Can you eat nuts on keto? Nuts are a tasty and nutritious addition to your diet. But, there is a difference between different nuts and how ketogenic they are. Hopefully I can shed some light on which nuts are the ones that are better for you to eat and which ones you should have in small amounts or even avoid.
When I am making my suggestions, I am looking at the fats and carbohydrates for the nuts. Each nut has its own nutrition profile which I will not get into. For the sake of this blog, I want you to be aware of how much fat and carbohydrates you are consuming since we are focusing on the keto diet. If you are not on the keto diet, your decisions on which nuts you want to consume can change greatly dependent on what factors you are considering.
Why eat nuts
- High in healthy fats. Eating healthy fats on the keto diet will help you be satiated after you eat, you will stay full longer and are a great quick snack.
- Generally low in carbs. Some nuts are higher in carbs than others, but the bigger factor is how many you are eating. They are great, but it is also easy to eat too many with out realizing it (at least it is for me).
- High in nutrients. Nuts have a good vitamin and mineral profile.
- Convenient snacks. I keep a variety of nuts in my pantry. When I want some nuts, I will get a few of each type so that I am getting a variety of flavors and nutrients. Being able to easily choose a snack that is ketogenic is much better than not having something ketogenic that you grab to satiate that hunger.
- Have some unexpected health benefits. Studies have shown that polyunsaturated fats, fiber, magnesium, and L-arginine (all found in nuts) may help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and reduce chronic inflammatory markers.
- Antioxidants. Nuts have antioxidants that help protect your body.
- Easy to transport. Unlike other snacks, you can fill up a container of nuts and off you go.
- Affordable and easy to buy.
Cons to eating nuts
- NUT ALLERGIES! More and more people are developing allergies to nuts. It may be worth talking to your doctor to have a food allergy test performed so you know before you eat nuts if you are at risk of a life threatening reaction.
- High in calories. You need to pay attention to the calories you are eating. It is very easy to eat more calories than you intended. I personally don’t pay much attention to how many calories I eat, but when you are being strict with your macros this would be important.
- Easy to over eat. I think this is self explanatory if you enjoy eating nuts. While they are relatively low in carbs, eating too many will raise the carb level above your desired levels.
- Pay attention to how the nuts are prepared. Some nuts are covered in salt (which isn’t bad by itself), but others may be roasted in an oil that you may not want in your diet. The big thing here it to read the label to make sure you know what you are eating.
- If they are roasted with a coating of sugar, they are not keto friendly and should be avoided. “Honey Roasted” is one of the terms used to say roasted with a nice layer of sugar. You may be surprised by how many nuts have some form of sugar added to them.
- Nuts can kick you out of ketosis if not eaten in proportion (eating too many), and can stall your weight loss.
- Many nuts contain phytic acid. I have a paragraph below to explain more.
Below I have a chart that is based on the information from www.almonds.com that I arranged in the order of the nut that has the most fat to the least fat. Above the total fat, you can also see that the carbohydrates also follow the same order. Yes, I did notice that peanuts were not on this list, that is because they are a legume, and not a nut. Cashews also are not a nut (more properly, they are a seed from a fruit), but they were included on the list from almonds.com, so I left them there. While there are a lot of other nuts out there, these are the most common ones that we have here in the US that people snack on.
From the numbers on the chart, you can see that the first 6 nuts are pretty ketogenic. The last two are much higher in carbs, and you should eat only small amounts. I think that it is also important to point out that almonds, while are number 6 on my list also have one of the best nutritional profiles of all of the nuts, but should be eaten with caution (see my notes below).
