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I wanted to do more research before making this post, but time is of the essence (given the time of year). (By the way, here, again, is where we need a wiki!!) Options: Large quantities: Haag Farm (walnuts only) - Quality? Excellent. - Variety? Walnuts only (but many kinds of walnuts). - Prices? Excellent. - Transparency? Good (at least good; not enough info to know whether it's excellent -- they're in the middle of the harvest season, didn't want to harass them with a bunch of questions.). - BBB rating: F. Sun Organic Farm - Quality? Full report when I receive my 10 lbs. each of pistachios and almonds (probably Monday). 2015-10-28 Update: Quality: excellent! Details in separate new post in this thread. - Variety? Excellent. - Prices? Good. - Transparency? Excellent. (I called and got no nonsense answers about harvest times and other matters -- not hard sell as in "We won't have this year's pecans for another month but you can rest assured ... yada yada."). - BBB rating: A. Smaller quantities: Nuts.com - Quality? Average. - Variety? Excellent. - Prices? A bit high, not including shipping. (But shipping is cheap.) - Transparency? Good, according to Michael Rae (not his term - he might say "excellent"). - BBB rating: D+ (http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/nuts-edible/nuts-com-inc-in-cranford-nj-27000320 [1]). Living Nutz - Quality? Excellent. - Variety? Somewhat limited. - Prices? Good to excellent, but shipping adds a lot (proportionally) to an order of a few pounds or less. Buying more than a few pound bags of nuts means you save over Nuts.com. - Transparency? Excellent (based on my own experience). - BBB rating: A+. Sun Organic Farm (See above.) FAQ. - You recommend Living Nutz over Nuts.com, the favorite of at least several people in the CR Society - say what?! Yes, strongly. I challenge Michael and Dean and anyone else who uses nuts.com to order walnuts from Living Nutz and compare to the walnuts you've ordered from Nuts.com. A good 1/5 of my walnuts from Nuts.com were not really "light" grade, but close to amber, which generally (not always, though) means older and more exposed to oxygen. Several were actually dried up and shriveled (not edible). Only once have I had a walnut from Living Nutz that wasn't essentially perfect. Maybe I had bad luck with that one bag of walnuts, or maybe I have higher standards (though I doubt it). In a pound bag of hazelnuts from Nuts.com, I had around 12-15 "bad" ones (often not noticeable if you don't soak for several hours). That indicates bad quality control somewhere along the line. In a total of maybe 15 pound bags of nuts from Living Nutz, I've had one bad walnut ("sunburned"), and one bad almond. That's it. Don't want to go all hippy on you but I also like the fact that Living Nutz doesn't sell any candied or damaged (i.e., roasted!) nuts or seeds. I also encourage you to email the owner Davy Colin (indo@) or call (207-780-1101) and pose whatever questions you want. Zeta [1] I'm getting an error message: "You have entered a link to website the admin. doesn't allow ...". WTF?

Al Pater posted the following prospective study [1] (thanks Al!) on the association between nut intake and mortality amongst a group of 20,000 middle aged Italians. It found that compared with people who didn't consume nuts, people who consumed them more than 8 times per month had about a 50% reduction in all-cause mortality risk during the 4 years of followup, largely due to reduced cancer risk. They found the nut eaters also had lower levels of inflammation. Not surprisingly, nut consumption was more beneficial for those who otherwise didn't adhere to a Mediterranean diet. More evidence that nuts are a very healthy food! --Dean ------------- [1] Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep;114(5):804-11. doi: 10.1017/S0007114515002378. Nut consumption is inversely associated with both cancer and total mortality in a Mediterranean population: prospective results from the Moli-sani study. Bonaccio M(1), Di Castelnuovo A(1), De Curtis A(1), Costanzo S(1), Bracone F(1), Persichillo M(1), Donati MB(1), de Gaetano G(1), Iacoviello L(1). Author information: (1)1Department of Epidemiology and Prevention,IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo,Neuromed,86077 Pozzilli,Isernia,Italy. Nut intake has been associated with reduced inflammatory status and lower risk of CVD and mortality. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between nut consumption and mortality and the role of inflammation. We conducted a population-based prospective investigation on 19 386 subjects enrolled in the Moli-sani study. Food intake was recorded by the Italian version of the European Project Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition FFQ. C-reactive protein, leucocyte and platelet counts and the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio were used as biomarkers of low-grade inflammation. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. During a median follow-up of 4·3 years, 334 all-cause deaths occurred. As compared with subjects who never ate nuts, rare intake (≤2 times/month) was inversely associated with mortality (multivariable HR=0·68; 95 % CI 0·54, 0·87). At intake ≥8 times/month, a greater protection was observed (HR=0·53; 0·32, 0·90). Nut intake (v. no intake) conveyed a higher protection to individuals poorly adhering to the Mediterranean diet (MD). A significant reduction in cancer deaths (HR=0·64; 95 % CI 0·44, 0·94) was also observed, whereas the impact on CVD deaths was limited to an inverse, but not significant, trend. Biomarkers of low-grade inflammation were reduced in nut consumers but did not account for the association with mortality. In conclusion, nut intake was associated with reduced cancer and total mortality. The protection was stronger in individuals with lower adherence to MD, whereas it was similar in high-risk groups (diabetics, obese, smokers or those with the metabolic syndrome), as compared with low-risk subjects. Inflammation did not explain the observed relationship. PMID: 26313936 [PubMed - in process]

