Help I'm Craving Peanut Butter

[Luann]

My point is that salty, fatty and crunchy can be found in many many foods yet none of these other foods will fill that gap. Our understanding of nutrition is still pretty limited which is why I don't really trust when people think they know exactly why someone is craving some really specific thing and insist some other thing is just as good. I avoid all PUFA myself but I keep it in the back of my mind

I'm with you. There is no food like peanut butter. None. I don't care what sugar or fat content it has or what else makes it "good", peanut butter is the only peanut butter there is and I still miss it, and will for a long time yet! 'S ok though.

 

[Amazoniac]

Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Peanut butter, smooth style, with salt
Take 1 cup for example, like Cliff mentioned, and considering that taste buds guide you best in the short-term, like jyb mentioned; it's clear why people crave it. Rich in minerals that a lot of people are insufficient in, or even the caloric content.
I already offered some people I know magnesium supplements for example and their craving for nuts/seeds simply disappeared, they started to feel disgusted by them without me saying a word about their downside.

 

[whit]

Look there's a million things that drive the people to that particular food, not last the memories that they have with it. "Salty, fatty and crunchy" are not the only three variables in the world of food. Also if you were an animal inside a tiny cage would you refrain from biting the bars because it's a "short term solution"?

Better a short term solution to get by until a real one comes along.

Mmm.. Are the bars peanut flavored? If so I'm in.

 

[Such_Saturation]

Better a short term solution to get by until a real one comes along.

Mmm.. Are the bars peanut flavored? If so I'm in.

 

[bobbybobbob]

Because of this post I literally just walked down the street to the convenience store, came home with Jif and made a peanut butter sandwich. It was delicious.

 

[Amazoniac]

If you're a kid that have parents that screen the foods for you and only make those that are safe available, then yes, it's safe to use taste as guide.
Otherwise, you'll be stuck in this cycle of binge eating unsafe foods until you pay the price. No doubt that you are trying to correct and balance some missing nutrients, but sometimes the stress of avoiding a given unsafe food is need to act and change that pattern towards safer ones. I would try at least to interpret what those cravings mean.
I think it was on the Babies know best thread that a parent mentioned that his children only craved vitamin A-rich foods after sun exposure; which is just an example of how cravings can be misleading.
In terms of context, nuts, seeds and similars are especially problematic due to their convenience; sometimes people are just too tired to do anything and opening that bag is the least costly route to those nutrients/calories.

To avoid becoming orthorexic, I second haidut's suggestion to follow your cravings as long as you keep PUFA intake as low as possible.

ps.: Liubo, I heard that bobby is quite a catch, don't miss the gap that he left you on that other thread.

Edit: I just realized that I still have energy to spend on those rants that people wouldn't even bother to read.

 

[skittles]

Random anecdote to revive a dead thread..

Now this is just an anecdote so take it with a grain of salt, but I was childhood friends with a guy who instinctively ate a very Peaty diet.... plus a lot of natural peanut butter. We became good friends when I was maybe 6 years old, and for all the years I've known him, he's centered around a handful of certain foods, the only real difference being that over the years he ate larger and larger quantities and less meat.... and even more natural peanut butter. People, including myself, would always remark at how strange his diet was, and his incredibly large appetite. He practiced calisthenics and martial arts, and was always very energetic and lean.

First thing in the morning, he would drink glass after glass of orange juice (usually from concentrate with like half the recommended amount of water), sometimes with a cheese omelette or a bowl of sugary cereal or some toast with honey and peanut butter. If we went out for breakfast, he would usually get something like 4 eggs, toast with butter, and a pitcher of orange juice.

Throughout the day, he'd eat peanut butter by the spoonful, or maybe slap it on some bread. But he'd also drink homemade chocolate milk and eat cheese and crackers, grapes and apples. Sometimes if we were out and about downtown, he'd buy a bottle of goat milk and a bag of spinach from the farmer's market and snack on them while he walked around. He also loved candy and dreamed of opening a candy shop one day.

He'd get the occasional normal-but-carb-centric food here and there, like cheese pizza or a bean burrito, and he'd usually eat a normal meal with the family at supper time.

It had been maybe three or four years since I saw him, but now in his mid-30s, he's incredibly muscular, youthful, and like a foot taller than me. He looks better than ever and he's suddenly the strongest guy I know. I asked him what he did. Apparently in his late-20s, he stopped eating meat altogether (not that he ate much to begin with), and decided to just eat more peanut butter instead. Now he eats at least half a jar of the stuff every day.

