Natural Peanut Butter vs. Regular?

WendyTerry420

"Natural" is confusing.

My opinion is to go for the stuff that has ONE ingredient: peanuts - but otherwise as long as you're not eating the stuff with partially hydrogenated oils you'll be fine.

Meh. Peanuts always taste better if they are at least salted. Peanut butter tastes better with a touch of salt and a bit of sweetener, whether sugar, honey, or syrup.

WendyTerry420

I buy from a local company and literally it is peanuts and salt, that's it It goes great with a big hunk of chocolate...just sayin

PB + chocolate = heaven

Bunnybeesweet

i find it ironic that "regular" peanut butter often has palm oil, sweeteners and preservatives. and "fitness pals" are too lazy to stir the natural.

socajam

MaraNatha natural peanut butters are my favorite:

http://www.maranathafoods.com/category/peanut-butters

I think they taste way better Jif or Skippy, and they're about a million times better than Smuckers Natural.

That's the one I eat. Their raw almond butter is the best - expensive, but as life is too short, this is a treat worth buying.

socajam

i find it ironic that "regular" peanut butter often has palm oil, sweeteners and preservatives. and "fitness pals" are too lazy to stir the natural.

That' so true

SunofaBeach14

I grow my own organic, non-GMO, hydroponic peanuts. That's what all the lights are for. I swear.

cwsreddy

"Natural" is confusing.

My opinion is to go for the stuff that has ONE ingredient: peanuts - but otherwise as long as you're not eating the stuff with partially hydrogenated oils you'll be fine.

Meh. Peanuts always taste better if they are at least salted. Peanut butter tastes better with a touch of salt and a bit of sweetener, whether sugar, honey, or syrup.

since I only use it in shakes I don't much care what it tastes like.

rml_16

I grow my own organic, non-GMO, hydroponic peanuts. That's what all the lights are for. I swear.

Anything less is going to kill you. This is the only right way.

rml_16

i find it ironic that "regular" peanut butter often has palm oil, sweeteners and preservatives. and "fitness pals" are too lazy to stir the natural.

I'm not lazy. I actually enjoy the taste of the PB I eat. Heaven forbid.

socajam

MaraNatha natural peanut butters are my favorite:

http://www.maranathafoods.com/category/peanut-butters

I think they taste way better Jif or Skippy, and they're about a million times better than Smuckers Natural.

Thanks for the link - never knew they made coconut butter. Will have to definitely try it.

lamps1303

"normal" PB is full of crap: preservatives, sugar, extra oil etc. All you need to make PB are roated peanuts. That is what natural PB is: roasted peanuts and salt. I think it tastes more natural and better and is healthier. You shouldn't stuff yourself with extra sugar and oil if you're eating the PB for protein

False. Peanuts don't have enough oil on their own to make a smooth butter. Even natural peanut butters will add extra peanut oil to get the consistency.

False again. All natural pb is exactly that, all natural - nothing added. This is the one I buy http://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/peanut-butter/10530743.html. Read the description - no added sugar, salt or palm oil. It is the best tasting pb I have ever had.

Greytfish

You don't enjoy "regular" or "natural" peanut butter because one tastes better than the other. You overwhelingly enjoy one over the other because you have been conditioned to do so. Habits are powerful things.

auddii

i find it ironic that "regular" peanut butter often has palm oil, sweeteners and preservatives. and "fitness pals" are too lazy to stir the natural.

Eh, stirring isn't hard, but keeping the tare current on my scale while stirring, and then trying to eat 32g off a spoon while the peanut butter that is now far too drippy to stay on the spoon while standing over my jar and scale is a pain in the *kitten*.

Eh, whatever. Enjoy your superiority.

mcibty

It took me all of one time to fall in love with my Organic sugar free PB. You feel a tad sad the first time, but then you like it just as much.

beachgod

i find it ironic that "regular" peanut butter often has palm oil, sweeteners and preservatives. and "fitness pals" are too lazy to stir the natural.

It isn't necessarily due to laziness, maybe just personal preference. I think oily peanut butter and/or keeping it in the fridge (with the obvious result: cold peanut butter) sucks. Some added sugar, palm oil and salt won't kill me.

CompressedCarbon

I grow my own organic, non-GMO, hydroponic peanuts. That's what all the lights are for. I swear.

Do you think that adding your hydroponic product to brownies would help the healthiness of the brownies?

rml_16

You don't enjoy "regular" or "natural" peanut butter because one tastes better than the other. You overwhelingly enjoy one over the other because you have been conditioned to do so. Habits are powerful things.

I've had both. Skippy Natural tastes better to me than any other PB I've ever tasted.

I haven't been "conditioned" to anything. I just like it.

My parents were vegetarians when I was born and I forced them to go back to eating meat because I wouldn't eat the food they offered. For most of my life, I would barely touch anything but meat. Now I'm a vegetarian. Where is the conditioning? We like what we like.

I enjoy peanuts on their own. I prefer a certain taste of peanut butter. And I actually no longer like the PB I grew up eating.

Don't be so condescending.

Galatea_Stone

I grow my own organic, non-GMO, hydroponic peanuts. That's what all the lights are for. I swear.

Do you think that adding your hydroponic product to brownies would help the healthiness of the brownies?

