I've noticed on these threads that peanut butter is a commonly tempting and fairly-easily-bingeable food around here. So I wanted to start a thread about it, so we could talk about it... "know thine enemy", as they say.

I do buy peanut butter, but I limit myself to one or two tablespoons at a time. I thought I was doing well... "I'm measuring out two tablespoons!" ... but I kept getting this little voice in my head... "I want more! I want more!" So I'd have a taste here, a taste there...

Well... I started really buckling down on my eating in other ways, but I was still having these tastes of peanut butter. I figured I wasn't doing much harm to my calorie count, but I decided anyway that for a couple days, every time I took "just a taste" of peanut butter I would measure it and figure out exactly how much it was and how much I was eating in a day, if I didn't try to limit myself at all.

I only counted for a couple days, but in those couple days, I was eating 6-7 TABLESPOONS of peanut butter a day ... and I thought they had been tiny nibbles... that's 600-700 extra calories! Every day! No WONDER my weight loss has been so excruciatingly slow!

The good news is, if I can cut out the peanut butter, it will be SO much easier to lose weight. But I'm not sure what to do. Do I just stop buying peanut butter completely? I'm afraid that if I stop buying it I'll sit around feeling unsatisfied and compulsively eat everything ELSE in the house to try to compensate... that happened to me when I told myself "NO more chocolate!" a couple years back, and I gained 15 pounds almost before I knew it was happening! (Also, just the THOUGHT of having NO more peanut butter makes me want to rush downstairs and start bingeing, right this second. ) But I can't see myself cutting it back slowly, either...

I've thought about buying nuts instead of peanut butter... but I also tend to binge on raw almonds and the like... I LOVE that "nutty" flavor and once I have it, it's very hard to stop. I don't want to lose that nutty flavor altogether, though. I guess if I have to, I have to... I just don't want to fall off the wagon completely because I feel deprived of that one flavor/food...

I think maybe peanut butter is so satisfying because it contains both fat AND protein... are there other, healthier foods that contain both fat and protein that might also be satisfying? Are there other foods that have a nutty flavor that might be an appropriate substitute? Generally, is it best to go cold turkey with a trigger food, or cut it off slowly? And if there are feelings of deprivation, do you get over it after days or weeks go by? (I realize that's kind of a silly question -- we can and do adjust to change -- but I can't imagine not craving peanut butter!)

Phew. So many questions, sorry! I know I'm probably REALLY overthinking this, but right now this little thing seems like a huge hurdle. Any and all thoughts are very much appreciated.

If you don't feel like ruling out PB would be a good idea on a permanent basis - you might try one of the following:

1. Cut it out for a limited period of time (say, 2 weeks). You can have it back at the end, but it might break the daily habit of the little nibbles.

2. Measure and record every bite of PB BEFORE you eat it. Commit to not eating even the tiniest nibble without writing it down and counting the calories for it. Even knowing you have to record it can help slow you down.

I think this is a behavioral thing, though it's also about the food itself.

But ... still .... may I ask, what kind of peanut butter are you eating? When I switched to the natural brands, with no sugar or salt additives, that really helped me. (Trader Joe's has a good house brand.) I liked the taste but craved it less.

How are you eating it? I want details. I mean, what are you doing physically? What exactly happens when you eat it? Are you standing up? With spoon & jar in hand? Moving? You're not sitting down to a meal in front of a plate with a portion of peanut butter on the side of the plate for dipping or already spread on something, are you?

When does this happen? How many hours do you have to be home before this occurs? Ae you alone? And at what time, generally? Evening? Afternoon? Morning, when preppign breakfast or lunch?

What do you associate with peanut butter? What is your memory of eating it & your experiences with it in the past?

It may help if you think this things out. If you keep a journal -- I don't mean a record of food, I mean something your thoughts & feelings get into -- this is definitely worth journaling over.

But binging is a behavior, I believe, more than it really is about any trigger food in particular. If you are inclined to binge, you will keep doing it on healthy or low-cal foods. Once you eliminate one thing, you will find another. That's why we have to do the mental work, too.

saef - great questions! i am going to try to answer those myself as PNB is 'still' not allowed in the house...

i did hear a suggestion to help though - buy the PNB and then mix it, immediately, with a full container of plain ff/sf yogurt until smooth. then if you want a tbls, it is significantly lower calorie!

what do you all think? would it maybe work? or would you just eat 2 or 3 tbls at a time instead?!?!? what about mixing it with ff cream cheese instead?

I see a couple options here:

1) Continue the behavior, eating food by the tablespoonful out of the jar, six or seven a day. (I don't know how this breaks out -- seven daily visits to the jar? three visits? two?) But somehow reduce the calories, by mixing it with something.

2) Stop the behavior, which could mean keeping PB in the house but limiting it, or never bringing it in the house at all, or working on the behavior in general so that it is not transferred to a different foodstuff perceived as lower-cal or "safer" than PB in some way.

We all have to decide this stuff if we're prone to this behavior.

Hello! I'm in Weight Watchers and this reminded me of something we discussed at a meeting. It was about red light foods (things that tend to lead to binging once you have some) and our leader said that one of hers is peanut butter, and that she learned to keep it out of the house completely.

