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DR. GUNDRY PODCAST: GUT HEALTH, WEIGHT LOSS, AND NUTRITION
Best & Worst Nut Butters For Your Health - Dr. G's Quick Health Tip | EP 385.B
00:17:01
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- [00:01]
Dr. Steven Gundry
Welcome to the Dr. Gundry podcast, where Dr. Steven Gundry shares his groundbreaking research from over 25 years of treating patients with diet and lifestyle changes alone. Dr. Gundry and other wellness experts offer inspiring stories, the latest scientific advancements, and practical tips to empower you to take control of your health and live a long, happy life.
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Best Nut Butters now you've probably been told your entire life that all nut butters are healthy, right? Well, I'm here to tell you, buyer beware. Some of these so called healthy nut butters could be doing a lot more harm than good. That's why today I'm revealing the top nut butters that are actually good for your health. And believe me, there are ones that you probably wouldn't even think of. But let's start with the worst nut butters. The worst one by far is peanut butter. Unfortunately, peanuts are not nuts, they're legumes. They're full of lectins. In fact, studies have shown that 98% of people are born with the IGE antibody to the peanut lectin and lectin. Peanut allergies are notorious. Plus, peanuts, unfortunately, are one of the most common foods contaminated with a flavotoxin, one of the most potent carcinogens known. Peanuts are high in omega 6 fat, which can contribute to chronic inflammation and other health issues. Usually, most commercial peanut butters contain sugar, other oils as stabilizing agents and additives as preservatives, making it even a worse healthy choice. And as anyone probably knows, peanut butter can make you fat. Now, interestingly, having trained in Georgia at medical school, roasting increases the lectin content of peanuts, whereas boiling decreases the lectin content of peanuts. And that's why, oddly enough, boiled peanuts in the shell are incredibly popular in Georgia. Who knew? In general, though, peanuts are not a healthy choice for your nut butter. All right, next up is cashew butter. Let's be clear on this. Cashews are not nuts either. They are part of the poison ivy family. And if you think swallowing poison ivy or spreading poison ivy on your celery stick is a good idea, then have your cashew butter. But cashews are not a nut. And they are fortunately, very inflammatory. Did you know there's such a thing as cashew pickers disease? The peel on cashews, which you never see, is so inflammatory that it causes burns on the hands of people who pick cashews. So where cashews came from originally was the Amazon. And the Amazonian Indians always pulled the cashew nut off the cashew fruit and ate the fruit and threw the nut away. Cashew butter is not your friend. Now here's a very interesting fun fact. Pecan butter. I secretly put in a little note in the Plant Paradox Cookbook, one of my New York Times bestsellers, that pecans have a lectin. Now, I secretly put it in there because, as I mentioned, I trained at Georgia Medical School and pecans happen to be rather important to the Georgia economy. And as much as I like pecans, a number of my patients react to the lectin and pecans. So pecan butter is down the list of acceptable nut butters. Now, if you're enjoying what you're hearing, make sure you like, subscribe and share with your friends. How about the best nut butters? The good news is that there are plenty of other really good butters on the market out there. And the first up is walnut butter. Now, I'm a huge fan of walnut butter for multiple reasons. First of all, walnut butter is a really good source of a short chain omega 3 fatty acid called alpha linolenic acid. And if you've read Gut Check, you might have noticed that alpha linolenic acid is extremely useful in making good gut buddies happy and also diminishing the amount of lps, those pieces of bacterial particles from getting into your bloodstream. In fact, the more I can get alpha linolenic acid into you, I can measure the lowering of LPSS in your blood. Good news Walnuts are loaded with polyphenols, so that means they feed good gut bacteria and they offer antioxidant protection. Walnuts don't have any lectins. Now they do have a tannin, which is another defense molecule that gives some people a burning sensation in their mouth. The good news is that soaking walnuts removes that tannin. Now, you can find soaked walnuts in many health food stores. In fact, Whole Foods usually has them in the nut area and you can make your own walnut butter with that. But most commercial walnut butters are fine. But if you notice that you don't like that burning sensation, get yourself some soaked walnuts and that'll eliminate the problem. Pistachio Butter My wife is a huge fan of pistachio butter. Why not? It contains two great eye compounds, Lutein, azeaxanthin, powerful antioxidants for your eyes. They're very high in fiber and again, it's the type of fiber that your gut buddies want to eat and digest. So pistachio butter is great. Also, pistachios are really high in plant based proteins and also some good monounsaturated fats which can actually been shown to improve your cholesterol levels. So those are really great nut butters to start with. And before we go on, if you like what you hear, like it, share it and subscribe.
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Craving something decadent like a double fudge brownie lasagna or an Almond Joy muffin that's secretly good for you, then you'll love my Dr. Gundry newsletter. Each week I send out an exclusive recipe that not only tastes incredible, but also supports your gut, your heart and your lungs long term health. From snacks to desserts, these recipes prove you don't have to give up flavor to eat right. You just need the right ingredients and a little guidance. So go ahead, treat yourself to food that loves you back. Sign up for my free newsletter using the link in this episode's Description.
