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Are peanuts good for bodybuilding?
Posted by: Ron
Peanuts are touted to be good for you, “supposed” to cut your risk of heart disease and are super convenient. Their dark side often goes unmentioned.
Avoid all commercial peanuts and peanut butter
In past posts, I’ve mentioned nuts and legumes in general being tough to digest without first sprouting them. I want to go a little deeper and give you more information about why peanuts are so dangerous.
First of all, despite having “nut” in their name, peanuts are legumes. They grow underground and along with beans and peas belong to the Leguminosae plant family.
Second of all, peanuts are one of the most sprayed crops out there. They’re full of pesticides in an effort to keep pests and fungi from attacking them. The pesticide content alone should be enough to deter you from consuming commercial peanuts and products made from them like peanut butter.
Thirdly, if you can find pesticide free, organic peanuts, you’re still dealing with the anti-nutrients it contains that makes them difficult to digest. Then there’s the issue of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a carcinogenic (cancer causing) mold produced by fungi, that’s frequently found on peanuts, both organic and commercial. They thrive in moist conditions which is where peanuts grow.
On top of all that, the fourth point is that peanuts are high in omega 6 fatty acids, which are known to be pro inflammatory. In an ideal world, your omega 3 to omega 6 intake would be relatively equal. A good goal to should be to aim for a 1:1 ratio. In modern western diets, that ratio is anywhere from 1:15 to as much as 1:50 (omega 3:omega 6). That explains quite a bit of where all these chronic inflammation conditions originate. Conditions like:
- Arthritis
- Achy muscles and joints
- Skin irritations
- Allergies
- High blood pressure
- Ulcers
- Constipation
- Lethargy
and the list keeps going on.
I suggest you definitely avoid peanuts for their fat content (bad fats) and if you’re eating them for their protein content, I suggest you look elsewhere since it is an incomplete protein, much like soy, and it has roughly the same incomplete protein content.
If you’ve already kicked your peanut butter or peanut habit, what did you replace it with?
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