Today is National Peanut Butter Day! Peanut butter is about as American as apple pie. The only problem with peanut butter is that once you commit to losing weight the sheer amount of fat and calories causes you to give it up. Giving up peanut butter would be a shame. Yet with 16 games of fat and about 200 calories per two tablespoons serving it is hard to fit in a dieter’s menu. The good news is peanut butter not only tastes good but is good for you as a source of vitamin E, folic acid, niacin, and phosphorous. Even the fat in peanut butter is the heart healthy monounsaturated type, at least most of it is. Even better it does not contain cholesterol. Even better, you can have peanut butter on a diet!
If you are dieting then take one tablespoon of peanut butter and spread it on your whole grain bagel or on celery sticks. I was actually surprised how far one tablespoon goes and how filling peanut butter was on celery sticks. It makes a filling and delicious snack. A great one with the kids! If the celery is not your thing then try graham crackers with peanut butter and top it with bananas or apple slices. You can also try dipping your apple slices in a tablespoon of peanut butter.
You cannot have peanut butter every day if you are on a diet. However, if you are wise and creative you can have it as a snack every now and then. I highly recommend Jif Natural as it has no high fructose corn syrup. It is not organic but it does not contain the additives. You may want to avoid low fat peanut butter since it makes up for the fat with sugar. The real thing is far better for you. If you are allergic to peanut butter then go to your organic section and try sunflower butter or sun butter. It is made from sunflower seeds and tastes almost like peanut butter. Make sure you can eat it first but my daughter can eat it and she is allergic to peanuts.