Choosy Moms Choose Jif?

I'm about to break some hearts. Let's talk Peanut Butter.
Peanut butter is healthy, right? A health food? Because peanuts come from the ground, and things that come from the ground are good for our bodies. Well... not necessarily. Peanuts themselves are a source of fiber (however not significant), protein (though much less protein than fat), and healthy fats - the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated levels being much higher than the saturated. (Saturated = bad, increases bad cholesterol, unsaturated = good, increases good cholesterol and sometimes lowers bad cholesterol - another blog entry in intself. See how this stuff is all tied together?? And I could go into how to eat your nuts, which nuts are better than others and why... Another day, another day.)

The big thing to worry about is the additives.
I have brought up the websites of the products I'm discussing to reveal the ingredients in these "peanut butters". Jif, Kraft and Skippy are the most popular brands. You know, the ones that conveniently don't have separated oils, sit on the shelf forever and ever, melt on your toast and taste so deliciously sweet and salty?
If you are choosing a peanut butter that has anything beyond "just peanuts" in the ingredients list, chances are really good that it isn't a compatible product with your body. I don't have these items in my home to read the list out to you. Jif has listed theirs:
Peanuts and sugar, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils (grapeseed and soybean), mono and diglycerides, salt. THIS IS NOT A HEALTH FOOD - it is a trans fat-filled, kill-you-slowly kind of food.
Skippy and Kraft are much the same. Skippy I believe has icing sugar in it? And Kraft too has a bunch of sugar. If anyone would like to look in their cupboard and leave the ingredients under COMMENTS I'm sure SOME of us will appreciate it.
(I don't think my blog is popular enough yet to worry about being sued by one of these big names.)

I know from having had this battle with clients that it is one of the more depressing revelations. Some of my clients who have been with me for over four years have yet to give up their beloved oh-so-melty peanut butter (Alden and Anne, I'm looking at you...), in favour of the real kind that our body recognizes and embraces.
But, my job is to inform! When you're eating that shelf stuff, you're consuming trans fats. (Anytime the label says "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" anything, it has trans fats. Even when the cover of the product says TRANS FAT FREE - newsflash, they lie to make money.)
You have to acquire your taste to change peanut butters. It takes time, just like changing any nutritional habits. Try to appreciate the taste of the real food, and realize that what you're missing and feeling sad about is your tongue's relationship with the additives, preservatives, trans fats, sugar and salt. Which pretty much slows us down, bums us out, strips us of our vitality. A superficial relationship.

*Hate peanut butter altogether? Try almond butter. It is one of my favourite things, and not just in food!

(Apologies for the all the parentheses!)