I know peanut butter isn't Peaty, but I do wonder if it's as terrible as I always assumed (even way back in the paleo days). Not that I would go eating half a jar a day or anything, but I do eat it once in a while when I crave it. As far as I know, peanuts have some decent minerals, more MUFA than PUFA, a good amount of vitamin E, and a decent amino acid profile (pretty high in glycine, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[opiath]

Peanut butter is the perfect food because it nearly has it all.
300g of it contains your daily requirements for calories, protein, fat, niacin, b5,b6, folate, vitamin E, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc.
It is a perfect replacement of meat with its 22% protein content, full amino acid profile, high glycine:methionine ratio (7:1) and comparable zinc & phoshorus levels.

Did you know that when growing animals for protein the feed-to-protein conversion efficiency is around 8% on average? With beef as low as 3%.
This means that in order for animals to gain 25g of protein they have to be fed around 1250kcal of food. This is nearly the amount a human needs a day.

The only downside to peanuts is their relatively high levels of PUFA.
Conventional peanuts have a 50% fat composition in which the ratio of SFA:MUFA:PUFA is 20:50:25.
What this means is that in 100g of peanut butter you'd have 10g of saturated fat, 25g of MUFA and 12.5g of PUFA.

For someone who is relatively healthy these PUFA levels are almost manageable but not very healthy.
You would need a strong antioxidation system going on within your body to offset the free radicals created by the spontaneous oxidation of these levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
What this means is if you have heavy metal burden (copper,iron,mercury,lead) putting pressure on your glutathione levels you can't handle that much PUFA.

You'd be surprised to learn however that there have been conscious efforts in the last 40 years to make peanuts more monounsaturated.
And these efforts have been so successful that high-oleic varieties of peanuts are now going mainstream.
These new varieties are being grown in places like Argentina, Australia, India and others.

They have a very low PUFA content (4-5%) which is 5 times lower than the PUFA content of standard varieties.
Combine it with the fact that peanuts are in general one of the most environmentally friendly high calorie plants and it becomes a winner.

 

[Dave Clark]

Peanut butter is the perfect food because it nearly has it all.
300g of it contains your daily requirements for calories, protein, fat, niacin, b5,b6, folate, vitamin E, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc.
It is a perfect replacement of meat with its 22% protein content, full amino acid profile, high glycine:methionine ratio (7:1) and comparable zinc & phoshorus levels.

Did you know that when growing animals for protein the feed-to-protein conversion efficiency is around 8% on average? With beef as low as 3%.
This means that in order for animals to gain 25g of protein they have to be fed around 1250kcal of food. This is nearly the amount a human needs a day.

The only downside to peanuts is their relatively high levels of PUFA.
Conventional peanuts have a 50% fat composition in which the ratio of SFA:MUFA:PUFA is 20:50:25.
What this means is that in 100g of peanut butter you'd have 10g of saturated fat, 25g of MUFA and 12.5g of PUFA.

For someone who is relatively healthy these PUFA levels are almost manageable but not very healthy.
You would need a strong antioxidation system going on within your body to offset the free radicals created by the spontaneous oxidation of these levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
What this means is if you have heavy metal burden (copper,iron,mercury,lead) putting pressure on your glutathione levels you can't handle that much PUFA.

You'd be surprised to learn however that there have been conscious efforts in the last 40 years to make peanuts more monounsaturated.
And these efforts have been so successful that high-oleic varieties of peanuts are now going mainstream.
These new varieties are being grown in places like Argentina, Australia, India and others.

They have a very low PUFA content (4-5%) which is 5 times lower than the PUFA content of standard varieties.
Combine it with the fact that peanuts are in general one of the most environmentally friendly high calorie plants and it becomes a winner.

That's a great thing since peanuts have so much flavor. The only other downside I can think of would be that they are one of the food sources high in mycotoxins. I wonder if changing the fat profile would make peanuts a bit less susceptible to mold? And I suppose things like phytoestrogens and phytic acid would be another non-Peat deterrent. I love the taste of peanuts, it the fat profile was better I would eat them in moderation.

 

[Runenight201]

Random anecdote to revive a dead thread..

Now this is just an anecdote so take it with a grain of salt, but I was childhood friends with a guy who instinctively ate a very Peaty diet.... plus a lot of natural peanut butter. We became good friends when I was maybe 6 years old, and for all the years I've known him, he's centered around a handful of certain foods, the only real difference being that over the years he ate larger and larger quantities and less meat.... and even more natural peanut butter. People, including myself, would always remark at how strange his diet was, and his incredibly large appetite. He practiced calisthenics and martial arts, and was always very energetic and lean.

