Are Nuts Hard To Digest?

Every day you eat several foods to get your daily vitamins, minerals, and calories. It is essential to eat a diverse set of food to ensure you meet all of your nutritional needs. However, while some foods are high in nutritional content, they have drawbacks. Notably, most people love to eat nuts when they are on a health kick but are nuts hard to digest?

 

Unfortunately, we cannot answer the question with a simple yes or no. There are several types of nuts, and as a result, you digest them differently. Additionally, everyone has different reactions to food. However, some things are universal. We will try to answer the question ”Are nuts hard to digest?” in great detail.

Are Nuts Hard To Digest?

Typically, raw nuts are hard to digest compared to other foods. They have phytates and tannins which make it difficult for the human body to digest them. These chemicals are antinutrients that bind to materials.

 

However, once you soak and cook nuts, it is easy for the human body to digest them. Most people do not have any issues digesting nuts once they are cooked and soaked. They can cause some other digestive issues such as gas or bloating, but they should not be difficult to digest. 

 

However, people with nut intolerance or allergies are more likely to be affected by gas or bloating when eating nuts.

 

If nuts are causing digestive issues for you, it is likely caused by one of a few factors. Notably, nuts are high in fat content. Eating a lot of fat in a short period can result in bloating, gas, or other digestive issues.

Can Nuts Create Bloating?

We mentioned it above, but nuts can cause bloating in people. However, it is not as simple as you might think. It is not the nut as a whole that is causing bloating. Instead, it is more likely a component in the nut is causing you to bloat. Eliminating nuts from your diet should not restrict you much and should resolve the problem.

 

Furthermore, it is crucial to understand there is a difference between allergies and intolerance. Many people have an intolerance of many types of food. However, the consequences of eating those foods are not especially severe. Conversely, eating foods you are allergic to can have severe consequences.

Can Nuts Create Digestive Problems

Yes, as we mentioned above, nuts can cause digestive problems. However, it is unlikely for one to experience digestive issues if the nuts are cooked. Digestive problems can persist if you have an intolerance to certain types of nuts. Furthermore, an allergy to any type of nut is likely to cause digestive issues.

 

Why Are Nuts Hard To Digest?

We touched on this above, but we want to make sure you know the cause of indigestion with nuts. Nuts contain antinutrients such as phytates and tannins. These chemicals bind up materials, preventing them from igniting the enzymatic reactions that tell a seed to nut or sprout until it is safe.

 

Plants and nuts do everything they can to survive so that they can produce a new plant. As a result, animals can eat a nut and have it pass through their digestive system completely unharmed. It can then grow a new plant as if nothing happened.

 

Unfortunately, this trait in nuts means it is challenging to digest nuts well when uncooked. Not only do we struggle to digest them, but we are unable to absorb most of their minerals. Notably, phytate in minerals binds up essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, and iron.

 

Interestingly, some animals like rats can digest phytates without any issues. Unfortunately, humans do not produce the enzyme to digest it. This is why we can cook nuts to break down antinutrients before they enter our system.

Will Roasting Make Nuts Easier To Digest

So, we now know that the biggest obstacles to digesting nuts are the antinutrients in them. As a result, we must ask the question, what can we do to make nuts easier to digest? The best thing to do is to cook nuts before we ingest them. The higher the cooking temperature, the less phytate will remain in nuts when you eat them.

 

All types of cooking that involve eating work to kill phytates in nuts. As a result, roasting is an effective method of making nuts easier to digest. The higher the temperature, the better off you are.

 

Additionally, roasting nuts has benefits you might not have considered beforehand. Notably, when you roast nuts, you add extra ingredients for them. People add seasoning, sugar, and other ingredients to nuts when roasting, and as a result, there are more vitamins and minerals in the finished product of roasted nuts.

Hardest Nuts To Digest

As you may well know, there are several types of nuts out there. Each of the nuts available for you to eat has different properties. They are similar in many ways because they are all in the same category. However, the fact that they are different nuts inherently means they have varying properties.

 

Here we will be looking at the hardest nuts to digest. We will analyze what makes them so challenging to digest and what you can do to improve your culinary experience with those nuts.

Pistachios

Most nuts do not have many culinary differences. They might taste different, but their chemical composition is quite similar. However, some nuts are more difficult to digest than others. Notably, pistachios are high in fructans and galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS). Both of these chemicals are Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols (FODMAPs), and as a result, they make digestion more difficult for people.

