Macadamia - Myths and Science

Another great food gets a bad rap?

When most people think of macadamia nuts, they say, “Oh, but they are so fattening!”
This is simply untrue!  It is another belief based on misinformation. Similar to the bad rap coconut oil got and continues to get in many circles, processed macadamia nuts are confused with their raw counterparts.

Confusion also comes from the presence of saturated fats.  Macadamia nuts, however, contain a high level of monounsaturated fats. Just don’t eat them roasted and salted!

Saturated fats are highly misunderstood:  we need some saturated fats for cell health.  A poor diet - one high in animal fats and other acid causing practices, poor food combining, processed foods, a lack of vegetables, and a plethora of  low quality ingredients - nullifies any argument about good fats and bad fats, or the nature of saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fats.  Good foods get vilified in the midst of an ill paradigm.

Macademia nuts are now being recognized as a healthy part of a good diet - especially concerning heart health.

See: http://live.psu.edu/story/30112

“The Healthy Heart diet with macadamia nuts did reduce total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels compared with the standard American diet. The researchers reported in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition, that the macadamia nuts reduced total cholesterol by 9.4 percent and low-density lipoprotein by 8.9 percent.”

I usually order mine from Living Tree Community.

I found raw organic macadamia nuts  for a lower price here, which I haven’t yet tried. (Still working on my last 10lb order!)

Curing Stomach Acid Problems

My friend Adam had serious stomach acid problems. He was chronically on ant-acids, and had a close call when overdosing on baking soda dissolved in water to treat the intense burning symptoms. I encouraged him to heal himself with foods. The Standard American Diet (SAD) has a way of causing too much acid to build up. I simply suggested that his meals should include green vegetables, such as broccoli, green beans, collard greens, kale, zucchini, snow peas, snap peas, salads. I encouraged him to get a lot of celery and cucumber to have on hand - eating a couple of stalks of celery or cucumber quarters in case of emergency, and for maintenance to have one or two stalks of celery with each meal. (He prefers celery to cucumber.  My personal fave is sweet snap peas when in season.)

These super simple practices completely cured him. He hasn’t touched an ant-acid since making this simple change in his diet.

Vivacious Variety: Vegetables and More Vegetables

Here is a delicious and substantial salad you can have as a side dish to supplement meals, or as a snack when those late night munchies hit. Vegetables balance meals to the alkaline side and contribute vitamins, minerals, fiber. You will find you can use this basic recipe with all sorts of variations.

1 large or 2 small zucchini
1 red bell pepper
4 medium or 2 large kale leaves
1 green onion
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
juice of 1/2 lime
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Chop the vegetables in to large pieces (Chopping for a food processor should take only a moment - you just want to get the pieces to a manageable size. For example, cut the zucchini into 4 pieces, the bell pepper into 4-6 pieces.)
Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse about 10 times - or until the veggies are of a uniform size.  I prefer chunky chunks, though some folks like closer to salsa sized bits.

Variation suggestions: Use snap peas, snow peas, green beans, celery, save your broccoli stems - peel them and add to the melange. Add parsley, watercress, or cilantro. Use fresh herbs: thyme, basil, dill or oregano.

Having a simple basic recipe that you can change up to keep variety in your meals helps stay healthy and stimulated.