First thing in the morning, he would drink glass after glass of orange juice (usually from concentrate with like half the recommended amount of water), sometimes with a cheese omelette or a bowl of sugary cereal or some toast with honey and peanut butter. If we went out for breakfast, he would usually get something like 4 eggs, toast with butter, and a pitcher of orange juice.

Throughout the day, he'd eat peanut butter by the spoonful, or maybe slap it on some bread. But he'd also drink homemade chocolate milk and eat cheese and crackers, grapes and apples. Sometimes if we were out and about downtown, he'd buy a bottle of goat milk and a bag of spinach from the farmer's market and snack on them while he walked around. He also loved candy and dreamed of opening a candy shop one day.

He'd get the occasional normal-but-carb-centric food here and there, like cheese pizza or a bean burrito, and he'd usually eat a normal meal with the family at supper time.

It had been maybe three or four years since I saw him, but now in his mid-30s, he's incredibly muscular, youthful, and like a foot taller than me. He looks better than ever and he's suddenly the strongest guy I know. I asked him what he did. Apparently in his late-20s, he stopped eating meat altogether (not that he ate much to begin with), and decided to just eat more peanut butter instead. Now he eats at least half a jar of the stuff every day.

I know peanut butter isn't Peaty, but I do wonder if it's as terrible as I always assumed (even way back in the paleo days). Not that I would go eating half a jar a day or anything, but I do eat it once in a while when I crave it. As far as I know, peanuts have some decent minerals, more MUFA than PUFA, a good amount of vitamin E, and a decent amino acid profile (pretty high in glycine, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong).

Peanut butter banana sandwich with milk!

I’ve abondoned this snack, but I just might have to bring it back.

 

[skittles]

You'd be surprised to learn however that there have been conscious efforts in the last 40 years to make peanuts more monounsaturated.
And these efforts have been so successful that high-oleic varieties of peanuts are now going mainstream.
These new varieties are being grown in places like Argentina, Australia, India and others.

This is fascinating as heck. Do you know how I'd go about finding a brand of peanut butter that uses high-oleic varieties? I live in Canada, so I suspect it might not be so easy unless a big name brand is using them.

 

[Blossom]

This is fascinating as heck. Do you know how I'd go about finding a brand of peanut butter that uses high-oleic varieties? I live in Canada, so I suspect it might not be so easy unless a big name brand is using them.

I noticed PB2 lists that high oleic peanuts are used on the jar. It’s not actually peanut butter though since it’s the defatted peanut powder. :)

 

[skittles]

I noticed PB2 lists that high oleic peanuts are used on the jar. It’s not actually peanut butter though since it’s the defatted peanut powder. :)

PB2 is pretty legit. But it ends up being like a billion times more expensive than actual peanut butter.

 

[opiath]

This is fascinating as heck. Do you know how I'd go about finding a brand of peanut butter that uses high-oleic varieties? I live in Canada, so I suspect it might not be so easy unless a big name brand is using them.

I know of the "Pip & Nut" brand. But they are packaged in the UK.
2x 1kg tubs go for 12-13£. But buying them from Canada might be expensive.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pip-Nut-Smooth-Peanut-Butter/dp/B01MCYK3JT/

Also there was an announcement from Mars Chocolate two years ago that their peanuts were 70-80% high oleic and that their aim was to make it to 100%.
If they managed to do that, the peanuts that now go into Snickers should all be high oleic.

 

[tca300]

Maybe if a person is low in biotin they might spontaneously crave peanut butter?
Most people I know dont like liver, and eggs are a hit or miss.

Determination of the biotin content of select foods using accurate and sensitive HPLC/avidin binding

 

[Gone Peating]

Peanut butter is the perfect food because it nearly has it all.
300g of it contains your daily requirements for calories, protein, fat, niacin, b5,b6, folate, vitamin E, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc.
It is a perfect replacement of meat with its 22% protein content, full amino acid profile, high glycine:methionine ratio (7:1) and comparable zinc & phoshorus levels.

Did you know that when growing animals for protein the feed-to-protein conversion efficiency is around 8% on average? With beef as low as 3%.
This means that in order for animals to gain 25g of protein they have to be fed around 1250kcal of food. This is nearly the amount a human needs a day.

The only downside to peanuts is their relatively high levels of PUFA.
Conventional peanuts have a 50% fat composition in which the ratio of SFA:MUFA:PUFA is 20:50:25.
What this means is that in 100g of peanut butter you'd have 10g of saturated fat, 25g of MUFA and 12.5g of PUFA.

