Friday Food Fact: Almond Butter Is Oh So Good!

PB&J, the classic lunch. Is there anything that has been more popular at the elementary school table than this tried and tested sammy? Personally I was never really a fan of PB&J, mainly because I hated the feel of the peanut butter sticking to the roof of my mouth. You all know what I’m talking about. The percentages of peanut butter to jelly have to come out just right, otherwise you end up having a cotton mouth straight from Mississippi…ughh!

Almonds are really seeds!

For many years I stayed away from the gummy stuff in the Jiff jar. More recently I’ve made my way into the nut butter category, with almond butter. Well in reality almonds are the seeds of the fruits which come from the Almond tree…nonetheless we’ll call it a nut butter for our purposes. So what’s the deal with it? Surprisingly it is not quite as gummy (to me) and the nutrient levels are even higher. This makes almond butter a good choice compared to peanut butter. Let’s check it out!

Comparison of 2tbs of Peanut Butter (PB) vs. 2tbs 0f Almond Butter (AB)

Calories: PB: 190  AB: 190

Total Fat: PB: 16  AB: 16

Carbohydrates: PB: 7  AB: 6

Fiber: PB: 3  AB: 4

Protein: PB: 8  AB: 7

Calcium: PB: 1%  AB: 7%

Iron: PB: 3%  AB: 6%

Vitamin E: PB: 14%  AB: 40%

In addition Almonds are very high in manganese which keeps our bones strong and helps synthesize fatty acids and cholesterol. Get u some of that manganese baby! Almonds can give us up to 17% of our daily needs in vitamin B2 which promotes effective burning of fuel in our body that is then converted to energy. Wow! It’s amazing how many things go into the functionality of our bodies. The more we learn about nutrition the better off we’ll be. Keep up the good work y’all!

Oh and if you’re looking for a great topping for that AB&J sandwich try mashing up some fresh berries…I love it!