Ashley’s answer: Patients have asked me questions like this for years! I find that there are typically two reasons for this type of question. #1: Someone is overconsuming a certain food, knows it, and is looking for someone to validate that their behavior is “wrong” so they are forced to change it. Or #2: Someone is actually not overeating the food but regularly judges themselves based on their food choices. Regardless of which peanut butter-holic camp you fall into, dear asker, here’s what you’ll want to consider. Any amount of peanut butter that is poor quality (made with hydrogenated oils, excess salt, artificial ingredients, and so on) is too much. A proper portion of organic peanut butter is about two tablespoons, and when you consume that, you are getting one serving of protein, one of fat, and half a serving of carbohydrate. Translation: if you have that portion, then you don’t want to have any other fat (and likely protein) at that eating occasion to achieve proper nutrient balance. And if you wanted to have that serving of peanut butter every 3 hours all day long, you technically could, without it being deemed “too much”. But the reality is that while repeat servings of peanut butter may not be nutritionally too much, they might be emotionally too much, or just flat out boring. Variety is the spice of life, so I hope you’ll consider other amazing legumes, nuts, and seeds instead of resigning yourself to a life of just peanut butter. Ashley Koff is a registered dietitian, Qualitarian, nutrition expert, and co-author of Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to Live Fully Charged as well as Recipes for IBS.