Hmmmmmm, I'm concerned with these peanut plants. I dug one up and it still isn't producing any nuts. :grumble:

Anonycatgirl

Ship your natural PB to me and get the kind you like.

We're a two-jar household. My husband likes smooth Jif. I like extra-chunky natural.

BlueBombers

I've tried natural peanut butter but I just can't make myself like it. Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter for me!

Greytfish

I've had both. Skippy Natural tastes better to me than any other PB I've ever tasted.

I haven't been "conditioned" to anything. I just like it.

My parents were vegetarians when I was born and I forced them to go back to eating meat because I wouldn't eat the food they offered. For most of my life, I would barely touch anything but meat. Now I'm a vegetarian. Where is the conditioning? We like what we like.

I enjoy peanuts on their own. I prefer a certain taste of peanut butter. And I actually no longer like the PB I grew up eating.

Don't be so condescending.

Actually, that's a pretty good example of different sorts of conditioning, but feel free to keep fantasizing that you have some innate and nebulous taste unaffected by your environment.

The conditioning is in the habit of consuming it, and in the societal conditioning. It's discrimination and generalization. And it's not condescention, it's science and human behavior.

rml_16

I've had both. Skippy Natural tastes better to me than any other PB I've ever tasted.

I haven't been "conditioned" to anything. I just like it.

My parents were vegetarians when I was born and I forced them to go back to eating meat because I wouldn't eat the food they offered. For most of my life, I would barely touch anything but meat. Now I'm a vegetarian. Where is the conditioning? We like what we like.

I enjoy peanuts on their own. I prefer a certain taste of peanut butter. And I actually no longer like the PB I grew up eating.

Don't be so condescending.

Actually, that's a pretty good example of different sorts of conditioning, but feel free to keep fantasizing that you have some innate and nebulous taste unaffected by your environment.

The conditioning is in the habit of consuming it, and in the societal conditioning. It's discrimination and generalization. And it's not condescention, it's science and human behavior.

But I eat completely differently from how I grew up eating. Please tell me how I was conditioned to prefer one taste over another. And if it's social, why as a toddler would I not eat the food my parents (my only social network at the time) ate?

And why is it that people who grew up never, ever tasting certain foods or even being exposed to them come to love them after trying them only once?

I refused to even try Indian food until about three years ago and now it's my favorite food.

suremeansyes

Oh God, I love natural pb. I buy Laura Scudder's. I didn't have a sad about eating natural pb time, I loved it immediately.

It makes the best pb cookies ever. When I'm feeling like not being a total fatass I eat it with apples or celery.

Greytfish

Actually, that's a pretty good example of different sorts of conditioning, but feel free to keep fantasizing that you have some innate and nebulous taste unaffected by your environment.

The conditioning is in the habit of consuming it, and in the societal conditioning. It's discrimination and generalization. And it's not condescention, it's science and human behavior.

But I eat completely differently from how I grew up eating. Please tell me how I was conditioned to prefer one taste over another. And if it's social, why as a toddler would I not eat the food my parents (my only social network at the time) ate?

And why is it that people who grew up never, ever tasting certain foods or even being exposed to them come to love them after trying them only once?

I refused to even try Indian food until about three years ago and now it's my favorite food.

Because conditioning works both ways. An eating habit repeated often enough can produce both acclimation and discrimination that limits generalization - ie, you like natural or regualr PB because that's what you are used to consuming.

It can also function to encourage discrimination and generalization - as when you eat a food repetetively, and then "tire" of it and move onto another food.

There are also other mental forces at play with strict adherance or prohibition - vegetarianism, meat and potatoes, alcoholism, teetotalers. Depending on the study, some show more "rebellion" reactions (vegetarian children of heavy meat eaters) and some show more of the opposite effect with rebellion and then strict adhereance. It's soemwhat more complext with alcohol, solely because of addictive properties and physical dependence. (I used the "A" word. Please no one say they're addicted to sugar....)

And, the actual ability to discern tastes varies slightly individual to individual, is subject to hormone levels which level off in adulthood, and is altered by the variety of experience.

That said, it's peanut butter. No one cares what variety you eat, if any at all. You aren't fated to it, you make choices.

beachgod

An OP with a simple question devolves into a peanut butter shaming fest. Add a subplot (foodal conditioning in this one) and we have another typical MFP thread.

Greytfish

:laugh:

Can it possibly surprise you that a group of people more broadly inclined to be emotional about food become emotional about food?

Hansonian

I use PB2. I think it gives a great taste for the amount of cals...but i only use it in baking and icecream.

I've never even heard of it! Can you find it at Whole Foods or Trader Joes?

Hansonian

MaraNatha natural peanut butters are my favorite:

http://www.maranathafoods.com/category/peanut-butters

I think they taste way better Jif or Skippy, and they're about a million times better than Smuckers Natural.

Thanks so much for this site! I think I might try Tahini butters at some point!

beachgod

Hansonian, you can get PB2 at GNC or Walmart. At least both places have it around here.

WendyTerry420

i find it ironic that "regular" peanut butter often has palm oil, sweeteners and preservatives. and "fitness pals" are too lazy to stir the natural.

It isn't necessarily due to laziness, maybe just personal preference. I think oily peanut butter and/or keeping it in the fridge (with the obvious result: cold peanut butter) sucks. Some added sugar, palm oil and salt won't kill me.

Palm oil...mmmm...oil of the gods...