Nobody outside Texas knows how to pronounce their name (hah!), but after some digging, I think Pecans could very well get up on the list as an Atkins-friendly nut. Here's a quick comparison with common recommendations.
I'm not just talking about snacking though, but for cooking (as a crust/breading substitute). Unless you oil/butter-roast them with a bit of salt, they are far too dry to eat for snacking--although that just means you drink more water!
Right now, the Atkins book recommends Macadamia nuts. Many low-carb books recommend almonds and hazelnuts. However, these are ludicrously expensive. Macadamia nuts run over $10 a lb. Most stores that even carry them, carry 3oz jars for almost $4. Eight oz packages run $9+.
However, I'm Texan, and pecans are everywhere, and cheap.
I have a nifty little USDA database handy, so here's the information I have on these. All of these are for a 1oz (28.4g) of the nuts, dry roasted, without salt added. I'm listing only the most prevelent information (i.e. vitamins in extremely small amounts I won't list)
Macadamia nuts: Net carbs 1.53 g
Calories: 203.553 kcal
Lipid fat: 21.569 g
Saturated fat: 3.385 g
Carbs total: 3.793 g
Fiber: 2.268 g
Protein: 2.208 g
Calcium: 19.845 mg
Magnesium: 33.453 mg
Potassium: 102.911 mg
Almonds: Net carbs 2.12 g
Calories: 169.250 kcal
Lipid fat: 14.977 g
Saturated fat: 1.145 g
Carbs total: 5.469 g
Fiber: 3.345 g
Protein: 3.345 g
Calcium: 75.411 mg
Magnesium: 81.081 mg
Potassium: 211.491 mg
Hazelnuts: Net carbs 2.33 g
Calories: 183.141 kcal
Lipid fat: 17.690 g
Saturated fat: 1.279 g
Total carbs: 4.990
Fiber: 2.665
Protein: 4.261 g
Calcium: 34.871 mg
Magnesium: 49.046 mg
Potassium: 214.043 mg
And, finally:
Pecans: Net carbs 1.18 g
Calories: 201.285 kcal
Lipid fat: 21.056 g
Saturated fat: 1.780 g
Total carbs: 3.841 g
Fiber: 2.665 g
Protein: 2.693 g
Calcium: 20.412 mg
Magnesium: 37.422 mg
Potassium: 120.204 mg
Positives:
Pecans have less net carbs
Pecans are higher in fat (fix my ratios, perhaps!)
Pecans are much lower in sat. fats than macadamia nuts
Negatives:
Pecans have fewer minerals
Pecans are higher in sat. fats than almonds and hazelnuts
Pecans have less protein than the other nuts
Those are pretty minor negatives.
On this note, I bought 2 lbs of (essentially) pecan meal. I have two plans for this:
A) Crust for a low-carb cheesecake my mother is making for my birthday Friday (no more cake! bah, no loss to me!)
B) Crust/breading for baked chicken, fish, etc.
Pecans tend to bake pretty well, so let the testing begin!
