Would you say peanut butter is a "healthy food"?

It depends on the age of the peanut butter (fresh ground is better than off the shelf), the age of the peanuts before they were ground (conventionally grown peanuts in the grocery are often years old by the time they land on the grocery shelf), and the additives (less is better). Most peanut butter I’ve bought off the shelf smell vaguely or strongly rancid. (you DON’T want rancid). That’s why I try to buy fresh ground whenever possible. Organic is better than conventionally grown also, because you get more nutrients.

Natural peanut butter such as Adam’s is very good for you. Peanut butter such as Jif and Skippy is full of sugars or HFCS plus other crap.
That being said, I love Jif.

* rolls eyes at low carb diet *

Peanut butter is great for your health, so long as you’re not eating it by the tub….And that goes for carbs, and pretty much any other non-packaged non-“junk” food, too. Moderation is the key.

I’d never touch Skippy or any of those crap brands though. I make mine from actual nuts.

NOOO! Couldn’t possible overdo PB!! There are among the best fats and are even better mixed with dark chocolate chip fat!! Yum!

My girlfriend got me onto natural peanut butter. I’ll never look back. That’s some good stuff and like @AstroChuck said, very healthy.

Cant say anyfing wif all dis PB in my mouf.

@lilikoi Just curious, how do you make peanut butter from scratch?

Does Peanut Butter Captain Crunch count? If it does, then I’m really healthy.

re: how do you make peanut butter from scratch?

Step #1
Grind peanuts

Step #2
Eat peanut butter

For reals.

Wow… is it really that easy? You don’t need to add anything else to make it creamier?

NO, it could be deadly for people with peanut allergy

@kheredia Yes, that easy. Check out the ingredients at the grocery store. Natural peanut butter will say simply, “peanuts, salt”.

Yes

@jaytkay Cool beans… I shall try it sometime :-)

I add a little bit of milk lol

Any diet that uses one food as opposed to a balanced diet is not likely to be healthy.

Doesn’t organic just mean grown with no chemicals? What am I missing.

I’d say healthier than french fries though I’ve never seen Peanut Butter on any diet plan or on the “The Biggest Loser”.

Either way peanut butter is delicious. It’s got protein and relatively little fat. It’s got sugar and carbs, but in relatively low amounts. I’d say if its eaten in moderation it’s great for a diet.

As has already been suggested, if you forgo the PBs that are loaded w/ sugar and hydrogenated oils and eat only all natural PB, then it can definitely be qualified as healthy, though it is a little high in calories.

Vegetarians often use it as a substitute for things they miss out on with meat. I’d say it’s good.

Crunchy pleez

I only tried peanut butter once in my life and I have to say, I was utterly unimpressed. It did not taste good either. It is a mystery, why it is so popular among americans. I prefer bread with butter and salt over peanut butter any day. Or nougat créme. Ohhhhh… Or marmelade.

Peanut butter is a staple of my diet.
I know natural is best, but I love Jiff.

@Cruiser PB and chocolate…wow. A man after my own heart.

Once I started buying natural peanut butter, there was no going back. Sometimes I sill buy Jif because it works better for baking, and there’s nothing quite like a really good, chewy, peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. Anyway, if you are going to be eating peanut butter regularly, stick to the kind that only contains peanuts and salt. Read the labels, because there’s a popular brand (maybe Skippy?) that has come out with what they call a “natural” peanut butter but it contains the extra oils.

The drawback to natural PB is that the oil separates and you have to stir it really well before using. I open the jar and stir it, then pop it into the fridge. It stays together after that. It’s also less sweet than other PB so isn’t as tasty (to me) right off the spoon, but is better with jelly or chocolate IMO.

The pediatrician once told me, “Peanut butter is a staple and very healthy.” I remember that every time I slather some on a chocolate bar. ;)

Um, peanut butter is not low carb (but it IS healthy for you). “Rabbit diet” is low carb = fresh veggies, fruits, seasonings (minus sugar!), lean meats/seafood. Peanut butter has sugar in it so watch out…read labels! If you can’t pronounce the ingredients then don’t eat it.

I wish Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were healthy.

@AstroChuck Me too. Especially now that they make a dark chocolate version.

@JTSTs2003 Not all peanut butter has sugar in it. That’s what we are talking about. Natural PB is just peanuts and salt.

Yeah natural PB is pretty damn healthy. There’s nothing inherently unhealthy about fat, there’s still even disagreement in the scientific community about whether saturated fat is actually bad for you.

Natural peanut butter is only as “healthy” as the quality of the peanuts. Most peanut butter you buy off the shelf has a vague rancid smell to it, and some are stronger than others. There’s a reason for that.

Eating rancid oils depletes the vitamin E in your body (not a good thing).

Natural peanut butter generally is made with fresher peanuts, but that’s not a given. You still have to be careful.

its really fatty like more fatty than nutella even but yeah moderation is def the key with anything. i have a hard time applying that to my life tho!