Why is regular peanut butter so bad? This is regular Jif,

http://www.jif.com/products/details.asp?prodID=325

This is smuckers natural,

http://www.smuckers.com/fg/peanutbut...=11&prodid=107

I HATE the smuckers natural.l I will never eat peanut butter again if I have to eat that. In the big picture regular old peanut butter does not seem that bad to me. What am I missing here? Compared to the garbage I used to eat a tsp of jif does not seem so bad. Someone convince me why I should not eat Jif.

The Jif has added sugar. The Smuckers natural is just made from peanuts. You don't like the natural because you are used to the sweetness. I used to feel the same way, but I have gotten used to the natural peanut butter. Also there are different brands and if you check around you might find one you like better than Smuckers. Or you could stir some Splenda in. Or not eat peanut butter, just have the nuts.

Right Azure, the added fats are bad too.

I would suggest trying to switch to Natural (I actually like the Smuckers brand). I didn't used to like it, either...but I read the ingredients and there are hydrogenated oils, sugar and molasses in Jif and I wanted to get all of the hydrogenated junk and sugar OUT of my diet entirely. When I was home from college and had a spoon of Jif (my former FAVORITE), it was almost tasteless compared to the Natural that I've become used to. You'll get used to Natural if you give it a chance, I think.

I agree. I enjoy the taste of real peanuts in my mouth.

I kinda feel the same way you do cathbro...compared to what I used to eat sometimes you have to pick your battles. However, based on the SBD I think natural PB is a better choice.

Personally, I pick my battles and use the SBD as a guideline for me.

Safeway's organic natural is good!

I guess I will try some other brands and see what I think. Adding Splenda is a great idea. It really is the sweetness I miss when I tried Smuckers I was in shock because I thought it would have a little sweetness to it. I will just end up eating nuts if I can't find anything.

There is a recipe online for whipped peanut butter. It takes natural pb and adds water and artificial sweetner of choice to make a lower cal/lower everything pb. I haven't tried it yet, but there was a regular pb maker (maybe skippy or peter pan) that made a whipped pb that this is a "copycat" recipe. I saw talk of it in one of the other forums here...I think it was WW. I'll see if I can re-find the recipe.
I like nat'l pb, I also like the smart balance pb and have just been able to find skippy brand natural pb that doesn't have to be refrigerated and is creamier.
Karla

This might sound like a dumb question, but did you stir up the natural peanut butter? If you microwave it (without the metal top on, obviously) for 30-60 seconds, you can stir it easier. Then, keep it in the fridge and you won't have to stir it up any more.

I love the natural peanut butter! The Shop Rite brand around here comes out creamier than the Smucker's brand.

Kara

My mom returned a jar of Nat'l PB the first time they tried to buy some. She thought it had gone bad because of the oil on top. She didn't think to read the label.
I usually pour off about half of the oil and then stir it up and keep it in the fridge. But this Skippy nat'l that I found at the commissary doesn't require refrigeration and is creamier. Still has that rich nat'l pb taste. Yummo!

Ok--here is a "copycat" recipe for Peter Pan whipped PB from Dottie's weigh loss web site. I have not tried this yet, but others stated it was yummy:

Homemade Whipped Peanut Butter

26 oz. jar Laura Scudder's old fashioned peanut butter (you know, just peanuts and salt)
3 Tbsp. nonfat dry milk (probably totally unnecessary)
3-4 Tbsp. brown sugar---FOR SBD, I would substitute splenda, agave nectar or your artificial sweetner of choice.
1 1/2 cups ice cold water--(I read somewhere to use distilled water, boil the water and let it cool, then it is distilled. This is supposed to give it a longer shelf life.) This DOES need to be stored in the fridge.

I mixed this with my heavy duty mixer, would work with food processor or even blender. Beat it until everything is incorporated. (Even though it's called "whipped" you don't whip it like cream, you're just blending in all the water until smooth). Viola! That's it!!!!
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The original PB was 46 tablespoons at 100cal/8 ft/ 1 fiber per Tbsp. That's 2.5 points.

This made 80 tablespoons (5 cups) at 60cal/4.6 ft/.5 fiber per Tbsp. That's 1.5 points.---THE nutritionals would be different if using an artificial sweetner.

You could add more water because this still tasted like peanut butter.

I am not a big fan of Smucker's either. Costco has a good organic natural creamy peanut butter. I also like Trader Joe's. It has a more sweet flavor...but no sugar...I checked. I like those two because you don't have to mix in oil. When I get the kind with the oil on the top, I put it on the counter or in the fridge upside down so the oil gets to the bottom and is MUCH easier to mix in.

Skippy natural PB contains sugar if you read the label. It also contains palm oil. I think that is why it is creamier than natural peanut butter which contains peanuts and salt.

Thanks Anne, I forgot that it was a bit off plan. Wouldn't want someone else to try it thinking it was ok.
Some things I choose to stray a bit from the hardcore plan. I am going to try to make a whipped pb from the recipe with the smuckers nat'l and see if I can achieve the creamier texture I like.

I thought the natural stuff was really gross the first time I tried it. ick yuk. Then I got used to it and I just love it. I think if I tried the regular kind now, I'd gag. A couple of months ago I tried the Smart Balance Chunky kind and I like it better than the Smuckers...you don't have to put it in the fridge. I does have molasass in it , but with only one sugar g, I'm ok with it.

I am not a big fan of peanut butter...but! Yesterday I was reading this about the whipped peanut butter and I thought...eh, i'll try it. I make it last night with just 16oz Smuckers Natural, 1 cup of water and 3ish tsp of sweetener. It was amazing!

Thanks to whoever started the PB thread for my new favorite treat!