:hm: Maybe I should post this in the nutrition section, but I'm somewhat excited by what I did with peanut butter yesterday!!!!! :tomato:

For some time the world of experts (there are so many of them) have advised me to get rid of my beloved (Brand Name Omitted) chunky peanut butter that has sugar and trans fat in it. Other than that, pb is healthy in reasonable amounts and ALWAYS seems to affect my metabolism to cause a weight loss when I am on a plateau.

However, I do not per se like natural pb. I grew up on the bad stuff and want the bad stuff.

Yesterday I was determined to go natural. Bought some, tasted, verdict: tasteless. One hundred calories for a tablespoon of THIS?! You were supposed to mix the oil separated out on the top with the PB and refrigerate. Instead, I poured off most of the excess oil, leaving just a little, then I put a packet of Splenda in there and mixed and refrigerated for awhile. Voila, it tastes just like the unhealthy stuff ... actually better.

I'm still counting it as 100 calories a tablespoon, but with less oil, it probably has less, so that's just another reason to eat my favorite food!! Hooray!

So that's my tip! :) :curtsey:

Qvictoria, you are cracking me up!
How creative!
I do eat (and feed my family too) the natural PB.
It is an acquired taste but well worthed the effort, especially if you eat a lot of it :D

hey, great tip qvictoria!! i use splenda to******or example i got some strawberries this week that werent too sweet and i just put a little splenda on them and they were great..good idea about the peanut butter!! i will try it:up:

Thanks, guys!

Aria, I think losing the trans fat in the processed stuff is going to be really worth my effort and I'm going to keep at it! :)

Sooz: Splenda is a gift of nature!!!! I don't know if you are old enough to remember how stuff tasted with the old-time no-sugar sweeteners, but Splenda is light years away from that! We are so lucky to live in the age of SPLENDID Splenda!!! :)

Qvictoria, I still have to try that Splenda one of these days :D

am i old enough?? :o:laugh: i am OLD!! actually i got used to the old stuff and when i switched to splenda it took a while to get used to it..but then i ran out of splenda and switched to the other stuff i had on hand..ugggggggggggggg it was awful!! splenda is expensive but worth it!!!!

And Qvictoria and Sooz, with Splenda you can even make a great tasting apple pie :D

:hm: Apple pie ... now THAT'S an idea!!!! Maybe I'll try that today! Or apple tarts, so I'd only have single servings!!! Thanks Vtmom!!!

It is one nice thing about Splenda that it doesn't break down with heat ...

Sooz, I was so used to that bad old stuff that when nutrasweet came out, I thought it tasted GOOD! Now I can't stand it! (Sorry if this offends any ns lovers or employees of the company or anyone out there!).

Aria, you really DO need to try this stuff!!! :)

are reduced fat peanut butters full of trans-fat too?
which is better? reduced fat or natural?

Here is the ingredients in reduced fat skippy peanut butter (taken from netgrocer.com):

ROASTED PEANUTS, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SUGAR, SOY PROTEIN, SALT, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPSEED, COTTONSEED AND SOYBEAN) TO PREVENT SEPARATION, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES (TO IMPROVE CREAMINESS), MINERALS (MAGNESIUM OXIDE, ZINC OXIDE, IRON PHOSPHATE, COPPER SULFATE), VITAMINS (NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, FOLIC ACID).

It still has the partially hydrogenated oils in it plus other things...