Someone asked me off-list what my current diet looks like, and I realized I haven't updated the on-line information about it in a long time, although I've alluded to it in scattered places on this forum. I figured I consolidate and expand on what I've shared, for others to criticize : These days I eat the following (by calories): ~30% vegetables ~15% starch, ~35% fruit, ~20% nuts/seeds by calories a few other miscellaneous things. Vegetables The vegetables are a huge variety, and prepared once per week into a big mix. Its a combination of 'chunky' vegetables (just about any veggie in the produce aisle), and greens - where the greens typical include a mix of Kale, collards, chard, spinach, and spring mix - mostly organic. I also eat about 80g of homegrown sprouts and microgreens per day, a mix of broccoli, fenugreek, radish, and arugula sprouts. Starches The starches are about 1/2 sweet potatoes, and the other half and even mix of lentils, black beans, chickpeas, wild & brown rice, quinoa, and barley, all cooked al dente. Fruit My fruit calories come from the following. Below the first two, which are the biggest calorie contributors, the others are probably similar in calorie contributions: Berries - Mix of strawberries, blueberries, wild blackberries, cranberries, sour cherries every day Bananas - I modulate these depending on my weight trajectory - I'm around 2-3 per day these days. Melon - Alternating between cantaloupe, honeydew, mango, papaya, pineapple Durian - I admit it, I'm addicted to durian... Orange - 1/2 an small orange per day, with a bit of the peal/pith Apples - One small-to-medium (crabapple-like) wild apple per day, picked in the fall from wild trees near my house Other Tree Fruit - Persimmons (one of my favorites), plums, peaches, nectarines, pears, pomegranate. Depending on the season. About 1/2 of one of these per day. Note - this does not include the non-standard fruits I eat, like avocado (1/2 per day), cucumber, zucchini, tomato (~100g / day), etc. Nuts / Seeds The nuts I eat include: Hazelnuts, Almonds and Walnuts, in equal parts. The seeds I eat are a mix of the following (in descending order of calories): Flax, chia, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame. Miscellaneous The miscellaneous category includes the following per day: 1/3 ear of corn - 'buttered' with avocado and 'salted' with curry powder, because its tasty. 12g of natto - for vitamin K2 and amyloid breaking. 1.5 tsp of fresh chopped mix of garlic, ginger, tumeric root & horseradish 2 tbsp of cider vinegar 2 tbsp of my ketchup - a homemade mix of cider vinegar, water, tomato paste, sriracha, hot mustard and psyllium as a thickener ~2 tbsp of wide mix of herbs and spices, heavy on the tumeric, but just about anything from the spice aisle you can think of, in a mixture I sprinkle into my "salad dressing" and on my starch mix. 1 Tbsp of fiber & resistant starch - Used as thickener for my salad dressing. Even mix of psyllium husks, plantain flour and potato starch. A small amount of sweetener in my salad dressing (see below) - erythritol & pure stevia. Other Notes: The dressing I make to put on my salad is taken from some of the items listed above, blended together until smooth in my Vitamix. It includes: About 150g of the salad greens - so I don't have to eat them all in leaf form :-) 60g of berry mix The 1/2 orange ~60g of cucumber 100g of tomato 2 tbsp of cider vinegar ~100ml of water 1 Tbsp fiber / resistant starch ~1 tbsp of spice mix A bit of sweetener - erythritol & pure stevia - to make it a little tastier. I eat the exact same thing every day - except for minor variations in fruits and veggies depending on seasonal availability The macronutrient ratio of my diet is about 70:15:15 C:P:F I eat one meal per day, from 6-7:30am. I also drink a lot of lemon water (distilled) before and after my meal from this stainless steel tumbler to avoid coffee/tea close to meal which impedes mineral absorption - ~40oz per day. I also drink a mix of cold & hot brewed, heavily filtered, coffee, black/green/rooibos/herb tea, & ground cacao - about 40-50oz per day. I haven't been counting calories - but it is probably shockingly high, given that I'm weight stable at a BMI of 17.3 (115lbs @ 5'8.5" tall) and my Fitbit tells me I'm exercising in one form or another for an average of about 8-9 hours per day, about 5 hours of that pedaling leisurely at my bike desk. That's it (I think). Criticize away! --Dean

Hey, I would be glad about all sorts of suggestions and questions about my diet. I do not have fixed times for meals. Most of the time I start eating around 10 in the morning and eat the last one at 10 in the evening.