Keto-Friendly Peanut Butter: The Ultimate Guide

One of the most well-known and well-loved spreads in the U.S. is peanut butter. It is also known as Arachis hypogaea. The spread is famous for its creamy texture. It is so good, in fact, that you can eat it straight out of the jar and still fall in love with it. You can have a midnight snack, spread it on your bread for a lunchtime sandwich or even add it to a shake to start your day.

Peanut butter comes from roasted peanuts. One has to grind these to make a creamy paste. This falls in the unprocessed food categories.

Can peanut butter be part of the keto diet plan?

When speaking of peanuts, well, they are not considered to be a tree nut but a legume. It belongs to the family of peas, lentils and soya beans.

Legumes are a strict “no” when it comes to keto. However, because the nutrient breakdown in peanuts is similar to that of tree nuts, many take it to be a nut, and hence it can be included in your keto diet.

The ketogenic diet is ruling the nutrition industry today. Many are following the keto diet plan to have a healthy lifestyle focused on avoiding any added sugars and remaining within the nutrient ranges.

The diet focuses on having low-carbohydrate foods. In a normal keto diet, one has to make sure their carb consumption is below 50 grams on a daily basis. This means you can add peanut butter to your keto list. It comprises protein and fats mostly and has very few carbohydrates.

When using peanut butter as part of your keto diet, please make sure not to use peanut butter manufactured by big commercial brands. These brands use ingredients that are harmful. Check the ingredients on the nutrition label. Vegetable oils, sugar and trans fats can be harmful, so avoid peanut butter brands that have these in them.

However, as long your peanut butter is low in carbohydrates and you are eating it within the required limits, you are good to go! 

Peanut butter is perfect for keto because of its macronutrient ratio. This means: 2 tablespoons of all-natural peanut butter consists of:

• Calories: 210
• Fat: 18g
• Carbohydrate: 5g
• Protein: 8g

This type of peanut butter has high monounsaturated fat. This helps in decreasing blood pressure and also any cardiovascular risks.

Benefits of Peanut Butter Consumption

Peanut butter is great as it has a good amount of dietary fats and nutrients, which makes it a lovely snack for those on a keto diet. Listed below are a few of the benefits related to the consumption of everyone’s favorite sandwich spread:

• Dense Nutrient Levels.  Peanut butter that is all-natural contains a good amount of healthy micronutrients like magnesium, niacin, sodium, vitamin E and potassium.
• Ration of Macronutrient. Because peanut butter has moderate levels of protein, low amounts of carbohydrates and are high in the breakdown of fat macronutrient, it is recommended for the ketogenic diet.
• Energy boost. The fat content is healthy, which gives your body the needed calories required to be energetic for the whole day. There is no need to worry about any extreme highs or lows, which generally come with the highs in sugar and any processed carbohydrates.
• Monounsaturated fat in abundance. Fats of these types help reduce blood pressure, decrease any cardiovascular risk and even lower “bad” LDL cholesterol.
• Great fiber source. Fiber not only helps in terms of digestion, but it also helps in lowering risks related to stroke, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal diseases, obesity and high cholesterol.
• You feel full. Peanut butter keeps you satiated. Hence you will not crave food all the time. You will be in control of what you eat and when. This will help immensely in losing weight as you will eat food that is low on calories.

Type of peanut butter that is perfect for keto

When buying peanut butter in order to make it part of your ketogenic diet, make sure to check its ingredients. It should only have two ingredients, which are peanuts and salt.

Also, note that every 2tbsp of peanut butter that is all-natural has 6 to 7 grams of carbohydrates. When you minus the carbs from the fiber, you will have 2 to 4 grams of net carbs. The carbohydrates that are mostly contained in it are derived from the fiber carbs. These break down slowly in the digestive tract as compared to carbohydrates derived from sugars.

Another thing to note when you buy peanut butter that is keto-friendly is the sugar content. Most peanut butter brands are low on fat or have reduced fat.

Cons of using Peanut Butter

Everything comes with a positive and negative side. And when you consume anything beyond the required limits, problems could arise.

Overeating - The calorie content is high in nuts. Hence one may consume a lot of it without even realizing what they are doing. For example, 1 tbsp of peanut butter adds 94 calories. This will make you cross your daily intake of calories needed to be consumed by you.

Aflatoxin - Peanut butter has this chemical called Aflatoxin, which is produced by a fungus. This fungus is colonized commonly by peanut plants. In adults, Aflatoxin is said to be linked with liver cancer.

Agglutinin in peanuts - Agglutinin is a lectin found in peanuts. This has been said to be linked with the growth of cells of colon cancer.

Common allergen - One of the most common allergies that people have is peanut allergies. So if you have a peanut allergy, you must totally avoid eating peanut butter.

High levels of pesticides - Farmers use a high amount of pesticides to protect their plants or crops. Since peanuts have a thin shell, they are most likely to absorb these toxic pesticides.

High levels of oxalates - Anti-nutrients prevent your body from absorbing and using certain minerals. Oxalate is one such anti-nutrient. In a few people, it can be the reason for the formation of kidney stones, especially in those who have oxalate in huge amounts.

I hope you found this article interesting. You can check more tips on Keto dieting on Keto Watt.