Cashews

Cashews are another popular nut that people eat for their nutritional benefits. Many people add them to their diets to get vitamins and minerals without putting on weight. Unfortunately, cashews have the same problem as pistachios. These nuts are high in fructans and GOS. Since both of them are FODMAPs, they can cause indigestion.

Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts are among the most popular nuts in the world. People eat them all around the world, and they make fantastic snack food. Unfortunately, they are higher in FODMAPs than other nuts, and as a result, you should only eat them in limited quantities. Typically, try to avoid eating more than 10 hazelnuts at a time.

Almonds

Almonds are one of the hardest nuts to avoid if you are vegan or have lactose intolerance. Almonds are used to replicate animal products like milk, and as a result, they are a key component of vegan diets. Unfortunately, almonds have higher FODMAP concentrations than most other nuts, and as a result, you should avoid eating many of them at a time.

Health Benefits of Nuts

We have been mostly negative about nuts to this point. Before you eat any food, you should know what issues it might cause, and as a result, we wanted to make sure you were educated on nuts. While you can experience indigestion with uncooked nuts, there are many health benefits to eating nuts. Here we will look at the most significant health benefits.

They Are a Great Source of Nutrients

Antinutrients can make nuts hard to digest and are present in most nuts. However, nuts are also filled with many beneficial nutrients. Notably, an ounce of mixed nuts will contain roughly five grams of protein, 16 grams of fat, six grams of carbohydrates, and three grams of fiber. Additionally, it should contain a significant percentage of your daily intake of vitamin E, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, manganese, and selenium.

However, it is crucial to note that the carbohydrate content in nuts can vary significantly. For example, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts have low carb concentrations, whereas cashews are rich in carbs.

They Have Lots of Antioxidants

One of the best aspects of nuts is their antioxidant levels. Antioxidants combat disease risk and keep us healthy. They do this by combating oxidative stress by neutralizing free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that can damage your sales and increase your disease risk. A study found that walnuts are better at fighting free radicals than fish.

Eating Nuts Can Help You Lose Weight

You might have heard that nuts have high-calorie concentrations. As a result, you might not understand how they aid in weight loss. However, a large study found that people on the Mediterranean diet lost two more inches from their waists when eating nuts rather than olive oil.

Part of the reason nuts can help you lose weight is that you do not absorb all of their calories. For example, a package of almonds should result in a 160 to 170-calorie intake. However, your body will only absorb around 130 of those calories. As a result, you will get a full feeling, but your body will pass a significant percentage of the calories as waste.

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They Can Lower Your Cholesterol and Triglycerides

Staying healthy requires that you stay on top of your health in many ways. You need to control how much you eat so you do not get overweight. Additionally, you should exercise several times a week to improve your heart health. However, other things are more complex to take care of as an adult.

Notably, you should put in some effort to focus on your macronutrient intake. Doing so will help you manage cholesterol and triglyceride levels since nuts have fantastic effects on these. Specifically, pistachios lower triglycerides in people suffering from diabetes.

Cholesterol is something you want to stop from building up in your system. People with high cholesterol can significantly decrease their lifespan. Fortunately, nuts have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels.

Nuts have high monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid levels, and as a result, they lower cholesterol levels when you eat them.

Nuts Can Reduce Inflammation

Another healthy aspect of nuts is their anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation is the body’s way of fighting off injury, bacteria, and viruses. You might not feel great when inflamed, but your body is healing.

However, remaining inflamed for long periods can do more damage than good. Long-term inflammation can damage your organs and increase your risk of disease. Eating nuts has been shown to reduce inflammation and promote healthy aging.

Nuts Are High in Fiber

Everybody needs to poop, and we need to poop regularly. Having regular bowel movements is essential to living a healthy life. Going several days in a row without a bowel movement can cause significant health problems.

One of the reasons some people do not have bowel movements regularly is they do not have enough fiber in their diet. Fortunately, nuts have high fiber contents. Specifically, nuts with the highest fiber contents include:

Nuts Can Reduce Your Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

If you are going to live a long life, you need to take care of your heart. Your heart is your most important organ. If it stops working, there is no coming back from that. Sadly, many people do not put in the work to keep their hearts healthy, and as a result, they die young.

Fortunately, there are simple things you can do to reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke. Notably, several studies have found that nuts reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. So, add them to your diet, and you have a better chance of living a long and healthy life.

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Jason Hughes
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