| Based on 1 oz serving | Macadamia | Pecan | Brazil | Walnut | Hazelnut | Almond | Pistachio | Cashew |
| Calories | 204.0 | 196.0 | 186.0 | 185.0 | 178.0 | 163.0 | 159.0 | 157.0 |
| Protein (g) | 2.2 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.2 |
| Total Carbohydrates (g) | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 6.1 | 7.8 | 8.6 |
| Net Carbohydrates (g) | 1.9 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 7.7 |
| Total fat (g) | 21.5 | 20.4 | 18.8 | 18.5 | 17.2 | 14.0 | 12.9 | 12.4 |
| Saturated fat (g) | 3.4 | 1.8 | 4.3 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.2 |
| Polyunsaturated fat (g) | 0.4 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 13.4 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 2.2 |
| Monounsaturated fat (g) | 16.7 | 11.6 | 7.0 | 2.5 | 12.9 | 8.8 | 6.8 | 6.7 |
| Dietary Fiber (g) | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 0.9 |
| Potassium (mg) | 104 | 116 | 187 | 125 | 193 | 200 | 291 | 187 |
| Magnesium (mg) | 37 | 34 | 107 | 45 | 46 | 76 | 34 | 83 |
| Zinc (mg) | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.6 |
| Copper (mg) | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| Vitamin B6 (mg) | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| Folate (mgc) | 3 | 6 | 6 | 28 | 32 | 14 | 14 | 7 |
| Riboflavin (mg) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Niacin (mg) | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Alpha-tocopherol (type of Vitamin E)(mg) | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 4.3 | 7.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Calcium (mg) | 24 | 20 | 45 | 28 | 32 | 75 | 30 | 10 |
| Iron (mg) | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.9 |
| Phytic acid (grams/100 grams) | .15- 2.62 | .18- 4.52 | .29- 6.34 | .2- 6.69 | .23- .92 | .35- 9.42 | .29- 2.83 | .19- 4.98 |
From the chart above, you can see which nuts you should be looking at to eat on a keto diet. You want to look at the nuts that are high fat, low net carbs and lower phytic acid levels. The phytic acid should be the last consideration, but should still be in your decision making process.
Here are some other interesting facts about these nuts.
Macadamia nuts: High in flavonoids which converts to antioxidants in the body, has a near perfect balance of omega-3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Also has omega7 fatty acid that assists your body to use omega-3 fatty acids. Reduces inflammation, lowers the level of triglycerides keeping your heart healthy, help fight free-radicals in your body that can lead to cancer, support gut health, strengthens bones, improves brain and nerve function.
Pecans: Very low carbohydrate and high fat nut. Contains omega 9 fatty acid, helps to reduce inflammation, helps to burn fat, contains antioxidants, helps to reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol and increase “good” HDL cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, promotes gut health, may reduce your risk of cancer, boosts your immunity, improves your skin, hair, bone and teeth health.
Brazil nuts: High in selenium (one of the highest sources), which is necessary for some key enzymes and helps to prevent damage to our nerve cells. Selenium also helps the liver to detoxify, aids in the transformation of T4 to T3 (thyroid enzymes). They also contain antioxidants, reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol, are good for your heart, decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease, may help prevent some types of cancer, and can help with mood disorders (anxiety, depression and fatigue). They are also considered a complete protein meaning that they have all 9 amino acids.
Walnut: A good source of omega-3 fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and of the fat soluble vitamin E. They are rich in antioxidants, can decrease inflammation, can support a healthy gut, may be able to reduce the risk of some cancers, help control your blood sugar, may help lower blood pressure, supports good brain function, and helps to lower your “bad” LDL cholesterol.
Hazelnut: Also called Filberts. They are a rich source of omega-6 and 9 fatty acids, contain antioxidants (contained in the skin of the nut, so it is recommended to eat whole nuts with the skin), can help reduce bad “LDL” cholesterol levels and increase “good” HDL cholesterol, are heart healthy, have a high level of an antioxidant known as proanthocyandins (believed to help prevent and treat some cancers), high in manganese, can help lower blood sugar levels.
Almond: High in omega-6 fatty acid, not balanced with omega-3. Have the highest levels of phytic acid among nuts (more details on phytic acid below). They also contain the highest amounts of several nutrients, so they are very nutritious. They are also a good source of manganese, have antioxidants (mainly contained in the skin), help control blood sugar, reduce insulin resistance (mainly due to the high levels of magnesium), can lower blood pressure, lower “bad” LDL cholesterol while maintaining “good” HDL cholesterol, prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol (which helps prevent heart disease), the selenium contained in almonds help fight depression and anxiety, and assist with weight loss.
