Peanut butter is one of the most delicious, yet healthy, things on the planet. If you’re pregnant and graving a spoonful is it OK to have, or should you wait until you’re done breast feeding.
Peanut butter is delicious, and can be eaten as a standalone, put on a sandwhich, or eaten along with fruits like apples, and vegetables like celergy to make them taste good and be even healthier. But you have to watch out for a few things, namely nut allergies, fat content, and fillers added to most top brands.
Can I Eat Peanut Butter While Pregnant? Answer: Not Recommended
Even though peanut butter contains healthy fats, it’s almost entirely made from peanuts, especially if you’re buying organic. Peanuts should be avoided while you’re pregnant if you don’t know if you or your partner is allergic to them or not, because your unborn baby could be. Even if you don’t show any symptoms, or have never had a problem with peanuts and other nuts before, it could mean you just don’t have a strong reaction to them, but could have a sensitivity to them.
Nut Allergies
If you don’t have any nut allergies, it doesn’t mean your baby doesn’t. You have to check with your partner to make sure that they don’t either. You might even want to both get tested just to make sure. Nut allergies can range from mild to severe and might not show in major symptoms. That’s why you shouldn’t eat peanut butter without finding out first, as you could be putting your baby in jeopardy and not even know it.
Fat Intake
So you’ve been given the all clear on the allergies. It’s easy to overdo it with the peanut butter. It’s one of those foods that is really good for you in the right amounts, but can quickly turn into a food that is not so good for you. Be sure to limit your intake to a few tablespoons a day. The best way to do this is to portion it off and then put the jar back in the refridgerator. A fun thing to do with peanut butter is to keep the jar next do you and either eat right from it or use apple slices or celery sticks to dig out scoops of it. While this may be even more fun now that you’re preggers, it’s not something that will do the body good, and therefore it won’t help your baby either.
PB as a Health Food
Peanut butter can be great at getting you to feel full, and has been shown to be a good thing to have towards the beginning of a meal, as a way to properly digest the meal and give your body what it wants. For years books have been including peanut but as a big part of the overall diet plan, and even books such as The Ab Diet, and The Four Hour Body both say that peanut butter is a superfood. The Four Hour Body also says that almond butter provides the same sort of results, and is even better for you than peanut butter.
Go Organic
Before buying something like Jif or Skippy, opt to pay a little more to get organic peanut butter. Commercial brands like those mentioned like to add a bunch of unneccessary fillers in order to bring down the price of the product, or to make it easier to spread. You’ll usually find added oil and industrial grade salt added to it. When you get organic you’ll usually find that it’s simply ground up peanuts, and if they add salt it will be organic sea salt, which is actually good for you.
Being Careful is Good
It’s good that you’re doing your research before eating certain foods while you’re pregnant. Keep in mind that anything you find online should be taken with a grain of salt. There is only one way to get the right answer for your situation, and that is to consult your doctor. A forum can only help steer you in the right direction, and sometimes well-meaning moms out there can offer their opinion, and be very confident that they are right, but that is only their individual situation, and doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone.
