Product Review (of Sorts)- Nuts ‘n More Fortified Nut Butters

So, true confession time:

My name is Katie, and I’m kind of a peanut butter addict. While delicious, I am also the first to admit it is not the healthiest food out there: it’s sort of in the middle of the food spectrum, not terrible for you, but not terribly great either.

I stopped by my local GNC recently and noticed this Nuts ‘n More fortified nut butter (and legumes! Because, peanuts) spread, and decided to try their chocolate peanut butter version.

 

I glanced over their nutritional information before purchasing: first and foremost, while the product is low in sugar, there’s no sucralose, which is a big plus in my book. After ingesting the stuff for years, taking a break from all artificial sweeteners, then trying it again, I noticed sucralose made me feel out of sorts- more forgetful, sort of in a brain fog. Also, I started to notice a bitter undertone to the sweetness- so, since then I’ve cut pretty much all sucralose out of my diet. While the Nuts ‘n  More brand does use artificial sweeteners, they use xylitol which according to Wikipedia is derived from fruits, vegetables, corn husks and hardwoods (mm, is that an oak undertone I’m picking up in my fake sugar?) (bad joke, sorry). And, apparently it doesn’t assist in the development of cavities, due to the fact that xylitol is a non-fermentable sugar alcohol, and therefore cannot act as food for bacteria. Hooray!

Here are all the other nutritional facts, if you would like to take a look. In addition to the xylitol, the company has also put in flax seed for omega-3 fatty acids, and whey protein…

…which didn’t hurt my stomach.

If you may recall (which if you don’t, that’s totally fine, I probably wouldn’t either) in a previous post I explained how I was under the impression that I could no longer consume whey protein due to the stabbing stomach pains I would experience afterwards. But, I ate an entire jar of this stuff and at least for now I have not experienced any discomfort.

The (sort of) cons to this product: I am focusing on the xylitol aspect because a) it’s not sucralose, but also b) there were very visible crystals of the sweetener that sunk to the bottom of the jar. Personally, not a deal breaker, and it does state on the label to stir with each use, but it was a little odd. Second was the price, which is really not that big of a deal unless you seriously walk in and expect to purchase a jar of this stuff for approximately the same amount you would spend for an average jar of peanut butter. So, basically you’ll be fine as long as you don’t start off with the expectation you are purchasing a normal jar of peanut butter.

Also, they have more flavors, and they also offer several almond butter spreads- almond butter and milk tend to make the back of my throat itch, but if you don’t have any reactions to the stuff, go for it and let me know what you think.

So, will I purchase more jars of this stuff? Especially since I found there’s a pumpkin spice peanut butter version you can purchase on Amazon?

And guys… Real talk, for anyone that went to Pans this year and visited the açai bowl tent- remember how they offered peanut butter on top of your acai? What if they offered these peanut/almond butters instead?

 

 

Just wanted to share with you guys: have a great day everyone!