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Macadamia Nut Butter I happen to be a big fan of macadamia nut butter. Why? Macadamia nut butter contains two really interesting fats. Number one, most of it is the monounsaturated fat oleic acid, the same fat in olive oil. Plus it has another fascinating fat that has been shown to actually improve vessel health in human beings. Why not? It's also a great source of fiber. Fiber that your gut buddies really like and enjoy. Plus, macadamia nuts are packed with minerals like magnesium, manganese and copper. Really important for heart health and energy production and bone health. Now they're high calorie and I have some patients who really need to gain weight and I love to do experiments with them, having them eat either macadamia nuts or macadamia nut butter. And lo and behold, it's an effective way to add healthy fat onto your weight. Now to learn more, check out my YouTube video the insane Health Benefits of Macadamia Nuts Hazelnut Butter as you know, I spend a lot of time in Europe, particularly in France and Italy, and hazelnuts are the European equivalent of almonds and they are used in everything from butters to chocolates. And for good reason. First of all, the peel of hazelnuts have some fantastically important polyphenols and whenever you can find whole hazelnuts, you're better off finding those. They're also very high in folate content. Folate is one of those two vitamins along with B12, which dramatically help lower levels of hope. Homocysteine Homocysteine is an amino acid that can really damage blood vessels and damage your brain, and folate and B12 help lower these levels. And hazelnuts are rich in folate. They have lots of vitamin E. And there are studies that show that hazelnuts support cognitive health and help protect against age related cognitive decline. No wonder they're so popular in Europe. Now, another thing that's popular in the middle east, in the Mediterranean are sesame seeds. And tahini is a butter, if you will, from seeds or sesame seeds rather than nuts. And tahini has a lot of things to speak for it. First of all, it's a part of the plant family that do not contain lectins. On the other hand, you may say, well, sunflower seeds are a seed. Unfortunately, sunflowers come from a completely different plant family that unfortunately have high amounts of lectins. Plus, the fats and sesame seeds are totally different than the fats in sunflower seeds, which are incredibly high in omega 6 fats. So even though they're both seeds, just because something is a seed doesn't make it good or bad. You got to know the family that that seed comes from. Tahini is loaded with monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. We've seen that sesame seeds lower high blood pressure in humans. In fact, a study in humans giving people 2 tablespoons of sesame oil a day lowered their systolic blood pressure by 10 points. And interestingly enough, when these people stopped taking the sesame oil, their blood pressure went right back up. Also, as I've written about in gut check, sesame oil helps lower LPSs in your blood. So why not sesame? Tahini contains calcium, zinc, magnesium, and vitamin E. And lignans. And lignans are part of the plant compounds that actually improve your gut microbiome. And they're powerful antioxidants. And quite frankly, they're delicious and can be used in so many ways. All right, how about pilly nut butter? Now, pilly nut butter is absolutely delicious, but it's hard to find. The good news is it's always organic because of the way it's sourced. Now, pilli nuts are high in saturated fats, but actually really good saturated fats. They support brain function, and they've been shown to reduce inflammation. They're profoundly low in carbohydrates, and they support a ketogenic diet. They're perfect for low carb eating. They're really rich in magnesium, they contain fiber, they contain phosphorus. But they're expensive. But if you can find them, try them. It's absolutely delicious. Now, my least favorite but okay nut batter is peeled almond butter. You may recall that almonds have a really nasty lectin in their peel, and that's why in my books, I urge you to use peeled almonds like Marcona almonds if you're going to use almonds or blanched almonds. But a number of my patients, particularly with autoimmune disease, not only react to the lectins in almonds, but also react to the almond themselves. And they're very sensitive to them. And we test our patients, and a lot of patients, unfortunately, are sensitive even to peeled almonds. Now, most people aren't. So if you want almond butter that is good for you. And there's a lot of good things about almonds. They have a high level of monounsaturated fat. They have a high level of magnesium and folate. Get yourself the peeled almond butter varieties. The and the good news is there's several companies out there. One of them is Barney's. I have no affiliation with either of these companies. The other is called Almond. That is they're available on Amazon. A lot of stores carry this. They use peeled almonds. So if you want a safer almond butter, those are the ones to get. Please don't get the regular almond butters. They're loaded with lectins now. Additional tips. Anytime you're looking at any nut butter, please read the label. So many of these commercial butters have added oils that are not part of that family of nut. They have a lot of interesting sugars that are added to make them taste better. They have a lot of preservatives because nuts, once you grind them, can go rancid very quickly. And a rancid oil tastes awful. So be careful and look at the ingredients. A lot of them are cut with other unsaturated fats or even saturated fats. Look for no added sugar or unsweetened. But if it says unsweetened, make sure there isn't an artificial sweetener like sucralose being added. There are also a number of nut butters that have soy blended in because soy is, quote, a nut. It's not a nut at all any more than a peanut is a nut at all. These are legumes that are loaded with lectins, so buyer beware. Finally, if you get a fresh nut butter, you're probably better off keeping it number one in a dark, cool place or refrigerated. Because once you grind these nuts and open the jar, they go rancid very quickly.
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Dr. Steven Gundry
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Dr. Steven Gundry
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I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dr. Gundry podcast. If you did, please share this with family and friends. You never know how one of these health tips can completely transform someone's life when you take the time to share it with them. There's also the Dr. Gundry Podcast YouTube channel where we have tens of thousands of free health insights that can help you and your loved ones live a long, vital life. Let's do this together.