Almonds: ~1,900 gallons of water per pound
Growing almonds requires approximately 1,900 gallons of water per pound, making them one of the most water-intensive crops.
Where this was said
Almonds, Oxalates, and the Upside-Down Food Pyramid
At 23:15 · chapter starts 17:50
Sheridan's observation that almond milk should correctly be called 'almond tea' — it's just almonds pulverized, leached in water, and sugared up — opens a broader conversation about how much bad nutritional advice pervades modern life. Rogan recounts how his doctor discovered high oxalate levels in his blood and traced them directly to the almonds Rogan was eating constantly and the daily kale smoothies he believed were healthy. Turns out kale is extremely high in oxalates, and drinking it raw blasts your kidneys; the doctor told him to cook it and pour off the water first. Both men marvel at how the food pyramid — which told Americans to eat six to eleven servings of grain a day — was essentially designed by Kellogg's to sell breakfast cereal, not to promote health. The upshot is that almost everything 'everyone knows' about nutrition has been wrong, and Rogan credits his podcast conversations over many years with building a more accurate picture piece by piece. The section closes with Sheridan noting that almonds require 1,900 gallons of water per pound to grow — a staggering number that contextualizes the water crisis in California's agricultural heartland.
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