Pistachios: Very high in vitamin B-6, high in antioxidants (third most behind walnuts and pecans), have the highest content of lutein and zeaxanthin (very important for eye health), can help you lose weight, promotes healthy gut bacteria, can lower blood pressure, assists in reducing your “bad” LDL cholesterol and increasing the “good” cholesterol, improve blood vessel health, can help lower blood sugar, and may reduce your risk of colon cancer.
Cashews: Cashews are grown at the bottom of a cashew apple (fruit). So they are different from other nuts in the way that they are grown and harvested and are actually a seed, not a nut. Very high in carbs. Contain aflatoxins that are a liver toxic compound that causes inflammation in the liver. So these aflatoxins will stress your liver, when we want it working at its best to create ketones and all of the other functions it does. However they are also shown to reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol, help fight heart disease, contain high levels of lutein and zeaxanthin (antioxidants that protect the eyes), helps with weight loss, promotes healthy muscles and nerves, reduces your risk certain cancers, assists in the formation of red blood cells, and have the highest level of iron.
How many nuts can I eat?
The amount of nuts that you may want to eat will depend on your dietary needs. If you are calculating your macros, that will determine how many nuts you can have. Below I gave you an approximate of how many nuts are in 1 ounce. I will leave it to you to do the math to mix and match.
15 pecans halves
8 medium brazil nuts
14 walnut halves
12 hazelnuts
24 almonds
49 pistachios
18 medium cashews
Tips to not eating too many
- Pour the nuts into a bowl, do not eat out of the bag or container. This way you can quickly limit the number of nuts you are eating.
- When eating nuts in the shell and out of the container, put the shells into a bowl so that you can visually see how many you have eaten by the number of shells.
- Use a scale to measure how much you have in your bowl.
Other concerns
Phytic acid
Phytic acid or phytate is found in seeds and is a main storage of phosphorus for when the seed sprouts. It also has antioxidant properties. Phytic acid is found in pretty much all edible seeds, grains, legumes and nuts. The amounts of phytic acid does vary greatly among the different types of foods, and even varies greatly within one food. For example, almonds can contain .4 – 9.4%, that is a big difference. Here is a chart from Precisionnutrition.com that breaks down how much phytic acid can be found in different foods.
Phytic acid can be a variable that you may want to consider when choosing your type of nut you want to eat because it can impair mineral absorption. It will impair the absorption of iron, zinc and calcium. This impairment will only last for the meal that you just ate, and not affect any subsequent meals. It is possible that if you eat foods with phytic acid with most of your meals, it is possible to develop a mineral deficiency. While it is rare, it is possible if you are not getting proper nutrition from the rest of your diet.
Depending on how you plan to eat a food that contains phytic acid, there are some ways that you can reduce the levels of the acid. 1. soaking, 2. sprouting, and 3. fermentation. While those do not work well if you are wanting to enjoy a crunchy nut, it may be an option for other foods.
While it is ok for you to eat foods that contain phytic acid, it is better to choose foods that have smaller percentages and do not eat them several times a week. The nuts still have many great health benefits, but if eaten too regularly and actually work against us.
Diverticulosis or Diverticulitis and nuts
First off, what is Diverticulosis? According to webmd.com, it is when pockets called diverticula form in the walls of your digestive tract. The inner layer of your intestine pushes through weak spots in the outer lining. This pressure makes them bulge out, making little pouches. Most often it happens in your colon, the lower part of your large intestine.
Diverticulitis is the infection or inflammation of pouches that can form in your intestines. These pouches are called diverticula.
In the past, there was concern that if you ate nuts that you would develop diverticulosis or diverticulitis. If you are worried about diverticulosis or diverticulitis, then check out this study. In this study they had 47,228 men aged 40-75. They found that there is no association between eating nuts, corn or popcorn and an increased risk of diverticulosis.
So you can eat nuts on keto?
Yes, you can eat nuts on keto. Just be pickier about which nuts you want to eat, and how many.
