Ah nuts!

Nuts have become a very fashionable 'diet-food' over the last few years primarily because they contain high levels of good fat and protein which fits in very well with the high-fat, high-protein diet crowd.

I DO recommend nuts as a good food choice for people wanting to eat healthily and lose weight, however my advice comes with a few caveats.

How much should you eat?

Firstly, if you are going to eat nuts you need a very clear understanding of how calorie-dense they are. You see, fats contain 9 calories of energy per gram (more than double that of carbs or protein).

This means you should eat less than half of the portion size in fats that you would from another macronutrient. I recommend a SMALL handful of nuts as a full MEAL, and a serving the size of your thumb as one portion, if you are eating them with other foods.

You see, fats contain 9 calories of energy per gram

Those small 'snack-sized' bags of nuts at the till points in the supermarkets contain about three snacks, not one.

Don’t eat roasted/flavoured/salted nuts

The second place most people fall down when it comes to nuts is that they eat roasted and salted or sugar-coated nuts as a HEALTH-FOOD.

If you're eating nuts, eat them raw, plain and unsalted, otherwise you're just kidding yourself... really.

So, should you have nuts in YOUR pantry? I would say 'Yes', but use them sparingly and wisely.

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