I eat a lot (at least one a day) of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Is there any sort of merit to eating them?
But I am torn. On one hand, I see the pbj as a good recovery food: lots of carbs from the jelly and bread, with a bit of protien and fat to fill me up. On the other hand, the sandwhich really is just fat and sugar.
For what its worth, all pbj sandwhiches I eat are on 100% whole wheat bread with Adams (no hyrodgenated oils).
So do you think there is any worth in a pbj, or in the hopes of getting fast and eating better, should I wean myself off them?
They’re healthy! Peanut butter has the good kind of fat, and some protein. I make it with homemade strawberry jam - none of the HFCS jelly crap - so it’s lower in sugar, and bread is complex carbs. Bread + legumes = complementary proteins.
Depending on where you buy them, a whole wheat bagel has 10-14 grams of protein. So if you do that, you’ll get as much as 15-20 g protein. I think people overanalyse nutrition at the micro level and then blow it at the macro level by overeating and stuffing their faces with deserts and highly process foods with lots of sat fats. Your one Peanut butter and jam sandwich per day won’t do you any damage.
Eat well, eat moderately, eat what you like, don’t deprive yourself and things will fall in place
Hydrogenated vegatable oil in the typical name brand PB is nasty stuff (albiet 2%ish). The same holds for high frutose corn syrup in most jellies/jams.
Check the label and see if you like “real” PB and natural jelly/jam. Healthy stuff!
I’m FAR from being the food police, but have chosen to be more selective towards “real” food.
PBJ’s rule ! I rotate with PB and raisins though as sometimes i don’t want the sugar from jelly. I read about this combo on somebody’s tri site and found that it is tasty too ! YUM
Excellent food choice…assuming it’s not Skippy and Wonder bread!? Aunt Milly’s has some new organic high grain breads try these they are yummy; replace the jam with marmalade or honey; and use the organic peanut butter - no sugar added…YUMMY
If you really are concerned if the PBJ is healthy get rid of the JIF and Skippy crap and go with a 100% Natural PB, all it is basically is crushed peanuts. You could also go with a low sugar jelly (not near as much fun eating) and 100% whole wheat bread.
My choice for natural PB is Adams 100% natural, once you natural you never go back!
“I think people overanalyse nutrition at the micro level and then blow it at the macro level by overeating and stuffing their faces with deserts and highly process foods with lots of sat fats . . . Eat well, eat moderately, eat what you like, don’t deprive yourself and things will fall in place”
I like this approach to nutrition: common sense and self control.
Authentic Recipe from Elvis’ cook, Mary Jenkins
(from an official postcard endorsed by Graceland)
2 large bananas
6 slices white bread
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup peanut butter
Peel and mash bananas. Mix peanut butter with bananas thoroughly. Toast bread lightly and spread mix on bread. Melt butter in skillet and brown sandwiches on each side slowly until golden brown.
While you are at it, you might as well ditch the whole wheat bread as well. Whole wheat is totally overrated, since the bread manufacturers only need to have 51% whole wheat to call it whole wheat. Even 100% whole wheat isn’t half as good as a decent multigrain bread. I’ve done a lot of comparisons of many of the breads out there and Costco’s current Multigrain bread is one of the healthiest, and tastiest as well. I worked for the development team that sells it to costco and it blows away most of the other widely available commercial breads.
Anyway, I love the PBJ idea for lunch 5 days a week, but would keep it to fresh perserves, organic all-natural PB, and multigrain bread. That’s what I’ve been eating for the last 5 months.