For someone who is relatively healthy these PUFA levels are almost manageable but not very healthy.
You would need a strong antioxidation system going on within your body to offset the free radicals created by the spontaneous oxidation of these levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
What this means is if you have heavy metal burden (copper,iron,mercury,lead) putting pressure on your glutathione levels you can't handle that much PUFA.

You'd be surprised to learn however that there have been conscious efforts in the last 40 years to make peanuts more monounsaturated.
And these efforts have been so successful that high-oleic varieties of peanuts are now going mainstream.
These new varieties are being grown in places like Argentina, Australia, India and others.

They have a very low PUFA content (4-5%) which is 5 times lower than the PUFA content of standard varieties.
Combine it with the fact that peanuts are in general one of the most environmentally friendly high calorie plants and it becomes a winner.

GAMECHANGING POST

 

[michael94]

Reeses pieces in a pinch for a lower pufa ( but unfortunately still high fat ) peanut produc

Soak them first to get off the candy shell
kind if like soaking other legumes, lol..........

 

[Runenight201]

Reeses pieces in a pinch for a lower pufa ( but unfortunately still high fat ) peanut produc

Soak them first to get off the candy shell
kind if like soaking other legumes, lol..........

Removing the sugar from candy?? Blasphemy...

I had some snickers as a mid-morning snack with a latte and coca-cola...I felt awesome lol

 

[Waynish]

If you crave peanut butter and don't know why, then I would say 1) eat more protein, and then 2) eat more vitamin E... One of those two should help satisfy.

 

[opson123]

Random anecdote to revive a dead thread..

Now this is just an anecdote so take it with a grain of salt, but I was childhood friends with a guy who instinctively ate a very Peaty diet.... plus a lot of natural peanut butter. We became good friends when I was maybe 6 years old, and for all the years I've known him, he's centered around a handful of certain foods, the only real difference being that over the years he ate larger and larger quantities and less meat.... and even more natural peanut butter. People, including myself, would always remark at how strange his diet was, and his incredibly large appetite. He practiced calisthenics and martial arts, and was always very energetic and lean.

First thing in the morning, he would drink glass after glass of orange juice (usually from concentrate with like half the recommended amount of water), sometimes with a cheese omelette or a bowl of sugary cereal or some toast with honey and peanut butter. If we went out for breakfast, he would usually get something like 4 eggs, toast with butter, and a pitcher of orange juice.

Throughout the day, he'd eat peanut butter by the spoonful, or maybe slap it on some bread. But he'd also drink homemade chocolate milk and eat cheese and crackers, grapes and apples. Sometimes if we were out and about downtown, he'd buy a bottle of goat milk and a bag of spinach from the farmer's market and snack on them while he walked around. He also loved candy and dreamed of opening a candy shop one day.

He'd get the occasional normal-but-carb-centric food here and there, like cheese pizza or a bean burrito, and he'd usually eat a normal meal with the family at supper time.

It had been maybe three or four years since I saw him, but now in his mid-30s, he's incredibly muscular, youthful, and like a foot taller than me. He looks better than ever and he's suddenly the strongest guy I know. I asked him what he did. Apparently in his late-20s, he stopped eating meat altogether (not that he ate much to begin with), and decided to just eat more peanut butter instead. Now he eats at least half a jar of the stuff every day.

I know peanut butter isn't Peaty, but I do wonder if it's as terrible as I always assumed (even way back in the paleo days). Not that I would go eating half a jar a day or anything, but I do eat it once in a while when I crave it. As far as I know, peanuts have some decent minerals, more MUFA than PUFA, a good amount of vitamin E, and a decent amino acid profile (pretty high in glycine, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong).

This is really interesting. Have you seen him lately? Does he still eat that much peanut butter? Half a jar is like 250g?

My biggest issue with most foods is that they trigger gastroparesis. Foods that trigger it are low fat, low calorie and high volume. Juice, milk, fruit, vegetables and starches are all low calorie, low fat, high volume foods. Only some bread like starches with a lot of butter don't trigger gastroparesis, but I get other issues.

Foods not triggering gastroparesis is one of my priorities, because the rest of my day will suck and I won't be able to eat enough, if it gets triggered. Peanut butter and nut butters work well in this regard, they are high in calories, high in fat and low in volume so they don't trigger it. Peanuts have some vitamins and minerals, but also a lot of other ***t in them and are a pretty bad food in paper, but in my situation, I either starve or eat non optimal foods.

Eating a low PUFA peanut butter, the one opiath mentioned above, doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world. My current diet of fatty quark "works" as well, but a diet of just fatty quark isn't a long term thing. Mental health is pretty horrible as well with a stimulating sucrose heavy food like fatty quark (it has added sucrose).

Maybe I'll try and see what happens.