No, I’m not going to talk about the recent peanut butter recalls but that did make me scratch my head this week. All of the affected items (besides the dog biscuits) were processed crap/snack foods. So here’s a solution- don’t eat the processed crap and you don’t have to worry. From my point of view, if this deters people from buying Nutter Butters and Little Debbies- that’s cool with me.
This post actually stems from an email from one of our Weight Loss Challenges at a local school. We got an email from a participant asking about peanut butter. It said something to the effect of, “how could organic peanut butter be better than the low fat Jif I bought. I looked at the labels and the organic peanut butter had so much more fat in it.”
This just brought to light how misinformed the public is about nutrition. First off, not all fat is bad! Your body actually needs fat- good fats (email me if you want to know what they are) that is. Secondly, reading the top part of the label is often a waste of time. When I pick up a label, I go straight to the ingredient label. That’s because I could care less if something has high fat as long as they are good fats. The only thing I ever really look at on the top of the label is the amount of grams of sugar, other than that- straight to the ingredient label.
So back to our peanut butter example…the ingredients on my Arrowhead Mills Organic Peanut Butter is: VALENCIA PEANUTS. The label on the Low Fat Jif are: PEANUTS, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SUGAR AND SOY PROTEIN, CONTAINS 2 PERCENT OR LESS OF: FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), SALT, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, MOLASSES, NIACINAMIDE, FOLIC ACID, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, MAGNESIUM OXIDE, ZINC OXIDE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, AND COPPER SULFATE.
I took it right from the Jif website: http://www.jif.com/products/details.asp?prodID=330
Are you kidding me with those ingredients? What does common sense tell you about which one is better fuel for your body? The -iamides, the -cholorides, the -phospates, the -oxides, or the peanuts?
By the way, it is not the fat that is making us fat, it is the carbs and the sugars. Don’t believe me? Look at the rates of obesity since the onset of the low-fat craze (in the 80’s). It has been increasing by leaps and bounds. Want to see something scarry…check out the CDC’s slideshow on obesity rates. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/
Peanut butter anyone?
EatSmart Meals 
Published by