5 Things you must know before buying your next jar of Nut Butter

How many times did you eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a kids?? Well I was the one eating a peanut butter only sandwich because I never really liked jelly. Lol. Am I the only one???

But growing up my brothers really loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and now my oldest son wants to take it to lunch every day for school.

This article will help you choose the best healthiest nut butter for your family. There are many brands that add lots of ingredients that make the nut butter unhealthy. (we will talk about it) Remember knowledge is power.

There are so many different nut butters on the market today. From almond butter to walnut to pistachio butter, you name just about any nut you can make butter from it. My favorite is almond butter hands down.

But you must know that all nut butters are not created equal. Unfortunately, today we have to be mindful of what we put in our bodies. As we age, our bodies aren’t as forgiving as it was when we were younger.

So let get to it!.

Here are the 5 things you need to know before you buy another nut butter.

Ingredients:
- The list should be SHORT. It should only included two ingredients: nuts and salt. For example, for almond butter look for “almonds and salt or roasted almonds and salt.” That’s it and nothing more.
Stir vs No-stir
- Go for the stir option. It know you probably thinking that stirring is annoying but it’s actually a sign of a good nut butter.
- Avoid the No-stir nut butters. What that means is there are added ingredients to prevent it from separating. Nut are mostly fat, after grinding and storing, the fat should separate from the nuts. It should look like oil at the top and nut butter at the bottom.
Sugar
- AVOID any nut butter with sugar listed as an ingredient. Just put it back…it’s a no deal.
Palm fruit oil and Hydrogenated oils
- If this is on the ingredient list. AVOID for sure.
- These two ingredients are only added to preserve and stabilize the nut butter for longer shelf life. Hydrogenated oils have been linked to heart disease. It’s the type of fat that will interferes with your cholesterol. It’s not worth it. (1)
- They are also highly processed.
- Palm oil is not a trans-fat but a made up mostly of saturated fat which is also unhealthy. Many products with palm oil are listed as vegetable oil to confuse the consumer. It has also been associated with increase risk for heart disease. Again not worth it. (2)
Refrigerate vs non-refrigerate
- Choose the refrigerated one hands down.
- Nuts and nut butter should mold and become rancid if they are left out in the pantry. If it’s in its natural state. There are many brands which will remain nameless (Lol) that you can leave out in the pantry. Those are complete no no’s. The reason you can leave them out is because there are additional unhealthy ingredients added to make this possible. The ingredients are the palm oil and hydrogenated oil that we talked about.
- All nut butter should be refrigerated after opening.