Can Eating Peanut Butter Help You Lose Weight?

Your Favorite Savory Snack Might Help You With Your Weight Loss Goals

Photo by Corleto Peanut butter on Unsplash

When you think of peanut butter what comes to mind? Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Grandma’s homemade peanut butter bar recipe? That scene in 1998’s The Parent Trap where the twins (played by Lindsay Lohan) bond over the fact that they dip their Oreo cookies in peanut butter?

Peanut butter is so delicious that it tastes more like a dessert than it does a healthy food. The opposite is true! If you’re tired of eating eggs and chicken to get your protein fix, then peanut butter is the next best thing.

There are surprisingly many health benefits to eating peanut butter. In moderation, it could even help you lose weight.

Peanut Butter for Weight Loss

There’s a lot to love about peanut butter, but its biggest claim to fame is that it’s an excellent source of plant-based protein. Two tablespoons of peanut butter (the typical serving size per jar) contains about 7 grams of protein.

Adding more protein to your diet doesn’t directly help you lose weight, but it does support you in your fitness goals. If you’re trying to build muscle rather than gain fat, protein is what you’ll need. Plus, protein gives you enough energy to be able to complete that workout in the first place!

In addition to being full of protein, peanut butter is considered a low-carb food. Healthline reports there are only about 22 grams of carbs, or 14% of the total calories.

While peanut butter does contain fats, they’re not all bad for you. In fact, one of the main ingredients is oleic acid, which lowers cholesterol, regulates blood sugar, and could help prevent cancer and Alzeimer’s disease. Peanut butter also contains monounsaturated fats, which are good for your heart.

You’ll find that even one tablespoon fills you up and helps you feel fuller for longer. Fat content aside, this is the main reason why peanut butter could help you lose weight. The National Peanut Board reports that one study at Harvard showered that eating peanut butter in moderate amounts resulted in greater and more sustained weight loss for the participants.

Other Health Benefits of Peanut Butter

Another benefit to eating peanut butter is its fiber content. It contains both soluble and insoluble fiber. Getting enough of both types of fiber in your diet aids in digestion, keeps your heart healthy, and regulates blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Finally, peanut butter is rich in antioxidants and has many of the vitamins and minerals your body needs including:

• Copper

• Folate

• Magnesium

• Manganese

• Niacin

• Phosphorus

• Potassium

• Selenium

• Vitamin B3

• Vitamin B5

• Vitamin B6

• Vitamin E

• Zinc

There are a ton of tasty and healthy peanut butter recipes for you to try. It tastes great with fruit and can be added into protein shakes.

My personal favorite is peanut butter wraps with granola or almonds inside of a wheat tortilla. It makes for a satisfyingly nutritious lunch!

Monitor Fat & Sugar Intake

Some brands of peanut butter are high in calories and contain saturated fats. This type of fat isn’t necessarily always a bad thing according to Harvard Health:

Saturated fat isn't the deadly toxin it is sometimes made out to be. The body's response to saturated fat in food is to increase the amounts of both harmful LDL and protective HDL in circulation. In moderation, some saturated fat is okay. Eating a lot of it, though, promotes artery-clogging atherosclerosis, the process that underlies most cardiovascular disease. In contrast, unsaturated fats, which make up the majority of the fat content in peanut butter, help reduce LDL cholesterol and lower the risk of heart disease.

For that reason, less is more when eating peanut butter. Everything in moderation!

Sugar levels are also a concern with certain brands of peanut butter. Check the ingredient label to ensure there isn’t a high percentage of sugar or any other additives being used to change the flavor. These ingredients aren’t going to help you on your weight loss journey.

Overall, peanut butter is a staple item in your kitchen pantry. Just a little bit goes a long way in helping you reach your weight loss goals. As a bonus, your kids and even your dog will eat it, too!

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