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| PB&J on 139,000 Grain Bread Please By Phoenix Personal Chef David Hall |
Peanut butter and jelly is healthy, right? You’ve got to be kidding.
Nope. If you’re smart and selective, peanut butter is a power packed food that is actually
healthy for you, provided you do not have a peanut allergy that will have you on a gurney
racing into the emergency room to get an airway jammed down your throat as a response
to an anaphylactic nightmare. That brown power paste is a great source of protein as
long as Peter Pan, Skippy and Jif are off doing their own thing.
Most peanut butter sold by large companies with the large advertising campaigns that tell
you your life will be incredibly fuller if you load up on their “goodness” are actually making
it easier for your cardiologist to make his BMW payment, or the mortician to sell your
surviving family members a parcel of land. Why are these particular peanut butters bad?
Their products are typically loaded with transfats and hydrogenated oils. These particular
fats are not the good kind of fat that naturally comes from peanut butter. Hydrogenation is
the process that turns healthy monounsaturated fats that lower cholesterol and LDL into
unhealthy fats and higher medical expenses later in life.
These “kindhearted” manufacturers add this junk to peanut butter because their
marketing department told them it would sell better and help you deal with separation
anxiety. Separation anxiety? You know, that oil slick you see on the top of some peanut
butters that separates from real peanut butter. Hydrogenated oils help keep the peanut
butter stay in suspension and keeps the oil from separating, thereby making everything
smooth and easy to spread; and you don’t have to stir the peanut butter to mix the oil in.
The fact is that oil slick at the top of the jar is actually “good” fat. Yes I know. If the
peanut butter sits too long you will actually have to expend a few calories stirring it back
into the peanut butter. If you are too lazy or otherwise not inclined to manually mix the oil
back in, take it to your local paint store and nicely ask them to put your jar with the oil slick
in their paint shaker. After they stop laughing at you and sense your “separation anxiety”
they just might do it.
Be advised, do not pour off the oil slick thinking you are going to remove a few calories. If
you do, the peanut butter at the bottom of the jar will be as hard as the Arizona desert
floor requiring a jackhammer to get it out of the jar. You have been warned. Just do the
work and you will be rewarded with lower medical and hospital bills. The next time you go
in for your annual physical and the doctor asks you is you exercise, you can tell him or
her, “Yes, I stir my natural peanut butter,” and you are off the hook.
In addition to protein, peanut butter contains vitamin E, fiber, niacin, phosphorus, and
magnesium resulting in a simple but super-healthy food. With these abundant qualities,
no wonder peanut butter was trusted to fuel hungry soldiers as part of US Army rations
during WWII, and is a staple in most body building programs.
Now what about the jam? This is the easy part. Simply purchase jams/jellies that are
nothing more than reduced fruits, with no processed sugars added. Most reduced fruits,
while more expensive, taste better and more intense in flavor than fruits cooked with
water, sugar gelatin and additives. It is that simple.
So grab your favorite multi-grain gluten-free bread and load up the peanut butter and
jelly. Relive your childhood, if only in a humble but nourishing sandwich.
Growing up, we lived very frugally. If we wanted ice cream, we made it, pineapple orange
sherbet to be exact. However, one of our regular “desserts” consisted of a half a banana
(slice lengthwise) topped with peanut butter and some jelly, garnished with toasted sliced
almonds (if we were lucky) but more likely crushed peanuts on top. When eating that
dessert, we were “on top” of the world. Now I am sick of bananas, but I’m more than willing
to eat them provided they have a large dose of peanut butter and natural unsweetened
jelly, and the almonds (of course).
Until next time, treat each other well and be blessed,
Chef David Hall
Nope. If you’re smart and selective, peanut butter is a power packed food that is actually
healthy for you, provided you do not have a peanut allergy that will have you on a gurney
racing into the emergency room to get an airway jammed down your throat as a response
to an anaphylactic nightmare. That brown power paste is a great source of protein as
long as Peter Pan, Skippy and Jif are off doing their own thing.
Most peanut butter sold by large companies with the large advertising campaigns that tell
you your life will be incredibly fuller if you load up on their “goodness” are actually making
it easier for your cardiologist to make his BMW payment, or the mortician to sell your
surviving family members a parcel of land. Why are these particular peanut butters bad?
Their products are typically loaded with transfats and hydrogenated oils. These particular
fats are not the good kind of fat that naturally comes from peanut butter. Hydrogenation is
the process that turns healthy monounsaturated fats that lower cholesterol and LDL into
unhealthy fats and higher medical expenses later in life.
These “kindhearted” manufacturers add this junk to peanut butter because their
marketing department told them it would sell better and help you deal with separation
anxiety. Separation anxiety? You know, that oil slick you see on the top of some peanut
butters that separates from real peanut butter. Hydrogenated oils help keep the peanut
butter stay in suspension and keeps the oil from separating, thereby making everything
smooth and easy to spread; and you don’t have to stir the peanut butter to mix the oil in.
The fact is that oil slick at the top of the jar is actually “good” fat. Yes I know. If the
peanut butter sits too long you will actually have to expend a few calories stirring it back
into the peanut butter. If you are too lazy or otherwise not inclined to manually mix the oil
back in, take it to your local paint store and nicely ask them to put your jar with the oil slick
in their paint shaker. After they stop laughing at you and sense your “separation anxiety”
they just might do it.
Be advised, do not pour off the oil slick thinking you are going to remove a few calories. If
you do, the peanut butter at the bottom of the jar will be as hard as the Arizona desert
floor requiring a jackhammer to get it out of the jar. You have been warned. Just do the
work and you will be rewarded with lower medical and hospital bills. The next time you go
in for your annual physical and the doctor asks you is you exercise, you can tell him or
her, “Yes, I stir my natural peanut butter,” and you are off the hook.
In addition to protein, peanut butter contains vitamin E, fiber, niacin, phosphorus, and
magnesium resulting in a simple but super-healthy food. With these abundant qualities,
no wonder peanut butter was trusted to fuel hungry soldiers as part of US Army rations
during WWII, and is a staple in most body building programs.
Now what about the jam? This is the easy part. Simply purchase jams/jellies that are
nothing more than reduced fruits, with no processed sugars added. Most reduced fruits,
while more expensive, taste better and more intense in flavor than fruits cooked with
water, sugar gelatin and additives. It is that simple.
So grab your favorite multi-grain gluten-free bread and load up the peanut butter and
jelly. Relive your childhood, if only in a humble but nourishing sandwich.
Growing up, we lived very frugally. If we wanted ice cream, we made it, pineapple orange
sherbet to be exact. However, one of our regular “desserts” consisted of a half a banana
(slice lengthwise) topped with peanut butter and some jelly, garnished with toasted sliced
almonds (if we were lucky) but more likely crushed peanuts on top. When eating that
dessert, we were “on top” of the world. Now I am sick of bananas, but I’m more than willing
to eat them provided they have a large dose of peanut butter and natural unsweetened
jelly, and the almonds (of course).
Until next time, treat each other well and be blessed,
Chef David Hall
Copyright 2011, Thyme for a Chef, LLC. All rights reserved.
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