Someone in the meeting then mentioned PB2, the low calorie powdered peanut butter that you mix with water, as an alternative. I had tried that before and wasn't that impressed, but the mentioned how having to take the time to mix up a serving might be a good way to slow someone down once they get into binge mode. And then, if you do continue to binge, at least it's about 1/4th the calories!

So that is something else you might add to your arsenal against PB binges.

(I personally have come around to appreciating it--just this morning I sprinkled some into my oatmeal, but it is not quite the same as real PB).

Skyra, I know exactly what you are saying. I think I am addicted to Peanut Butter. I used to buy an all natural brand, no salt, sugar or anything added, just peanuts and I just loved it. I craved that stuff, and I would binge on it by the spoonfuls til i ate 3/4 of the jar about twice a week. I got so sick! I used to eat it with spoonfuls of marshmellow, F.F whipped cream or chocolate marshmellow frozen yogurt. It tasted like heaven to me if I ate it with these other foods. I gained 3 lbs in one day when I did that! I tried not buying it for a while, then my family would complain that there is no peanut butter for them, so I would give in and buy it. And guess what happened? So for the past week I refuse to buy it or any of the foods I used to eat it with(cause I crave P.B when I eat these foods alone) I have been binge free for 6 days, just don't have it in the house! I tried raw peanuts too to take the place of P.B, it didn't do a thing to help the craving.

I don't know if it would help others, but I do very well with individually wrapped portions, and JIF makes those "snack packs" that are about 100 calories. That's saved me a binge or two.

I do love peanut butter, and I do find that it helps cut cravings or hunger in a pinch. I also find that since I buy the healthy peanut butter (the kind you have to stir) then the cravings for it are less. I also like chunky peanut butter, so not sure if that impacts the binge factor.

I adore peanut butter, but don't have a hard time with it, and find it to actually be a healthy alternative when my body is craving fats and protein and carbs.

I have the PB2 in my cupboard. I also have the chocolate PB2. It does help with the cravings, although sometimes I eat way more of it to equal 2 TB in calories.

I like it in oatmeal, over yogurt, just not really on its own.

Dawn

I agree that PB helps with cravings--I would feel deprived without my PB fix...

Thank you all for the thoughts/support.

First off, I have to admit (more to myself than anyone else) that after posting this post, I felt panicky at the thought of not being able to have peanut butter and went into the kitchen. I ate about half a jar of peanut butter, and my stomach has been hurting ever since (about a day and a half now).

I feel ashamed and depressed about it, but at least it has helped me learn one thing. I have more of an emotional attachment to peanut butter than I had realized. I actually felt PANIC at the thought of not being able to have it -- which surprised me. I used to think I probably ate too much peanut butter but that it was mostly OK. But realizing that I feel dependent on it and like I would be unhappy without it makes me feel like it's a thing I need to work on changing. I don't want to feel dependent on ANYTHING -- even something as "silly" as peanut butter. For some it's cigarettes or coffee or drugs -- for me peanut butter seems to be a crutch and so I'm going to journal about it, really look into my feelings about it and how it became a crutch (thanks for the idea, saef!).

I am still trying to figure what to do re: keeping it in the house or not. I want to throw all the PB out, but I live with other people and I know from experience (and this makes me feel guilty/awful too, but I HAVE to admit it) that if I don't have my own PB, I will take someone else's (thinking, "they won't notice if I just take a tablespoon"). It's not right and it's not nice. That's part of the reason I want to really work on this. It scares me when I stoop to the level of sneaking someone else's food.

Fruitlady -- I know what you mean! For me, I am MORE likely to binge when it's "natural" peanut butter you have to stir. The thought I guess is that it's more healthy and more delicious -- why not eat more of it? Ugh.

Amy and Dawn -- PB2 sounds like it might be a good alternative. Where can you find it in the grocery store? I looked for it last time I went and I couldn't find it anywhere.

Anyway, thank you again to everyone for your support and your ideas. It means a lot. I still have a lot to work through, but this is a good start, I think.

You can try blending it to lessen the fat and improve the nutritional profile but still have peanutty taste.

1/3 peanut butter and 3/4 cup drained great northern beans in the blender.

HTH!
A.

Skyra- I can't believe you are so much like me with the peanut butter problem. I didn't have any in the house for a week, on the 7th day I was craving it real bad, I had to go out and buy it right away. It tasted so good to me after staying away from it for so long. I ate half the jar too! I'm keeping the rest of the jar out of my sight so I don't eat it again for a while. I've been binging on P.B for about 6 mo. now. I have to stop, but I don't know how. I think I am becoming allergic to it, I get red blotches on my face, my eyes burn, I get a very dry mouth, sleepy and sick to my stomach. It never bothered me before, but I think maybe too much of it for so long can cause a food allergy. Do you have any problems when you eat too much of it?

i hope this doesnt sound harsh... i just realised that we are being RULED and CONTROLLED by an inanimate object... something with no feelings, no voice, no soul... why are we letting this stupid jar of sugary peanuts get the best of us???

we are WAY better than that jar of pnb and we deserve to live our lives without being at the mercy of a simple nut...

lets break free of 'its' control and just say "enough is enough" ... after all, it is all in our heads right? (and stomachs if we let it!)

1 tbls at a time ladies... we can do this!