Because I imagined this new version of peanut butter to be healthier I decided to give it a shot (even though it looked a little browner and a little less smooth). Almost immediately I started to feel good about myself and attention that I was paying to my body.
Of course this feeling of achievement evaporated almost as soon as I returned home with my purchase. Neil, upon hearing about the product, was kind enough to suggest that I compare the nutritional information of the new product to another variety of peanut butter made by the same manufacturer. Sadly, contrary to what the label might indicate, there wasn't much difference in nutritional content between the two products.
The main difference seems to be that the version that claims to be unsalted does, in fact, have less sodium, though only about 70 mg less (hardly anything in the prepared food realm).
Now, instead of feeling good about myself, I feel ripped off and tricked. Furthermore, I now have a product that is no healthier than the one I already had but that I don't particularly need.
I have once again been screwed by falling for an appeal to my conscience.
4 comments:
The ingredients list on your peanut butter label should read "peanuts". If it doesn't, odds are that you're eating awful food. Most actual peanut butters will be labelled 'natural peanut butter'.
Peanut butter companies love to say "0 transfat" on their labels when they really mean that "0.4 grams of trans fat rounds to 0 when you intentionally misuse significant figures".
Now you know how it is that legislators have been suckered into voting for "cap & trade" type legislation to supposedly cut CO2 emissions and save the baby polar bears from drowning.
Given that you might actually have more than one serving of peanut butter, ditching the extra 70 mg per serving might be significant. 70 mg is approximately 5% of your daily recommended amount.
Another option would be for me to switch to crunchy and save 20 mg per serving.
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