake. 

I've used it before but it's very nutrient poor relatively to nuts and I prefer to maximize my micronutrient intake. I haven't seen a negative study on nuts either, just a constituent of them, Omega 6.

[misterE]

Macadamias would be your best bet. Another way to get in a lot of calories would be to drink juice or eat crackers, rice-cakes, and bread, these are grain products that are much denser in calories. I make my own bread, and add marmalade on it. Very dense calories and provides heaps of clean burning energy. 

[sthira]

I have an extremely active job, lift weights three times a week and play soccer daily, and I find it very difficult at times to meet my energy needs. I have experimented with huge amounts of sweet potatoes and beans, but they make me gassy. [...]

If you'll stick with the legumes for a few more days and weeks, make their consumption into habit, then the flatulence probably will subside. To be gassy (if from legumes) is possibly a good thing, maybe you're repopulating (beneficial) bacteria, but of course microbiome investigations remain in infancy. Upping dietary prebiotics and probiotics have helped me with the farty catastrophes -- I don't buy pills for this, though. Beano is said to help?

For healthy calories, EVOO advice seems solid; source it freshly harvested with publicly-posted chemistry from "trusted" olive oil middlemen who are (presumably) attempting to bring us the best (Wek, Just Say No to store shelf olive oil, gawd knows how contaminated...).

Avocado oil seems promising for healthy bulking -- purity might be less convincing, I'm probably just ignorant but it seems like avocado oil hasn't been nearly as well studied as EVOO. Actually, has any consumable been investigated for health benefits as thoroughly as EVOO? Drench leafy greens, crucifers, legumes in it -- I even put olive oil on frozen sweet cherries from Trader Joe's -- delicious, healthy, bulking.

[TheFountain]

Macadamias would be your best bet. Another way to get in a lot of calories would be to drink juice or eat crackers, rice-cakes, and bread, these are grain products that are much denser in calories. I make my own bread, and add marmalade on it. Very dense calories and provides heaps of clean burning energy. 

But are relatively empty calories compared to an equal number of calories in nuts when comparing nutrient composition, which was part of the OP's question. 

[misterE]

 

But are relatively empty calories compared to an equal number of calories in nuts when comparing nutrient composition, which was part of the OP's question. 

 

 

 

The reason we eat is to obtain calories, not nutrients per say. Carbohydrates and glucose in particular... are vastly superior as a fuel source than fatty-acids. Calories are the most important nutrient. You can eat nothing but raw kale (arguably the most nutrient-dense food) for weeks, but you will be in ill health due to a lack of calories. 

 

If you were starving on a desert island and on the verge of death... which would be better to eat: 2 pounds of raw kale or a stack of buttered pancakes covered with syrup? Which would be healthier in that given situation? 

[jack black]

Re: "beans, but they make me gassy"

 

simple, take Beano (or cheaper generic enzyme) and problem solved.

[mccoy]

 

How about extra virgin olive oil? I don't think I've seen a negative study on olive oil, regardless of intake. 

I've used it before but it's very nutrient poor relatively to nuts and I prefer to maximize my micronutrient intake. I haven't seen a negative study on nuts either, just a constituent of them, Omega 6.

 

 

Good, high polyphenol EVOO is rich in its more valuable phytochemicals, the secoiridoids which have pronounced xenohormetic properties, providing protection from metabolic diseases and various sicknesses.

 

The omega 3/6 ratio is a kind of dietary micromanagement which is not always easy, nor practical to follow. Anyway, if you eat fish you are supposed to ingest EPA + DHA so you are good to go.

Vegans might have their ALA→EPA→DHA conversion rate impaired by too high of a 6/3 ratio.

 

But I'll tell you what, even being a vegan, I eat lots of EVOO and nuts, my 6/3 ratio is always pretty high and I cannot become crazy trying to adjust all ratios and worrying about DHA. I just ensure I meet my omega-3s RDA. I feel pretty good, enjoy good health, have very low risk of CVD, I'm happy with that.

[Galaxy_Love]

 

 

How about extra virgin olive oil? I don't think I've seen a negative study on olive oil, regardless of intake. 

I've used it before but it's very nutrient poor relatively to nuts and I prefer to maximize my micronutrient intake. I haven't seen a negative study on nuts either, just a constituent of them, Omega 6.

 

 

Good, high polyphenol EVOO is rich in its more valuable phytochemicals, the secoiridoids which have pronounced xenohormetic properties, providing protection from metabolic diseases and various sicknesses.

 

The omega 3/6 ratio is a kind of dietary micromanagement which is not always easy, nor practical to follow. Anyway, if you eat fish you are supposed to ingest EPA + DHA so you are good to go.

Vegans might have their ALA→EPA→DHA conversion rate impaired by too high of a 6/3 ratio.

 

But I'll tell you what, even being a vegan, I eat lots of EVOO and nuts, my 6/3 ratio is always pretty high and I cannot become crazy trying to adjust all ratios and worrying about DHA. I just ensure I meet my omega-3s RDA. I feel pretty good, enjoy good health, have very low risk of CVD, I'm happy with that.

 

 

[Galaxy_Love]

As a vegan myself, I take algae oil capsules as an easy way to manage my 3/6 ratio, as plant derived Omega 3 sources are not as bio available as meat derived Omega 3.

https://urbanvegan.n...-3-supplements/

[misterE]

As a vegan myself, I take algae oil capsules as an easy way to manage my 3/6 ratio, as plant derived Omega 3 sources are not as bio available as meat derived Omega 3.

https://urbanvegan.n...-3-supplements/

 

 

It has been reported that lowering intake of linoleic-acid from 8% (which is the level in the current western-diet) to 1%, leads to a 5 fold increase in the conversion of linolenic-acid into EPA and a 2 fold increase in the conversion of EPA into DHA. Most vegans and vegetarians eat large amounts of linoleic-acid in the form of nuts, nut-butters, seeds, avocadoes, and oil.  

Edited by misterE, 29 December 2017 - 08:52 PM.

[misterE]

J Nutr. 2007 Apr;137(4):945-52.

 

Decreasing linoleic acid with constant alpha-linolenic acid in dietary fats increases (n-3) eicosapentaenoic acid in plasma phospholipids in healthy men.

 

Liou YA, King DJ, Zibrik D.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/17374659

Edited by misterE, 02 January 2018 - 02:54 AM.

[ForeverBulking]

 

J Nutr. 2007 Apr;137(4):945-52.

 

Decreasing linoleic acid with constant alpha-linolenic acid in dietary fats increases (n-3) eicosapentaenoic acid in plasma phospholipids in healthy men.

 

Liou YA, King DJ, Zibrik D.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/17374659

 

 

My research is leading me to similar conclusions. There are zero negative studies that I could find on nuts, but physiological evidence points to many negative effects from over consumption of linoleic acid. Large nut consumption also doesn't make sense from an evolutionary perspective. They are hard to open and many hold toxins if not properly prepared. Nuts, as far as I know, have never been a major source of energy for any traditional society. Starch and/or saturated fat, in some cases, have sustained humans for ages.

[misterE]

 

 

 

 

My research is leading me to similar conclusions. There are zero negative studies that I could find on nuts, but physiological evidence points to many negative effects from over consumption of linoleic acid. Large nut consumption also doesn't make sense from an evolutionary perspective. They are hard to open and many hold toxins if not properly prepared. Nuts, as far as I know, have never been a major source of energy for any traditional society. Starch and/or saturated fat, in some cases, have sustained humans for ages.

 

 

 

 

Exactly. Although I think saturated-fat was more of a condiment to the starch, rather than a major source of calories.