October 2, 2009 Peanut Butter Bliss
Peanut butter is bliss, isn’t it?
Personally I love it. It also thrills me that my daughter loves it too. Peanut butter makes lunch time a cinch. Warning: use it cautiously.
Unless you’re careful, peanut butter can be one of the most dangerous foods out there. Not from a nutrition perspective -- although, you’ll see in a moment, that it’s not always a nutritional winner -- but from a habits perspective.
Peanut butter seduces us into taking the easy way out. It is simply too yummy for our kids, too easy for us and healthy enough in general that it can become our “go-to” meal too often. But give it to your kids all the time and they’ll start rejecting other foods.
Not many fruits and vegetables – the foods that parents are most concerned about -- have the taste, texture and appearance of peanut butter.
Think about what makes peanut butter likable: it’s creamy, sweet and kind of bland. Add in some jelly and it’s even more so. And with a couple of slices of soft-textured bread it’s a smushable, soft-ball of delight. Try getting your kids used to broccoli after that!
The only way to win the “food fight” is to repeatedly expose our children to a variety of tastes, textures and appearances.
From a nutrition perspective, peanut butter fares just fine. Unless you’re packing in the PB&J from some of our favorite food outlets.
According to Eat This Not That For Kids:
- Cosi’s Kids PB&J has 560 calories and 26 grams of fat. (60% more calories than in Cosi’s Gooey Grilled Cheese.)
- Panera Kids PB&J comes in at 470 calories and 17 grams of fat.
Add in some chips and a drink and these favorite meals can easily top out at over 700 calories. That’s about ½ the calories most under-eights need in a day. (See USDA intake guidelines.)
If you make it yourself, peanut butter and jelly is just fine.
According to my friend over at Nutrition By The Numbers, NuVal gives at least one brand of peanut butter a score of 36 (out of 100 for top nutrition), which isn’t too bad. (At least it’s in the ballpark of meats and cheeses – other common sandwich fillings.)
What’s the take-away? If you want your kids to eat broccoli, you can’t give them peanut butter EVERY day. You need to mix it up.
~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~
Reader Comments (5)
Maybe it helps to also jazz up the combo offerings. I dab a little peanut butter on apple wedges or smear it atop a whole-grain waffle to give some different textures and eliminate the need for sugary jelly or such. I've even been thinking about getting adventuresome and trying PB on celery stick sections - my toddler likes crunchy things but I'm not sure if he'll go for the stringiness factor of celery...
Rob,
You are absolutely right. You can use peanut butter to expand your kids' palates. If the celery seems too stringy, cut it into bite size pieces (after you've added the PB).
I would love to hear what other things you add it to!
Dina
Wonder if this would work similar to PB- hummus? texurally, its similar but not as dense, not as high in calories, not as sweet too... I use hummus regularly as a spread on my 2yr old's sandwich. Am I taking the wrong road here?
Rao,
I agree that hummus is a good PB "substitute." However, giving it, or anything else, to your child on a daily basis trains her taste buds to that flavor, that texture, that food experience. That means it has the potential to limit your child's acceptance of other foods. It's best to mix it up, no matter what you're feeding, so you keep expanding your child's repertoire of acceptable foods.
Good luck,
Dina
Dina, Thanks for the clarification!