I am a complete nutter (pun intended) when it comes to peanut butter! If there's something I can use peanut butter for, I assure you I'm up for it; baking, on fruit, in salad dressings, sauces, milkshakes, smoothies, even on top of vegetables! I feel like peanut butter gets a bad rap as it's often associated with unhealthy foods such as Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup Ice cream. The reality is that peanut butter on it's own is actually really nutritionally valuable and great for our bodies.
Let's start of with the nutritional value of this decadent treat. Peanut butter is packed full of nutrition where in every serving there is 3mg of vitamin E (an extremely powerful antioxidant), 49mg of magnesium (helps with building bones), 208mg of potassium (great for your muscles) and 0.17mg of B6 vitamin (boosts your immunity).
It might seem crazy to refer to this indulgent and high calorie spread as a diet food but it's definitely true. Peanut Butter is high in both protein and fiber, keeping you fuller for longer and since it's usually used in combination with chocolate, it tastes like a naughty sweet but also salty treat which will curb sugar and salt cravings. Fun fact, peanut butter was invented in 1890 as a meat protein substitute; meaning that it was designed to be a good source of protein.
One of the biggest reasons people avoid peanut butter is because it's
high in fat and although that's completely true, it's an essential amino
fatty acid which makes it completely healthy and natural. This means
that you should avoid the "reduced fat" versions because it's taking out
the good stuff (healthy fats) and adding nasties such as more salt,
sugar and artificial flavours.
I was reading an article by Harvard Health Publications (check it out here) which mentioned something that I really connected with that was in relation to peanut butter containing saturated fat. The article stated "the presence of saturated fat doesn't automatically kick a food, such as peanut butter, into the 'unhealthy' camp" and "It's the whole package of nutrients, not just one or two, that determines how good a particular food is for health". I totally agree with both statements because so many people see that something contains saturated fat and run the other way so I really hope the way people start to think about fats change. Fat isn't the enemy; sugar and salt is but rarely do you see someone avoiding things because they are high in salt or even glancing to see how much sugar has been packed into something.
So which peanut butter should you look for? The one with the highest
percentage of peanuts, 100% is ideal. This quickly eliminates a lot on
the market as a large amount of peanut butters vary between 60%-80%
peanuts which means there's add sugar, oil, salt and other nasties into
it to make up the rest of the product. You will definitely have to look
at the labels and figure out which is the best option; again, if it says
100% peanuts on the label, you've found a good one!
So I hope that you have found this helpful! I just felt like talking about how amazing one of my favourite foods ever is and also clearing up a few misconceptions there are surrounding this decadent spread.
So I hope that you have found this helpful! I just felt like talking about how amazing one of my favourite foods ever is and also clearing up a few misconceptions there are surrounding this decadent spread.
As always, thank you so much for reading ♥
