Are Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches Healthy?

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have a lot of upsides. Cheap, full of protein and easy to make, this all-American staple has health benefits galore to go along with its other positives.

If you're stressed and out of time to make lunch or dinner, peanut butter and jelly provides aquick, kid-friendly meal. Spread some peanut butter onto a piece of bread, add a smear of jelly and top it with another piece of bread. Simple and easy.

To make this healthy PB and J sandwich even more healthy, you can usewhole-wheat bread, fruit-sweetened jam or preserves, and all-natural peanut butter. No matter which way you (peanut) butter your bread, however,you're getting a healthy food choice.

While it's mainly thepeanut butterthat makes the peanut butter and jelly sandwich healthy, ifjelly or jamis what gets your kid to eat peanut butter it's probably worth the12 grams of sugarin a typical serving of strawberry jelly.

Read more:Peanut Butter and Jelly Diet

Two tablespoons of peanut butter provide7 grams of protein. The amount of protein you need in a day varies by age and gender, but that's still agood source of protein.

For children, ages 1 to 3, peanut butter is abouthalf their daily required protein, at 13 grams. Children, ages 4 to 8, need 19 grams, so it's still more than one-third of their recommended daily allowance, or RDA.

The美国RDA的蛋白质suggests girls and boys, ages 9 to 13, should eat 34 grams of protein each day, so a single PB&J with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter provides more than one-fifth of that. Adult men typically need 56 grams of protein, while adult women typically need 46 grams, so even for adults,PB&J is a good protein source.

PB&J is also a good source ofvitamins and minerals. That same 2-tablespoon serving of peanut butter that provides so much protein also provides the following:

•Magnesium:57 milligrams, about 15 percent of RDA for women, 20 percent for men

•Phosphorus:107 milligrams, about 15 percent of RDA for adults

•Zinc:0.85 milligrams, 7.7 percent of RDA for men, 10.6 percent of RDA for women

•Niacin:4.6 milligrams, about one-third of the adult RDA

•Vitamin B-6:0.017 milligrams, nearly 14 percent of the adult RDA

Peanut butter's got a lot of fat. A2-tablespoon servinghas 3.3 grams of saturated fat and 12.3 grams of unsaturated fat. The American Heart Association suggests daily fat intake should be about20 to 35 percent of all calorieseaten. That's about 44 to 78 grams of fat.

But not allfat is bad for you. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are two types of fats that can benefit your heart. Peanut butter has a high ratio of mono- and polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats.That ratiois important to your heart's health.

Peanut butter's ratio issimilar to that of olive oil, and that's part of what helps your heart health. A diet rich in nuts may actuallyreduce your riskof heart disease, according to a 2015 study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Read more:9 Foods That Do Not Raise Cholesterol

Outside Magazinesuggests packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on yournext endurance challenge. The PBJ calories in a basic sandwich,made with white bread, name-brand peanut butter and Concord jelly,equal about 350, with 16 grams of fat, 45 grams of carbohydrates and 11 grams of protein.

Outsidewriter Michael Eastercompared PB&J with energy barsfor a 24-hour endurance event and, hands down, found PB&J to be preferable. Many fitness buffs find peanut butter to be an easy way toconsume a large number of calorieswhen they need lots of energy, fast.

复活节的三明治ablank canvas, waiting to be dressed up or dressed down. Use waffles instead of bread or add fruit. Use thicker bread or three slices. Your next marathon could be fueled by the peanut butter and jelly sandwich of your dreams.

PB&J goes beyond endurance athletes, however.ESPN reportsthat PB&J is a favorite pregame food among NBA teams.

This is a sandwich that allows forlots of variety. For example, Smuckers Natural Chunky Peanut Butter has95毫克s of sodium, but if sodium is a concern, you can use peanut butter made without salt. There are natural peanut butters made strictly with peanuts, or peanuts and salt. There areorganic peanut buttersmade with organically grown peanuts.

One slice of whole-wheat bread has about2 grams of fiber, so you're adding even more fiber to your diet if you make your sandwich with two slices of wheat bread. Make sure you usewhole-wheatbread if you're looking for fiber, however. Breads labeled "wheat" may not necessarily be whole wheat, so read the label.

You can add fruit to your PB&J.Slicing up real strawberriesto go along with the jelly or jam is a good way to get children to eat fruit. Another good way is to add bananas, which give not only fiber, but extra sweetness.

Jam ismore likely to have pieces of fruitin it than jelly, which is cooked to a smooth texture. Jelly is made with crushed fruit, with the leftover solids and seeds discarded. In jam, the crushed fruit solids and seeds are retained. Preserves are chopped up pieces of fruit mixed with sugar and combined with a syrup to hold them together.

Homemade fruit jam is the best way to get some fruit if you're comparing jams, according to a 2016 article in the journalCancers.

If you'recounting your calories, but still need some jelly to get the peanut butter down, just use a thin smear of jelly, jam or preserves. One tablespoon of strawberry jelly hasabout 50 calories. When homemade's not an option, look forfruit spreads, if sugar is a concern.

Read more:No Sugar Added Organic Jams and Jellies

When you're choosing peanut butter for your PB&J, thetype of peanut butter matters, says Consumer Reports. The benefits of peanut butter are found in the peanuts.

The sugars and the added oils that keep the peanut butter from separating cut into its overall nutrients.

Look for natural and organic peanut butters that contain fewer additives. Some brands contain only peanuts and salt, and other brands contain only peanuts.

Read more:Healthy Peanut Butter Brands

The Boston Cooking School'sMagazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Scienceintroducedwhat may have been the firstPB&J recipe. "Try making little sandwiches ... of three very thin layers of bread and two of filling, one of peanut paste ... and currant or crab-apple jelly for the other," wrote Julia Chandler Davis in 1901. "The combination is delicious, and so far as I know, original."

But, asOutside Magazinenotes, PB&J's classic status came about during World War II, when soldier rations included bread, Welch's Concord Grape Jelly and canned peanut butter.

Today, the sandwich's popularity continues, fueled by kids and athletes everywhere.