[pct-l] Peanut butter and trans fats

[Erik The Black]

Natural peanut butter tastes like an old cardboard box that was left out in
the rain, then blended in a food processor and stored in an old shoe :P

I used to eat that stuff back when I was a bodybuilder and nutrition nut. 

Not anymore...

I plan on eating trans fats, sugars, saturated fats, refined carbs, MSG,
salt and junk-food by the metric ton on the trail... interspersed with steak
dinners, cheese burgers, pizza, Ben & Jerrys ice cream, french fries and
gravy on top of everything in towns :)

That's half the fun of hiking!


Happy trails, 
Erik the Black


...



-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Africk [mailto:danstheman at gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 7:48 AM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Peanut butter and trans fats

I'm a big fan of nut butters, and it will be a staple for me on the trail. I
want to point out that many cheaper brands of peanut butter have a lot of
partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, aka trans fat, added to them to
prevent oil separation and make it more 'creamy'. This stuff is essentially
poison and has already been banned in a number of cities, if you're not
aware of this just google "partially hydrogenated oil" or "trans fat", and
see for yourself. I strongly recommend that people buy 'natural' or organic
types of nut butters and read the labels, even if it costs more and is a
little more inconvenient, trans fats are nasty stuff that are body can't
process well. If peanut butter is a staple for you, you could end up
consuming a ton of this stuff over the course of your thru-hike.
FYI partially hydrogenated oils are also found in many snacks and instant
foods, including at least one brand of "backpacker food", I forget which
brand.

On another note, I used to buy lots of nut butters in bulk, by the
bucket(usually 9lb., they also make 45lb buckets), from Once Again Nut
Butter based in Nunda, NY ( http://www.onceagainnutbutter.com/Contact.php ).
They make something called 'mystery butter', which is a mixture of 2
different kinds of nut butters, because every time they switch their
equipment from producing one kind of nut butter to another, say almond to
cashew, they have to flush the machines with a certain amount of the new
kind. This 'mystery butter' is not advertised or sold in retail stores, but
they will sell directly to the public either in person or through the mail,
at drastically reduced prices, well below wholesale cost. It's been a few
years since I bought from them, but if you contact them they can send you a
list of prices, shipping costs, and current inventory. Note that even though
it's called 'mystery' butter, they are actually tell you what the mixture is
made up of, and the only mystery is what the proportions will be(i.e.
mystery peanut/almond butter). Obviously if you have nut allergies, this
could be problematic.
If you do order from them, make sure you stir the buckets really well, with
a wooden spoon(plastic will break and metal will bend), before you
distribute it into smaller containers. Otherwise, some containers will be
really dry, and others will be too oily.