The Wily Peanut

Amid learning about the disturbing basis for the NRC's quantitative health objectives today, I made an inadvertent discovery regarding my long-time friend the peanut.

If you've been following the blog at all, you know I've been experimenting with intermittent fasting and that one of the interest areas unearthed in this endeavor was food effects on mood. 

Sunday evening goes down as one of those toxic moods that you just can't shake yourself out of.  I had been fighting a carpenter ant infestation for three days over the holiday weekend and the efforts were starting to wear on my nerves.  The rest of the weekend, I had been taking the unexpected house workload fairly well, certainly compared with my normal reaction to such things.

But on Sunday evening, I would have been more than happy to see a 100 foot poplar tree come crashing through the ceiling, sever all the attic electrical lines and immolate the house in an electrical short meets plenty of flammable material nightmare.

Well, I just wrote it all off as an occasional knee jerk reaction to unexpected house maintenance.  That is, until today Katy said I'm no longer allowed to eat peanuts.

I've noticed this effect before.  I'll eat some peanuts and have a massive depressive episode within a couple of hours that seems to last the rest of the day.

Here's the kicker.  Today I was in a great mood.  And I had peanuts for lunch.  They key difference seeming to be that the ONLY thing I had was peanuts, and had been fasting for 18 hours before that.  No other food with them.  I got them from the vending machine next to the training room after hitting the gym and running out of time to get something more substantial from the cafeteria.

But on Sunday, I had been eating normally all day.  Then I jokingly asked Katy to get some peanuts from the store and she did.  Then I ate about three handfuls.  And in rushed the depressive state.  Could it be that peanuts either with other food, or in a fed state, have a massive depressive effect on me?

Looking back through my logs, this seems consistent.  All the massive depressive episodes were on days that I was eating normally and had peanuts.  And.....dry roasted peanuts.  Whole.  The occasional PB2 powder (mixed with Orgain as my post-workout protein shake) or spoonful of peanut butter doesn't seem to have the same effect.  Processing method?  Dose?

I thought niacin, which peanuts are high in, was supposed to have the opposite effect.  Peanuts are high in fat, but cheese doesn't seem to have the same effect.  Also, almonds don't seem to have this effect, either.  But I have only been eating almonds in a fasted state (a handful or two in my office, at lunch, when no other options are viable).

Oh well.  Unfortunately this means that I'm ditching peanuts for the time being.  Particularly whole ones.  Too bad, they're one of my favorites.