Ever wonder which nut butter spread is best for your next sandwich, cracker, or veggie? Is it peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower butter, or cashew butter?
These days you have so many choices. Let me help you decide.
Aim for the following:
* No more than 3 grams of saturated fat per 2 TB serving.
* No added sugar. Don’t be fooled by Nutella, or
other healthy sounding spreads that contain 17-19 grams of added sugar. This
includes granola butter which has 4-5 grams of added sugar from maple syrup.
* Less than 100 mg. of salt is fine, but I prefer
unsalted
* 6-8 grams of protein
* No partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Hydrogenated
vegetable oil is okay.
My top choice is Teddie’s unsalted natural peanut butter,
followed by natural sun butter. Almond and cashew butter don’t have as many
polyunsaturated heart-healthy fats, so they are my third and fourth choices
respectively.
There are also new nut butters with more protein like Skippy
Protein. These are peanut butters blended with pea protein, and have 10 grams of
protein per 2 TB serving. However, most of these cost about $1.50 more for only 3 more
grams of protein. You decide if it is worth the extra $.
No matter how you spread it, there are some good choices out there, so savor your nut butter; just don’t overdo the 2 TB serving size. Enjoy! _Lisa
