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The Ultimate Nut Guide Normalized Per Calorie
8/15/2019

This is a resource page to compare the various types of nuts. We all know nuts are super good for you but also quite high in fat. So, it helps to know what kind of fat is found in a nut. What follows, is a breakdown of the various types of fat found in each nut, percent breakdown is based on percent of calories coming from that macro. For example, 14% of the calories in almonds are protein, and 47% of calories in almonds are monounsaturated fats.

Nut Mono. Poly. Saturated
Chestnuts 2% 1.1% 0.6%
Walnuts 22% 51% 4.9%
Almonds 47% 18% 5.6%
Hazelnuts 63% 11% 6.1%
Pistachios 37% 21% 8.5%
Peanuts 37% 23% 10%
Cashews 39% 13% 13%
Pine Nuts 32% 36% 13%
Macadamia Nuts 72% 1% 15%
*All our data comes from the USDA Nutrient Database.


Nut Protein $ / lb
Chestnuts 8% 10$
Walnuts 16% 5$
Almonds 14% 10$
Hazelnuts 9% 6$
Pistachios 14% 12$
Peanuts 16% 5$
Cashews 13% 13$
Pine Nuts 7% 14$
Macadamia Nuts 4% 18$

As you can see, the nuts with the lowest saturated fat are Chestnut, walnuts and hazelnuts. Chestnuts are quite different from the various other nuts, as they're mostly carbohydrates whereas most other nuts are all fat.

Macadamia nuts come in last at 15% saturated fat, but it's worth noting that they're also the lowest in omega-6 fatty acids, the type that cause inflammation.

The per pound cost above comes from Nuts.com. Nuts are a bit costly, but you gotta remember that they're also very dense, about 10 times denser than fruits and vegetables and thus a lot cheaper than they appear to be. So, a 10 lb bag of apples has roughly the same satiety as a 1 lb bag of nuts. When determining fullness, your body normalizes for calories, not weight, more on that later. So, if 1 lb of apples costs $1.50, then a $10 bag of nuts doesn't seem quite so bad.

If you're looking to cut your nut costs, sometimes the shelled versions are cheaper than the unshelled ones. You can look at as an activity. Unshell them while you watch netflix or when you go out to the movies: it's pretty easy to sneak nuts in your pockets ;)

Now, let's compare the electrolytes. You'll notice nuts are generally high in magnesium and nice and low in calcium and sodium. Almonds are a clear winner in the calcium department. And most brands will fortify their almond milk with even more calcium.

And, to counter all this overzealous calcium fortification, if you want to optimize your magnesium to calcium ratio as high as possible, Chestnuts, cashews and pine nuts are a clear winner.

Nut Magnesium Potassium
Chestnuts 18% 11%
Walnuts 15% 5%
Almonds 22% 7%
Hazelnuts 12% 6%
Pistachios 10% 11%
Peanuts 14% 6%
Cashews 25% 7%
Pine Nuts 18% 6%
Macadamia Nuts 9% 3%
*All our data comes from the USDA Nutrient Database.
Nut Phosphorous Calcium
Chestnuts 12% 3%
Walnuts 24% 4%
Almonds 24% 18%
Hazelnuts 13% 7%
Pistachios 25% 8%
Peanuts 17% 4%
Cashews 31% 3%
Pine Nuts 2% 1%
Macadamia Nuts 7% 5%
*All our data comes from the USDA Nutrient Database.

Sodium is pretty much 0 for all the above. Keep in mind, all these values are for raw versions of the nuts. If you buy a dry roasted bag of anything from above, chances are, it's going to have a lot of salt in it!

Of course, there's many ways to consume nuts. You can make milk out them! Here's a recipe for Hazelnut milk.

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Kale.World is all about nutritional density – all our findings are normalized on a per calorie basis, making it easier to compare various foods.

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