Many of us have issues with eating too many snacks. The problem with most snacks is that once you eat them, the sugar and salt cause you to want more and more. In other words, most snacks make you want to go snack again. They don’t actually satisfy the craving. I think most of us are at least unconsciously aware of that fact. However, there is one comfort food that will satisfy that late night craving and will curb the desire to go get more, and that snack is peanut butter.
Peanut butter is a favorite among many comfort food lovers; from the kid headed off to grade school to the adult headed to the office. Unless you have an allergy to nuts, peanuts specifically, you probably have peanut butter near the top of your snacking list. Just a spoonful alone will satisfy a craving for sweets or savory snacks.
So what is it about peanut butter that is so satisfying and that curbs the craving for snacking?
Dr. John Kellogg, the latest to be credited with inventing peanut butter as we know it today, created it as a source of high protein for people with bad or no teeth. This was a time when dental care was only for the wealthy. Many believe that it is this high dose of protein that curbs cravings and satisfies them at the same time. Protein raises the blood sugar, but also keeps it steady; unlike other snacks that raise your blood sugar temporarily and then causes the blood sugar to take a swan dive, causing you to seek more sugar. Most know about George Washing Carver and his research of the peanut. It was his discovery of the benefits of this nut that he used to encourage all sorts of peanut products, including perfecting the peanut butter.
Later on J.L. Rosefield was the researcher responsible for taking Carver’s idea of the peanut butter and transforming it into something more cohesive that didn’t need to be stirred. Before Rosefield, you had to stir the oils and the mashed peanuts together until the product became a butter. Rosefield created what he called, the churned butter, a peanut butter that didn’t need stirring. The oils and peanut mash were already combined within the jar. Today, we know this product as Skippy.
If we take any knowledge from this research that is helpful, it would be that protein curbs cravings and because peanut butter tends to have a natural sweetness, it makes the perfect snack for those middle of the day and midnight sugar and salt cravings, while its high protein factor truly satisfies our need for comfort.
source: Peanut Butter: The Comfort Food that Curbs Cravings
photo credit: Lifescript