The high fat present in sesame seeds

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The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby European man » Sun Sep 15, 2019 10:23 am

I've been taking a couple of tablespoons of sesame seeds for its tryptophan content. According to Dr. Michael Greger this can boost serotonin levels. Reading the nutritional information on the packaging I see sesame seeds have a very high fat content of nearly 70 grams per 100 grams. I'm now worried about eating these seeds as I'm mainly on the plant based diet because of high blood pressure.

Is high fat in plants somehow less to worry about than high fat levels in other food?
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Re: The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby michaelswarm » Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:34 pm

European man wrote:Is high fat in plants somehow less to worry about than high fat levels in other food?


https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3070/2
Still some saturated fat, and still a high calorie dense food if needing to lose or maintain weight. Saturated fat appears to be about 11% of total calories.

Have to weigh that against benefit of plants as medicine.

Compared to fat in animal foods, whole plant food fats come in different package:
- No inflamatory animal protein
- No cholesterol
- No hormones
- No heme iron
- etc
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Re: The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby PJK » Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:10 am

Hold on. Why do you want to increase your serotonin levels?

And is there some way to address that issue -- without eating a couple of tablespoons of seeds every day? They're giving you over 100 calories, much of it fat, that you may not want or need, and every day.

As Dr. McD says, the fat you eat is the fat you wear. He doesn't make any distinction there between fats from animals and fats from plants.
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Re: The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby European man » Wed Sep 18, 2019 1:06 pm

PJK wrote:Hold on. Why do you want to increase your serotonin levels?

And is there some way to address that issue -- without eating a couple of tablespoons of seeds every day? They're giving you over 100 calories, much of it fat, that you may not want or need, and every day.

As Dr. McD says, the fat you eat is the fat you wear. He doesn't make any distinction there between fats from animals and fats from plants.


I could be happier. I thought I'd try the sesame seeds as they might boost my serotonin. On the other hand seeing as I started a plant food diet because my blood pressure was 180/90 the fat is a worry.
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Re: The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby openmind » Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:02 pm

European man wrote:
PJK wrote:Hold on. Why do you want to increase your serotonin levels?

And is there some way to address that issue -- without eating a couple of tablespoons of seeds every day? They're giving you over 100 calories, much of it fat, that you may not want or need, and every day.

As Dr. McD says, the fat you eat is the fat you wear. He doesn't make any distinction there between fats from animals and fats from plants.


I could be happier. I thought I'd try the sesame seeds as they might boost my serotonin. On the other hand seeing as I started a plant food diet because my blood pressure was 180/90 the fat is a worry.


Eating sesame seeds to be happy sounds like a snake oil cure.

If it works at all, I’ll bet it’s the placebo effect.
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Re: The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby European man » Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:44 pm

openmind wrote:
European man wrote:
PJK wrote:Hold on. Why do you want to increase your serotonin levels?

And is there some way to address that issue -- without eating a couple of tablespoons of seeds every day? They're giving you over 100 calories, much of it fat, that you may not want or need, and every day.

As Dr. McD says, the fat you eat is the fat you wear. He doesn't make any distinction there between fats from animals and fats from plants.


I could be happier. I thought I'd try the sesame seeds as they might boost my serotonin. On the other hand seeing as I started a plant food diet because my blood pressure was 180/90 the fat is a worry.


Eating sesame seeds to be happy sounds like a snake oil cure.

If it works at all, I’ll bet it’s the placebo effect.


I think there's more to it than that.

From Michael Gregrer's book How Not To Die:



Although some plant foods contain significant amounts of serotonin, the so-called happiness hormone, serotonin can’t cross the blood-brain barrier. This means that dietary sources of serotonin can’t make it into the brain, but the building block of serotonin, an amino acid called tryptophan, can get from your mouth to your blood to your brain. Tryptophan depletion experiments in the 1970s showed that people given specially concocted tryptophan-deficient diets suffered from irritability, anger, and depression.


Carbohydrates may facilitate tryptophan transport into the brain, but you would still need a dietary source. Ideally, it would have a high tryptophan-to-protein ratio to facilitate brain access. Such seeds as sesame, sunflower, or pumpkin may fit the bill.
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Re: The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby sirdle » Wed Sep 18, 2019 5:10 pm

European man wrote:
PJK wrote:Hold on. Why do you want to increase your serotonin levels?

And is there some way to address that issue -- without eating a couple of tablespoons of seeds every day? They're giving you over 100 calories, much of it fat, that you may not want or need, and every day.

As Dr. McD says, the fat you eat is the fat you wear. He doesn't make any distinction there between fats from animals and fats from plants.


I could be happier. I thought I'd try the sesame seeds as they might boost my serotonin. On the other hand seeing as I started a plant food diet because my blood pressure was 180/90 the fat is a worry.

Are you exercising?
"Before Enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment chop wood, carry water." -- Zen proverb
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Re: The high fat present in sesame seeds

Postby openmind » Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:01 pm

Eat a healthy diet along the lines recommended here; exercise; build strong personal relationships; do work you love; read a lot of books; get a good spiritual practice (church, meditation etc), get out of debt, build wealth, take a nice vacation.And if you are suffering from depression, consider a consultation with a professional.

The above things seem much more likely to increase satisfaction with life (happiness) than piling up on sesame seeds. But I don’t blame you for wanting to try.
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