Vegetarians and vegans love peanuts and peanut butter for the protein and nutrients they provide. Parents choose peanut butter because it’s a healthy, low sugar snack. While many tout the health benefits of peanuts, food lovers alike still wonder if peanut butter is good for you even though it contains saturated fats. So, is peanut butter good for you? The answer is yes, depending on what type of peanut butter you choose to buy. From looking at the health benefits of peanuts to picking the best natural peanut butter to buy, take a look at the following health tips for this delicious snack.

Health Benefits of Peanut Butter

The benefits of peanut butter make it a perfect snack for people interested in their wellbeing. From the protein peanut butter provides to the nutrients you can’t find in other foods, some of the benefits of peanut butter include:

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• Resveratrol: This antioxidant helps prevent damage from free radicals and maintains overall health. A powerful antioxidant that is found in higher concentrations in peanut butter processed with skins intact, look for all natural peanut butter if you’re interesting in increasing reveratrol intake.
• Protein: For vegetarians, vegans, and those who seldom eat meat, getting enough protein is often a challenge. Eating peanut butter for a snack or during a meal will help boost essential protein intake.
• Folate (Iron): Iron is an important nutrient for proper blood health and nervous function. For those who are anemic or iron deficient, try adding peanut butter to the diet.
• Dietary Fiber: With most people not getting enough fiber in their diets, peanut butter is a great way get the fiber you need. Try pairing peanut butter with fibrous toast to boost fiber intake. Often, the healthiest peanut butter also contains the most fiber.
• Vitamins B and E: Both of these vitamins are important for overall health and are found plentifully in peanuts and peanut butter. Again, look for peanut butter made with the skins intact during processing.

Depends on the Brand You Buy

So, it seems as if we’ve found the answer to the question “is peanut butter healthy,” but be aware that health benefits are directly related to the type of peanut butter your purchase for you and your family. Peanut butter can become an unhealthy snack with added sugars, preservatives, and emulsifiers. So if you’re interesting in finding out what to avoid on peanut butter labels, take a look at the following.

• Glyceryl monostearate or distearate: These preservatives keep the natural oils of peanut butter from separating. These additives are not a healthy option, though. Take a look at the labels before purchasing and look for these items. Even though peanut butter without these compounds will separate, they’re a healthier option.
• Palm oil: This oil is another cheap emulsifier used to keep peanut butter from separating. Palm oil contains fats that are unhealthy. In fact, peanut butter with palm oil contains up to 20% more saturated fat than peanut butter without the oil does.
• Dextrose, sucrose or fructose: These three items are basically sugar in disguise, heightening the unhealthiness of the peanut butter you eat. While some added sugar is okay, peanut butter that contains too much sugar is not a healthy option.

Is Peanut Butter Good for You?

Peanut butter is a natural, healthy option for those looking to increase the amount of protein, antioxidants, and vitamins and minerals in their diets. Be aware, though, that some peanut butters with added preservatives and emulsifiers will only be detrimental to your health. Even though peanut butters without these additives will separate, avoid the health problems they cause and go natural. Look at the labels when shopping and pick a peanut butter that will be healthy to you and your diet.

There are many different reasons for hair loss and then there are lots of different hair loss treatment available.  Believe it or not, your diet has something to do with your hair. Your hair may be composed of dead cells, but it is still connected to the hair follicles on your scalp. So, if you have poor health, this will reflect on your hair. You may even experience early hair loss if you do not eat nutritious foods. Anyway, in order for you to prevent hair loss, you must eat the following in moderation:

Protein-rich foods. Your hair needs protein so it can maintain its healthy state. However, do not confuse lean meats with high-fat meats. Chicken, fish, and calf’s liver are leaner meats that keep your hair healthy and prevent it from falling off. Steaks, on the other hand, are fatty. Hence, they increase the levels of testosterone and promote hair loss. Nonetheless, meats are not the only source of protein. There are plenty of protein sources other than meat. almonds, tofu, eggs, yoghurt, beans, and low-fat cheese.

