Recently, almond flour caught my attention. I have seen many people on Instagram, Pinterest and other social networks, show many healthy recipes for pancakes, muffins, and all of those goodies using this type of flour for almost everything! But is it healthy?
I'm like the food police. I hear about a new healthy food and I immediately go into research mode to see what all the fuss is about. At the same time, I let all of you know of my new findings, so you can try them as well. However, before I tell you about them, I have done a lot of research. Why is it considered healthy? Is it really as beneficial as they say? So I was determined to dig a little deeper, to really understand and see what was going on with the almond flour. You won't believe the things I found!
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Almond flour fools your perception of quantity. What do I mean by this? Simple. One cup of this flour contains around 90 almonds! For example: If you prepare muffins with 2.5 cups of almond flour for 4 servings, you will be eating 56 almonds per serving!
If you were eating just the almonds, you would know when you're full. However, when you consume almond flour, your body loses the awareness of being full and you will continue on eating.
1. High level of polyunsaturated fats: Of the fat found in almonds, around 20 percent is polyunsaturated fatty acids. Consuming too many of these fats can lead to a lot of health issues like a slower metabolism, inflammatory response in your body, digestive issues, slow thyroid function, and suppression of progesterone and androgen production while increasing estrogen production. This means you will gain weight, suffer from PMS, acne and more.
2. The fats in almond flour change when heated: This means that once the almonds are heated, there is a chemical reaction causing some of the fatty acids to turn into oxidized fatty acids. Keep in mind that oxidized fats means free radicals, and free radicals means cell damage. You don't want any more damage to your cells do you?
3. High levels of oxalates: Oxalates are produced by plants because they don't want to be eaten! Almond flour has a lot of them, and they can be a big problem for anyone with leaky gut, arthritis, gut dysbiosis, or behavioral issues such as A.D.D.
Instead of using almond flour, go for coconut flour. The fats found in coconut flour are primarily saturated fat, which means you can safely heat it without making it toxic for your body. Plus, the coconut oil found in this flour is a superfood! It helps you lose weight, controls your candida (yeast in the vagina), it boosts your metabolism, and a lot more. So choose speeding your metabolism with coconut flour instead of slowing it down with almond flour.
However, don't over-do coconut flour. It is a bit expensive, so using it with moderation is good for your pocket. Moderation is also good for your health! Remember too much of anything will eventually make you sick. So everything you eat or do, do it with moderation.
Have you fallen into the almond flour bandwagon? Share your experiences with both types of flours and your recipes too!
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