The Peanut Butter Dilemma

One of the many questions I hear a lot is, "Why do you use Sunflower Butter?" I know that everyone has their own opinions and their own jar of something like this in the pantry. Whether it's Sunflower Butter, Almond Butter, Cashew Butter, or Peanut Butter this type of product has become a staple. Let's start off with the fact I initially had a jar of Jif in my cupboard. I did a direct comparison of my label to the Sunflower Butter and found that in nearly every aspect it was a healthier choice. I was also able to get a table together so that you could directly compare some labels too!

	Jif	MaraNatha All Natural Roasted Almond Butter	MaraNatha All Natural Sunflower Seed Butter
Net Weight	16 oz	16 oz	12 oz
Cost	$4.29	$8.99	$4.99
Ingredients	MADE FROM ROASTEDPEANUTS AND SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SALT.	Almonds	Sunflower seed kernels, sea salt
Calories per serving size (2 tbsp)	190	180	180
Total Fat	16g	16g	12g
Saturated Fat	2.5g	1g	1.5g
Trans Fat	0g	0g	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0mg	0mg
Sodium	140mg	0mg	65mg
Carbs	8g	6g	8g
Fiber	2g	4g	4g
Sugar	3g	2g	<1g
Protein	7g	7g	9g

Nutrition: I selected Sunflower butter because it had fewer ingredients, fewer calories, less fat, far less sodium, more fiber, less sugar, and more protein. 

Cost: I chose sunflower butter because it was rather comparable to peanut butter in cost. I find almond butter to be too expensive. 

Taste: I found that I prefer the taste of Sunflower Butter over Peanut Butter BAR NONE. I have always been a bit unhappy with the flavor of peanut butter, not much of a fan. When I tried sunflower butter I loved it! It's rich and creamy and doesn't have questionable ingredients. 

The best thing you can do when you are trying to eat healthier is look at the alternatives that are out there and compare them directly. For me it always comes down to nutrition, cost, and taste. I don't have the money to waste as a single mother with a very fixed income. So I felt for my buck, the sunflower butter was a good choice. I realize that every brand is different and has different labels, this is by no means meant to be the end all be all, feel free to check out the labels at your local store and see what works for you! 

I hope this helps!!

Happy Packing

*This was previously posted by me on my old blog, thought it would be useful to bring over*