For the better part of fifteen years, I brought the same, boring PB&J to school for lunch every day. But, as most teenagers do, once I hit a certain age, I decided that I was “too cool” for most of the stuff I liked when I was younger.
That meant no more Ugg Boots, no more chandelier earrings from Claire’s (yikes), and no more peanut butter. My moratorium on peanut butter consumption was only made easier by the fact that I worked consistently as a camp counselor at a peanut-free summer camp.
I probably went about two and a half years without having a real peanut butter sandwich, or anything of the like. When I got to my freshman year of college, I found myself craving all of the foods I ate when I was little. And what was at the top of that list? You guessed it: peanut butter.
My roommate kept an industrial sized jar in our fridge that she barely used, so one day I just dug into it with a spoon (Sorry, Gabby). The creamy texture and salty taste immediately made me realize that I had been an absolute idiot for being without it for so long.
I got to the point where I was eating the stuff every day. You could say that I was living my best life…Until the indigestion hit. What started out with just a stray burp here and there quickly turned into some pretty uncomfortable stomach cramping, gas, and bloating.
I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I had never been diagnosed with a peanut allergy and I could eat almonds and walnuts, no problem. So what the hell was happening to me?
Since my roommate kept Skippy in our fridge, I decided to see if it was an issue with the brand, but JIF, Peter Pan and all store brands I tried yielded the same results. As soon as the peanut butter would hit my tongue, my body would reject it.
Being bloated and nauseous for days didn’t help my self-esteem issues nor the crippling PB cravings I still had, so I was desperate for a solution.
I had almost given up hope until, on a whim, I decided to try some of the powdered peanut butter my mom kept in the house. She had been on a strict diet at the time, and this peanut butter was okayed by her nutritionist because of its low fat, low sodium, and low calorie count.
Guys. Believe me when I tell you that this stuff is magic. I was able to eat it with apples, on sandwiches, even by itself with none of the uncomfortable side effects. I could even switch brands (my two faves are PB2 and PBFit)!
The macros on this are a health nut’s dream and, after a little sleuthing, I was able to figure out why powdered peanut butter worked so much better with my system.
As you can see, this jar of PBFit only has peanuts, sugar, and salt, which is pretty standard for most powdered peanut butters. But, when you compare this ingredient list to Skippy and other brands of the like, you’ll see that the culprit is pretty easy to find: hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Sure, there’s oils in lots of things, but what makes hydrogenated vegetable oils like cottonseed oils, soybean oils, and rapeseed oils (all found in Skippy Creamy PB) worse is that these oils directly correlate to trans fats.
When most people think trans fats they’re more likely to think of Happy Meals instead of peanut butter, but what you don’t know certainly can hurt you. Studies have shown that trans fats, like the ones found in peanut butter are one of the number one causes of inflammation in the body. Such inflammation can lead to bloating, gas, and general digestive discomfort.
The reason why I was so affected was because I led a pretty “health freak” type of lifestyle while I wasn’t eating peanut butter, so eating a brand full of trans fats threw my body completely out of whack.
So if there’s anybody out there who is having serious tummy troubles due to peanut butter, give PBFit or PB2 a try. The absence of hydrogenated oils will definitely give you more room to indulge in the spread, leaving all of your friends (peanut butter and) jelly.