Do Nuts Break a Fast?
Whether nuts break your fast or not mainly depends on the following considerations:
- Are you strictly following an intermittent fasting plan?
- Do you eat nuts during the feasting window only?
- Do you eat a strictly controlled number of nuts during your feasting window?
- Are nuts your only snack?
- Do you avoid unhealthy foods that break a fast like French fries, ice cream, etc.?
If the replies to the above questions are all “NO”, it’s certain that nuts break your fast. How come, then?
Are you strictly following an intermittent fasting plan?
For either intermittent fasting beginners or pros, it’s a must to conform to an intermittent fasting diet plan. Since numerous intermittent fasting plans are available like 16:8 or 5:2, no matter what diet plan is used and what target you expect from intermittent fasting, you’ll never make it if you fail to follow a fasting diet plan in a strict way (Not only intermittent fasting, so does everything).
Then, what should you do to strictly follow an intermittent fasting plan? For example, if you pick up a 16:8 diet plan, you should, first of all, limit yourself to water or drinks friendly to fasting like black coffee during the 8-hour fasting window while allowing yourself to eat healthy foods alone during the 16-hour fasting window. If you fail to stick to the regulations, intermittent fasting can be instantly broken no matter whether you eat nuts or not.
It’s quite understandable that you fail to strictly follow intermittent fasting because starting to keep a healthy lifestyle for either weight loss or body health is quite difficult.
Do you eat nuts during the feasting window only?
Just as the general principle of intermittent fasting says, intermittent fasting doesn’t regulate the specific diets you should consume but when and how to eat. Simply put, all healthy foods, including nuts, are friendly to intermittent fasting as long as they are eaten in an appropriate amount and at the appropriate time.
During the fasting window, no food can be eaten and only water and fasting-friendly drinks are acceptable. Now that no food can be eaten during the fasting window, it has nothing to do with food type. Any food can break a fast if it is consumed during the fasting window.
Nuts are regarded as healthy snacks because they’re rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega-3 that are beneficial for heart and brain health. However, if you eat them during the fasting window, all their benefits for health will be totally compromised.
How many nuts do you usually eat every day?
Although nuts are rich in nutrients beneficial for body health, they are always blamed for the high calories they contain. The following graph displays the calorie-per-ounce comparison between different types of nuts.
Based on the graph above, it’s concluded that nuts contain high calories that will possibly boost weight gain if too many are consumed. Normally, your daily nuts intake shouldn’t be more than a handful or 1/4 cup if you’d like to keep a balance between calorie control and nutrient intake. From calorie content alone, it can be seen that almonds, cashews, and pistachios are optimal options to choose from.
Are nuts your unique snacks?
Believe it or not, sometimes it’s snacks that drive you to gain weight and in some cases, changing snacking habits even helps to drop 10 pounds of weight.
Healthy snacks play an important role in contributing to weight control, which is especially necessary when it comes to intermittent fasting because it strictly regulates when to eat and when to fast. Overeating is one of the commonest issues to possibly meet for fasters who’d like to eat as much as possible during the eating window, leading to the bad consequence that more foods are consumed than ordinary.
If that speaks of you, then nuts will definitely break your fast.
Do you try to avoid an unhealthy diet for intermittent fasting?
An unhealthy diet like ice cream or French fries surely breaks a fast so you should say goodbye to it as early as possible if you want to keep fit and healthy. If the overall diet plan covers unhealthy elements, let alone some nuts.
How Nutritious Are Nuts?
Nuts are rich in proteins, saturated fat, carbs, and fiber all of which are beneficial for health. Then, what type of nuts are the most nutritious?
Protein
Proteins help to repair cells and generate new ones, protect bodies against bacteria and viruses, and fuel your energy.
With different types of nuts compared, almonds top the list while Macadamia nuts fall to the bottom.
Saturated Fat
Saturated fat is bad for people’s health because it increases heart disease risk and gains weight.
With different types of nuts compared, cashews and pine nuts fall to the bottom while almonds top the list.
Mono-unsaturated Fat
Mono-unsaturated fat is a type of healthy fat that is beneficial to reduce the risk of heart diseases and to boost the function of blood vessels, playing a necessary role in blood control. Based on the comparison between nuts on monounsaturated fat content, Macadamia nuts top the list while walnuts fall to the bottom.
Poly-unsaturated Fat
According to the article about polyunsaturated fat released by AHA, polyunsaturated fats can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood to finally lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. They also provide nutrients to help develop and maintain your body’s cells. Based on the comparison between nuts on poly-unsaturated fat content, walnuts top the list while Macadamia nuts fall to the bottom.
Fiber
Eating fiber boosts your body’s function for constipation, leading to benefits of weight loss and control of diabetes, heart disease, and some types of cancer. Based on the comparison between nuts on fiber content, almonds top the list while cashews fall to the bottom.
Bottom Line
- Nuts can be friendly to intermittent fasting as long as an appropriate amount is eaten and appropriate types are selected.
- The ideal amount of nuts intake should be controlled within a handful of 1/4 cup.
- When it comes to the type of nuts best fit for weight loss, almonds, cashews, and pistachios should be selected to replace macadamia nuts or pecans.
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