One of the Easiest Swaps- Peanut Butter to Almond

I used to eat peanut butter.  A lot of it, actually. You see, when I was a vegan I used it as a protein source.   Along with lentils.  And tofu. Ugh- the mere thought of it now makes me feel sleepy and bloated! At any rate, I get it.  Peanut butter tastes good. But guess what, so nut butters. Peanut butter isn’t a nut butter.  Actually, it’s a bean butter.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it! While some nuts and seeds can be part of a Paleo regime, don’t make the easy mistake of eating them too much and too often. Eating them raw, and even better, sprouting or soaking them (more about that in Pocket Paleo Snacks) does help to decrease the phytic acid they contain, the bottom line is still that they’re all high in inflammatory Omega 6s and low in anti inflammatory Omega 3s. So, on a day when you grab a handful of raw walnuts, or eat a scoop of raw almond butter, just make sure that sometime during that day you have a piece of wild salmon or black cod to balance out your overall Omega 3-6 ratio. And back to this peanut butter/almond butter topic. Often the sticking point is that people are used to not only peanut butter, but highly processed, sugar-added, hydrogenated, salty peanut butter. Think Jif.  Or Skippy. Given the added sugar, it’s a no brainer why the brain tells you that you need more.  And given the high sodium profile, no wonder raw almond butter may at first taste plain. However, on the upside, almonds and all nuts are far less offensive to the body than low-bar peanuts (except if you’re dealing with an auto immune condition in which case, you’re better off skipping all of ’em). They do have fiber, minerals and a bit of protein and, let’s face it, they do make a good in a pinch snack paired with an easy to find apple, for example. It may be National Peanut Butter day, but you do your guts a favor and scoop some raw almond butter into your smoothie, spread some raw walnut butter onto some bibb lettuce leaves before piling on some greens and leftover turkey or simply enjoy a bit of raw cashew butter right out of the jar without having to deviate a single step from your Paleo path!