Top 10 Nutritional Boosters: A Better PB&J

I don't know about you but we eat a LOT of PB&J at our house. It is one of the 10 things that Novan will actually eat and it's a quick and nutritious form of protein if you do it right. I have three rules for PB&J:

1)Use a good hearty whole grain bread. For some reason I have always remembered the "Whitewheat" commercial from when I was a kid. I tried to find it on YouTube but they didn't have it. It featured two loaves of bread, one white, one wheat, and they are supposed to be trains traveling on a track. One is chanting "white white white white" and the other is chanting "wheat wheat wheat wheat" and finally they collide and the chant says "WHITEWHEAT!" The idea of course is that whitewheat bread is supposed to be as nutritious as whole wheat bread but taste like white. I suppose I certainly fell for that one being only 8 or so but the reality is that white bread, whitewheat bread, and whole wheat bread are not, nor will they ever be equals.

This commercial makes me laugh. The truth is that food companies are still trying to pull this one over on us and they are getting better and better at disguising how bad off we are in the food department and what it's doing to the health of the human race. We've missed something essential that science has not told us about the benefits of getting our nutrition synthesized straight from the plant source versus man-made synthesized nutrition that you may find in not-so-wholegrain breads. Then there's all the processing that went in to making the whole grain supposedly more palatable. One time, try this: Take a dab of bleached enriched flour and put in on your tongue. Really try to taste it and pay attention only to the taste. Then take a dab of whole wheat flour, preferably fresh ground, and put that on your tongue. There really is a BIG difference, that is, if you still have taste buds. There is a LOT more flavor in whole grains. The texture is very different but texture is a person to person preference and is generally reinforced by whatever you are "used to" or "what you were raised on". Ok, so I am gonna leave it at that. Put your PB&J on bread worthy of your amazing body that was gifted you by Heavenly Father.

2) When it comes to PB, use the good stuff.

Get one whose ingredients are peanuts and salt. Fortunately, more and more brands now have a natural alternative. Just check the label and make sure they're not throwing something else in there they are considering "natural" that really isn't. None of that hydrogenated oil crap that runs rampant in your peanut butter jars. Yeah, there's oil on the top and you gotta stir the stuff but these are GOOD oils, not artery clogging, butt enhancing hydrogenated this and that that is ADDED in to make your PB fluffy and spreadable. They only invented that kind of PB so that it would spread on soul-less wimpy WHITE BREAD. White bread can't stand up to the real stuff. Treat your whole grain goodness to good sturdy PB full of wondrous nutritional treasures. You may not realize it but by itself, PB is NOT a complete protein because it is a legume. BUT, if you eat that legume with a grain, like say, whole wheat bread, you are getting a COMPLETE protein. This means your body is getting ALL of the necessary amino acids it needs.

3) Now that you've got superior bread and PB for your sandwich, please, don't ruin it with Smuckers grape jelly! It's like putting ketchup on your T-bone steak because you don't have proper steak sauce in the house. Please, use a jam whose main ingredient is fruit and one that is sweetened with something wholesome like, fruit. Then, you get those lovely antioxidants that are all the rage these days. Stay away from high fructose corn syrup and other refined sugars. I like Polaner All-Fruit and Trader Joes also sells some good jams that are sweetened naturally.

Not that I don't appreciate those lovely summer homemade jams and jellies but I wish someone would really figure out a better way to sweeten them. When I am forced to use jam sweetened with corn syrup I try to use it VERY sparingly. Yuck. Anyway, it is more expensive but you'll feel much better with your high quality PB&J and you won't feel like a bad mom feeding it to your kids so much.