Expert: Melissa Anderson - 3/9/2008

Question
Hi there, I've always been underweight (i think i have a high metabolism), at the minute I'm not far from 6 foot and weight about 55kg. I'm looking for a diet to increase my calorie intake and also protein intake so I can build muscle aswel as fat. I was wondering if peanuts are a good option. I found some cheap peanuts which are 200gram bags, the nutritional information is (per whole bag):
1200kcal, 50.4g protein, 16g carbs (8 of which sugars), 100grams fat: 17g saturates, 51g mono-unsaturates, 34g poly-unsaturates, 20g fibre and 0.6g sodium.
I was wondering if a bag of these a day maybe would help me, and ALSO would it be healthy?? e.g. would they cause blood problems or blood presuure etc, thanks for your time, Navin!

Answer
Navin,
Sorry, but I have to say the peanuts are a bad idea. While unsalted peanuts are pretty good from a nutritional standpoint, you never want to take in a large fraction of your calories from the same food every single day. It's critically important to have variety in your diet. In addition, since peanuts contain protein, fat, and fiber, they'll make you feel full and defeat your purpose of taking in more calories. Also, the peanuts that you've found have WAY too much salt... which will eventually cause problems with your blood pressure.
If you want to add calories, I suggest looking into protein shakes. Look for a shake that tastes good and has 300-400 calories. That's plenty of calories to boost your weight, and because it's liquid, it won't fill you up so much that you end up eating less the rest of the day.
As far as your weight goes, how old are you? Many men don't finish puberty until their early to mid 20's. If you're less than 25, just be patient. If you're older, then definitely start with the protein shakes and start going to the gym to bulk up.
Good luck!
Melissa