Trading Up Downtown

My husband and I spent last week on vacation on Cape Cod, so when we returned home, our kitchen looked pretty empty. The cabinets and refrigerator need to be stocked again in a bad way.

Even though our grocery list was fairly long this week, I was determined to stay within our weekly budget, so I meal planned, cut coupons, and looked for in-store sales. The result: our bill came in $4 under budget. Success! I’m so glad that my hard work paid off!

Here’s what’s in this week’s cart:

Save

I was a saving machine at the grocery store this week!

I took advantage of a number of in-store sales, including stocking up on Chobani yogurt. They were 10 for $10!

I bought some reduced produce, which I plan to incorporate into a meal this week.

And I cashed in a bunch of coupons, including a few for free products! Thanks, Healthy Living Summit!

I love all nut butters, but my favorite is peanut butter. In fact, I love it so much, I often eat it on a spoon straight from the jar. Sometimes, people are shocked to hear about this habit– mostly because peanut butter is high in calories and fat. I think a lot of people buy the reduced-fat variety of peanut butter because they think it’s a healthier choice than regular peanut butter. Since working at NuVal, I’ve learned that’s not the case.

The average reduced-fat version of peanut butter has 12 grams of fat per 2 tablespoons (versus 16 for the regular stuff), but it also contains more sugar and sodium– and only 10 fewer calories. Surprised? According to the NuVal scale, most full fat peanut butters score higher than the reduced-fat kind. Check out these scores:

Regular peanut butter:

• KREMA PEANUT BUTTER NATURAL SMOOTH & CREAMY: 51
• BRAD’S ORGANIC SMOOTH PEANUT BUTTER: 37
• TEDDIE ORGANIC ALL NATUREAL PEANUT BUTTER: 36
• POLANER REGULAR CRUNCHY: 34

Reduced-fat peanut butter:

• SMUCKER’S REDUCED FAT NATURAL STYLE PEANUT BUTTER: 26
• KROGER CREAMY REDUCED FAT PEANUT BUTTER 25% LESS: 25
• SKIPPY REDUCED-FAT PEANUT BUTTER: 18
• JIF REDUCED-FAT PEANUT BUTTER: 7

The fat in peanut butter is the healthy monounsaturated kind, so swapping it out for sugar and salt just doesn’t make sense from a health standpoint. So, when it comes to peanut butter, it’s more nutritious to choose the full fat variety.  

Trading Up Downtown Giveaway

Here’s your chance to win some delicious full fat peanut butter of your own! One lucky winner will win two jars of Teddie peanut butter–  my favorite kind!

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post in reply to the question below. You can earn an extra entry by tweeting about this giveaway. (Just be sure to leave a second comment on this post with your tweet.) I’ll pick a winner on Friday morning. Good luck!

What’s your favorite kind of peanut butter?

Thanks to a bunch of new online offerings, you don’t need to pay for an expensive gym membership to take a great fitness class at home. Check out these affordable (some are even free!) at-home workouts that you can find online:

• Yoga Download: Online yoga studio from Yoga Download. Choose from a wide variety of top quality on demand streaming video yoga classes, audio yoga classes and meditation.
• Yogis Anonymous: Get your online yoga fix with full-length live-streaming and on-demand yoga videos!
• Live Exercise:  The #1 FREE website for online workouts. Get in the best shape of your life with elastic resistance.
• Pilates Anytime: HD quality Pilates class videos available 24 hours a day, new exercises added all the time. Free 15 day trial.
•  TRX TV: TRX TV lets you watch and download the latest TRX exercises – plus get trainer tips and advice.

Do you ever use the internet to exercise? If so, what are your favorite websites?  

Trading Up Downtown Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s giveaway! Here’s your winner: 81!