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Best Snacks - Healthy Low Calorie Snack Foods - Peanut Butter

Although calorically dense, peanut butter is a very nutritious and versatile snack to include in your nutritional plan. The key is finding the right type of peanut butter and limiting the amount to smaller portions. Look for all natural peanut butter that does not contain added sugar. Look on the ingredients list and make sure it only contains peanuts and salt. Anything more than 2 or 3 ingredients and you know you have the wrong kind.

A few great choices for all natural peanut butter are:

• Laura Scudder's Old Fashioned Natural Peanut Butter
• Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter

Benefits of Peanut Butter

Whole peanuts are a very important human food. Peanuts are very high in protein (25 grams per 100gram serving) of good quality. They are a very good source of energy, with 50 grams of fats and 16 grams of carbohydrates per 100 gram serving. About half their fat content is monounsaturated fats, about a third are polyunsaturated, and the remaining about fifth are saturated. Of the polyunsaturates, only a passing small amount is omega 3.

Peanuts are a very good source of niacin (B3), with a healthy 112 mg/100 gram serving. Niacin, also called nicotinic acid, is the most effective medication for raising HDL "good" cholesterol, leading to increases of 20 percent to 35 percent.

Peanuts also contain vitamin E (8mg/100gms). Nuts in general, and peanuts in particular, are high in the bioflavonoid 'resveratrol'. This bioflavonoid is also found in red wine and is believed to help prevent the formation of arterial plaques. Peanuts have more resveratrol than grapes. Studies adding even small amounts of 'peanut products' to the diet have recorded a 14% reduction in the 'bad' LDL cholesterol. One ounce, or one small handful of peanuts contains 2 big grams of fiber. This is 9% of the fiber you need each day!

Peanut Butter Snack Ideas

• Peanut butter on celery sticks
• Peanut butter on sliced apples
• Peanut butter on whole grain crackers
• Peanut butter on whole grain toast

See All Top 25 Best Snacks