Is peanut butter good for you?

This is a question that crosses a lot of peanut butter lovers minds. The answer? You’ll just have to read the article to find out!

Being a notorious peanut butter fiend, I needed to find out because there would be times in the past I would sit and eat straight from the jar. Now if you’re also a peanut butter lover this is nothing new to you. I mean isn’t it the norm?

Well yes, in our world it is and it’s completely acceptable.

But from a health and weight loss perspective, we need to know if this is something that can still be part of our lifestyle.

After doing some research, and based on my personal experiences peanut butter is great for weight loss and health!

 

Woo hoo!

 

What’s not good for weight loss and health is consuming ½ a jar in one sitting or eating peanut butter brands that contains added sugars, and vegetable oils.

 

Bad peanut butter portion
This is how you should NOT eat peanut butter 😉

 

 

The best PB to buy is 100% ground peanuts. What would be better is if you could make it at home yourself! This way it will be less process and you could add your own delicious flavourings like cocoa powder, SweetMe (or stevia), or even flax seeds for added nutritional benefits.

Have you made peanut butter from home before? If not, then watch this video here it takes 3 minutes and it’s super easy:

Ok so now you understand that peanut butter from the stores isn’t exactly the healthy kind and you now know to look for the 100% grounded peanut butter variety it’s time to really get down to the facts about PB and weather it’s great for you or not.

 

The answer is…YES!

 

Peanut butter is in fact good for weight loss and healthy when consumed in moderate consumptions.

 

Why is it good for you?

 

  • It’s full of monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats (omega 6s)
  • It’s low in carbs and contains no sugar (especially the unprocessed, 100% natural varieties)
  • It’s high in protein (24g in 100g serving)- Please don’t eat a 100g serve though 😉
  • High in Fibre (6g/ 100g serve)
  • High in Vitamin E, B3, B6, Folate, Magnesium, copper and Manganese, which is great for healthy bones, metabolism, decreasing high cholesterol, preventing heart disease, PMS syndrome and thyroid problems.
  • Weight loss- yes weight loss!

 

How is peanut butter good for weight loss?

100% grounded peanut, peanut butter helps you consume less fats throughout the day when you consume just 1-2 tbsp. This means by solving your PB craving, you’re likely to consume fewer calories overall because you will want something that’s less fatty throughout the remaining day. Overall your calories will balance or you will eat even fewer!

Peanut butter also keep you full for longer so you’re less likely to pick on high GI, high sugar foods between meals, it also helps you go for foods that are less “heavy” and “rich” for the remaining day. So you will overall consume far fewer calories overall than if you were to not eat any at all!

 

A great way to add peanut butter into your diet is through:

 

  • Smoothies
  • Home-made satay sauce
  • spread on crackers
  • Dip with veggie sticks

 

keep in mind 1 tbsp. of freshly grounded peanut butter contains 122 calories/ per 20g and 2 tbsp. 244 calories. This is fairly high calorie so it’s important you’re strategic with your use of PB to benefit your weight loss goals.

 

For weight loss benefits the best way is to consume peanut butter is:

 

  • As a snack with celery sticks ( 1 tbsp. peanut butter with ½ celery stick) contains just 136 calories, which is a low calorie snack.
  • 2 tbsp. on 2 brown rice thins contains just 298 calories, which makes for a great meal replacement
  • 1 tsp. peanut butter added to your chocolate green smoothies, is just an extra 61 calories
  • 1 heaped tsp. with 1 medium banana for a good pre workout meal, just 199 Calories
  • 1 tbsp. added to this epic satay recipe only 142 calories

 

It doesn’t matter how regularly you eat peanut butter as long as you don’t consume too much in one sitting, your weight will stay stable or you could find it helps with weight loss, like it does for me.

Checkout the best homemade peanut butter recipe here: