Healthy Alternatives – Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter! I Love You! However, despite the name, peanuts are not nuts at all. They come from the legume family (lentils, beans, peas etc) but they are higher in protein than any other legume or nut.

They contain vitamins and minerals including; copper, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and selenium. They are rich in vitamin E, many of the B-complex vitamins and help proper brain function.

Peanut butters are a great non animal source of protein and nutrients, but are often packed with sugar. Luckily for Clean Eaters, there are many ‘clean’ peanut butters on the market. Above is one from the Whole Earth range. As far as I know, all of the Whole Earth nut butters are considered clean. Ingredients: Roasted Peanuts 92%, Sustainable Palm Oil, Sea Salt. You can buy them from all major supermarkets and they cost around £2 each, but are often on offer.

Other Clean Eating Peanut Butter brands include:

Meridian – The cleanest of them all! They don’t use Plam Oil for ethical reasons and have ‘no salt added’ peanut butters available too.
Waitrose Organic Smooth Peanut Butter
Waitrose Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter
Waitrose Wholenut Peanut Butter
Sainsburys So Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter
Sainsburys So Organic Smooth Peanut Butter
Tesco and Morrisons also do no added sugar wholenut peanut butters.

Even though a peanut butter is considered clean, it doesn’t mean we can go and eat the whole jar with a spoon 🙂 Remember, even too much healthy fat can be not so good for us, or our waistline. Portion control is important, about a Tablespoon (15g) is good.

If you are having toast, forget the butter and spread some clean eating peanut butter on it instead. Top oat cakes or celery with it for a quick clean eating snack, stir some into your morning porridge or for the perfect clean eating lunch, make a peanut butter and iceberg lettuce sandwich on wholemeal bread…. hey, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it 😉

For an even healthier upgrade, you can try other nut butters like my favourite Meridian Almond Butter.