Powdered peanut butter seriously?
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EmailIs powdered peanut butter a good alternative to regular peanut butter?
Working with health professionals is a dream come true for me because many conversations are about nutrition and physical activity. Recently the topic of powdered peanut butter came up during one of our conversations. Immediately the questions began to fly: is powdered peanut butter a healthy alternative, what has to be added or extracted from peanuts to alter the nutrition of peanut butter, and what is powdered peanut butter anyway?
To me peanut butter is one of the greatest foods to enter my mouth. I search high and low for peanut butter that is cost effective, has no added sugar, and is a delight to the palate. Although I have this adoring mindset for the crunchy nuttiness, I wouldn’t mind cutting the calories if possible so I can have more. More is the American way!
Remember, peanut butter is a nutritious snack. It provides four percent of your daily value of iron, and ten percent of your daily value of both vitamin E and folate. These are only a few of the nutrients you get from peanut butter. Peanut butter is a nutrient-dense food as long as there are no added sugars or oils, making it a healthy option to add to sandwiches, vegetables or fruit.
The down side to peanut butter is the 190 calories, 16 grams (g) of fat, 7 g of carbohydrates for two tablespoons. These numbers could make you nutty thinking about your waistline.
With your waistline on your mind, in walks a peanut promise with fewer calories and as much “peanutty” taste as before. So what’s the low down on this powdered stuff? Powdered peanut butter is what remains after the peanut’s fat and oils have been removed. It can be left as powder or to be reconstituted. It can be added to smoothies or in baking recipes or you can add water to use as a spread.
The downsides to powdered peanut butter:
- Powdered peanut butter isn’t as convenient as regular peanut butter if you’re craving a PB & J. You have to measure the correct amounts to the powder to use it as a spread. Although, maybe it would help me cut down on how much I ate if it wasn’t as convenient.
- Searching the local grocery store and online it looks like the powdered variety is expensive compared to regular peanut butter. If you’re using it for mainly baking and smoothies you probably won’t use as much so the cost factor wouldn’t be as much as an issue in this case.
- Powdered peanut butter also doesn’t have the protein, iron, vitamin E, and folate that regular peanut butter has, but it doesn’t have the calories either. It seems when food is altered, something is usually lost.
- Finally, powdered peanut butter doesn’t taste like real peanut butter but it does have a great peanut taste.
Whether or not to use powdered nuts are completely up to the individual. Michigan State University Extension feels powdered peanut butter is a lower calorie choice for the person who loves the nutty flavor and wants to decrease the amount of calories they consume. It seems like it worth giving it a try to see if this is an alternative to help address expanding waistlines.
