Nut rung today! Question.

[Roserae]

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask anyway. I'm starting the nut rung today and 1 ounce of macadamias is a little over 1 carb. I seem to remember you are supposed to stick with just an ounce when you are adding nuts in, rather than adding 5 carbs worth. That would be a lot of nuts...and a lot of calories. Is this right?

Boy, I've missed nuts! Such an easy snack, and I really don't have trouble with portion control. I have a super nice food scale and just weigh out an ounce and go on. This week and next, macadamias, next almonds, then pistachios. Hope the pistachios work for me as this is my substitute 'popcorn' when I go to the movies. Takes a long time to eat them and they are salty.

[not2late]

Portion them out and put them into sandwich baggies or little containers. So you won't be tempted to overeat them.

I've cross checked with the newer Atkins publications about the nuts...They have you eating only 1 ounce (not 5 net carbs) of them.

[Roserae]

Thanks! That's what I thought.

Really the portioning out in little baggies just isn't necessary for me. I've had nuts before on this WOE when I wasn't being so meticulous in moving up the OWL rung properly, and even then I didn't have a problem with portions. My plan is basically, even when I find I can tolerate them fine and still lose weight, I won't allow myself more than an ounce of macadamias and an ounce of almonds a day. And if I plan on having pistachios, then I won't have the other two that day. It's just a rule that my dh and I follow and have had no problems sticking to in the past.

Because of this past experience of not wanting to go nuts on nuts, I'm hoping it means that I will be able to have them now with no problems.

As always, thanks for your input.

[Elleth Faewen]

When I hit the nuts rung, I made peanut butter and put it in celery. I put it in a baggie and took it to the movies with me. Just another movie idea for ya!

[2big4mysize]

nut butters are great but there the portion control is really tested unless you make your own and measure the nuts first.

oh and low carb nutbutter cookies, well lets just say that was my closest to cheating on my Atkins I ever came until the carb blow out on day 671 :no

[Roserae]

How do you make your own nut butters??

[Desertthorn]

I have always seen a serving of nuts as about a small handful. I've never tried to make nutbutters. I found some almond butter here in Japan and it cost me a fortune, but it was worth it. Oh yum

[Elleth Faewen]

Put the nuts in a food processor. Peanut butter takes about five minutes.

[Roserae]

Really? That's it? Would the same thing work for almonds, macadamias and pecans? I've ground up almonds to make almond flour...do I just let it go longer and it will turn creamy instead of powdery?

I'm not ready to do peanuts yet. Not sure if I will wait till the legume rung or not on those, but they aren't my favorite anyway. But I do like peanut butter, I was hoping almond butter would be good too.

[not2late]

yup, that's all you do. Just keep processing the nuts, after the powdery stage, they'll get oily and start to clump together. Keep on processing and the stuff will turn into a paste (the butter). You can store the leftovers. The oil will separate and float to the top, just stir it back into the butter and you're ready to eat.

[Roserae]

Well, that just great! I never would have thought it would be that easy. I'm thinking I'd need to add a bit of salt. I'll have to measure the almonds before I guess so I know the carb count. I'm not adding almonds till the week after next, so I'll wait, but I always loved peanut butter and celery, so I'm going to try that with almonds. Yum! Thanks guys!

[2big4mysize]

if you roast your nuts first it will taste more like pb type stuff.

and remember for some reason Dr Atkins said one ounce of nuts was 5 carbs so he is talking about 1 ounce of nuts when you add your 5 on the nut rung not 5 actual net carbs of nuts. it is in DANDR in chapter 8 pg 86 near the bottom

[Elleth Faewen]

I haven't tried with almonds. With peanuts I get the Planters cocktail peanuts, which have a little oil and are already salted. I like to add one packet of splenda per 8 oz of peanuts to make it taste more like pb, but most prefer it with no splenda at all.

I looked for almond butter recipes on the web and found these two:

Almond butter (replacement for peanut butter)

4tbsp almond flour
1tbsp flax flour
1 to 2 tbsp olive oil
1/8 teaspoon orange or almond extract flavor to taste (optional)

Make fresh every time, or refrigerate, the longer it sits the more oil is absorbed, use more oil to make it more spreadable.

½ C or 100 g Almonds (whichever you prefer to use will be fine)
¼ C or 50 ml Olive oil
Pinch of salt (to cut the heavy oil taste; optional)

Mix almonds in a multichopper or blender until finely ground; I like my almond butter on the chunky side, so I tend to under-chop the almonds. Be careful not to over-blend the mixture and cause mulching of the almonds. Add other ingredients and mix to blend only. Yields roughly ¾ C or 125 g. This spread will keep in a tight lid jar for up to three months in the refrigerator. The longer the spread sits, the more oil is absorbed. Use more oil to make it less viscous.

[Roserae]

I looked for almond butter recipes on the web and found these two:

Thank you! I guess since almonds are more dry they need a bit of help from olive oil. I ground up some macadamias yesterday to use as a breading (with almonds and flax) for catfish (DELICIOUS!) and the macadamias turned into butter almost too soon! But, YUM! I'll be making that to put on some celery for sure!