1. Seafood. A lot of men lose their hair early because they lack zinc in their bodies. If you do not want to be like them, you must eat mussels, oysters, and shrimps. Just do not overdo your zinc diet because too much zinc can lead to hair fall. So, if you eat these foods, you must not take zinc supplements any more.
2. Bean sprouts. If you think silica has nothing to do with hair health, think again. Silica contained in bean sprouts helps the body absorb minerals and vitamins; therefore, helping in the maintenance of healthy hair as well.
3. Soy beans. These foods are rich in protein, iron, and vitamin E which are needed by the body to improve blood circulation on the scalp and to produce sufficient hemoglobin.
4. Raisins. Just like soy beans, raisins are also rich in iron which produces hemoglobin. When there is sufficient hemoglobin, hair growth will be promoted. Then again, iron is not only present in soy beans and raisins. You can also get iron from dates, livers, kales, and eggs.

When you see the packages of meat marked “organic” next to the less expensive “regular” meat, do you wonder if there is any real difference? Why is organic so great? Is one or the other actually better for your family? You might be surprised at some of the facts about the difference in these meats.

Organic beef is raised without antibiotics, hormones, or other medication. The animals are allowed to graze in open pastures, provided a balanced diet of organic feed that contains no animal products, and clean housing to minimize disease.

Conventional beef is fed animal byproducts (totally against their vegetarian nature), kept in close quarters,  given growth hormones to increase size, administered antibiotics and other disease preventative medicine. The antibiotics are necessary because the cattle are kept so close together. They are fed animal byproducts as a cheap source of protein, which comes from the left-overs of beef, chicken, pork, and horse slaughter houses. They are also fed grain, usually laced with pesticides, which cause a change in the PH balance in their intestine (it becomes more acidic) which in turn encourages an increase in the numbers of E-coli.

A cow raised in a natural state on pasture land has room to move around decreasing the fat content of the animal. They eat a natural diet as nature intended. Mad Cow Disease does not develop because they are not supplemented with animal products in their feed.

A cow raised in a feed lot is packed in with up to 100 other cows. If one gets sick, they all get sick, which is why they are all routinely given antibiotics. The industry for general beef production wants the cattle as large as possible as quickly as possible, hence the growth hormones. These hormones and medications are passed through with the animals’ waste. As the waste is absorbed into the ground, the hormones and medications are taken with it eventually ending up in the area’s water table.

Organic Meat is Healthier

Organically raised beef is healthier. It contains less overall fat, and has more Omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin E content. It doesn’t have to walk around in its own waste, which dramatically reduces your risk of eating E-coli contaminated meat. When you eat organic meat you are not consuming hormones or other medications, and their waste isn’t contaminating our water supply with hormones and antibiotics.

Packages are now displaying cooking instructions to kill any E-coli in the meat with high temperatures. But I’ve seen E-coli under a microscope, and I prefer not to eat those little worms living or dead.

When looking for Organic meat, the package should be clearly marked with a round organic seal. The National Organic Program has a regulation that requires all organic livestock to be traceable. This means that if you have a problem with the meat on your table, it can be traced back to the farm and even the individual animal.

The USDA Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards:

• Animals must have access to the outdoors, including access to pasture for ruminants.
• Meat animals and poultry may be vaccinated.
• Meat animals and poultry may not be given de-wormers for any period of production. Dams cannot be given de-wormer during the last third part of gestation or during lactation.
• Meat animals and poultry cannot be growth-implanted, given growth proponents, fed urea, or given antibiotics for any reason.
• These animals must be fed 100% USDA organic feed. The standards allow for certain vitamin and mineral supplements.
• Meat animals are raised under organic management from the last third of gestation, or no later than the second day of life for poultry.

Here’s some more information on organic beef from Dr. Greene.

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