Review of: Happy Belly Deluxe Mixed Nuts, 44 oz

The Happy Belly Deluxe Mixed Nuts, 44 oz is a well-done product in what many people mistakenly assume is a commodity product category. I received these from Amazon Vine almost two weeks before a small birthday party I was throwing (not for me, for someone else). Rather than even open the bag to sample these, I waited until the party to see what half a dozen people thought.

Maybe comments like "Hey, these nuts are really good" and the fact that people kept eating them clue us in on the quality of this product. One guest said he didn't like mixed nuts and declined to take any. But after the reactions of everyone else, he decided to give these a try. He kept coming back to the bowl for more.

The typical "mixed nuts" product is mostly low-cost peanuts with some other nuts mixed in. Nothing wrong with peanuts, but when they dominate the "mix" you don't really have mixed nuts. The Happy Belly Deluxe mix consists of almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, and pecans. I'm not a nut mixing expert, but this combination appealed to me personally and went over really well at the party.

And let me expand on that nut list. These aren't just any almonds, etc. Nope, these are higher grade. The mix includes fancy cashews, U.S. Select Sheller Run (SSR) almonds, Fancy Filbert hazelnuts, US No.1 Fancy pecans, and premium Brazil nuts

Another issue with mixed nut products, and with nuts in general, is they are often over-salted. That was one thing the hesitant guest had been concerned about (the other was, according to him, mixed nuts are usually stale and taste bad).

Perhaps the idea behind over-salting is to mask the taste of low-quality or spoiled nuts. The salt should complement and enhance the flavor of the nuts, not try to mask it. After all, nuts are nutrient-rich and abound with flavor.

Here again, the Happy Belly product gets an A grade. The nuts are lightly salted with sea salt. The amount is in the "just right range," something I personally determine only from the taste. People in the nut business probably have a formula for this, and whatever formula they are using at Happy Belly they need to leave it right where it is.

The resealable bag is also a big plus. Even though people munched on plenty of these nuts from a medium-sized glass bowl, they didn't finish them off. I didn't fill the bowl, either. When you're talking about 44 oz of nuts, you're talking about a lot of nuts.

Nuts are good sources of trace minerals (e.g., selenium), protein, and essential fats. Many people are on a low-fat diet, something that's as big a mistake as the low-carb diet. For men in particular, a problem with the low-fat diet is the body isn't getting the materials from which it makes testosterone. The result is instead of getting a better looking body, the guy on the low-fat diet gets manboobs and other signs of feminization from low T. Of course, this doesn't mean eat all the fat you want. It means get good quality fats, such as those in these nuts, and make the fats a regular part of your diet.

Due to their fat content and their fiber, nuts satisfy. So they help you avoid eating other foods just to satisfy a hunger urge. When traveling, I sometimes carry a bag of nuts just to avoid hunger. That is all I will eat until I can arrive at my destination and can get a meal that is nutritionally sound. Eating 80 calories of nuts to eliminate giving in to that 2,000 calorie personal pan pizza makes a lot of sense, does it not?

When I counsel people on their diet, they are surprised that I recommend nuts. "Aren't those fattening?" Yes, nuts are relatively high in calories. So don't, er, go nuts scarfing them down. Earlier, I mentioned 80 calories of nuts; that's not a whole bag. It's a small handful.

With nuts that taste as good as these do, the inability to put them down could be a problem. The solution is to put some in a smaller container and put the big container away out of sight. Assign a time for getting out the smaller container, for example when having an apple between lunch and supper.

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