Iron Insights: Fat Solutions

Ingredients: Raw Almonds.

Your diet plan calls for added fat per meal, but you’ve exhausted all the go-to peanut butter routes: natural, organic, chunky, super chunk, creamy, reduced fat, and so on. Your physique, estrogen, and blood sugar levels say NO to taking any by default peanut butter detours—blends haphazardly combined with sweet white chocolate, rich dark chocolate, scrumptious honey, or yummy maple syrup. In desperation, you are fancying another nut butter to whirl your world.

Look no further, I have the fat solution for you:

Almond Butter

In celebration of the almond, assuming you’ve never tasted its butter before, expect to be pleasantly delighted. When comparing the properties of almond butter to the common household spread of peanut butter, almond butter speaks to the sophisticated palette and embodies high-volume bliss: a delectable flow-like consistency; creamy and rich; naturally sweet; and suitable for slathering, spreading, mixing, and savoring.

The temptation to indulge with conviction...galore!

Having tasted a wide variety of brands out there, I prefer ( hands-down) my almond butter to be raw, crunchy, and unsalted.

Ingredients-wise, I want my almond butter to be made from raw almonds only—no sugar, molasses, fully-hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono and diglycerides, or added salt. (And so should you).

Where can one purchase raw, crunchy, and unsalted almond butter with no added ingredients?

I recommend Trader Joe’s Almond Butter. It’s of high quality and for $5.99 per 16-ounce jar...it can be yours. (And the conversation you’ll partake with the cashier: priceless).

How do you eat it?

Strangely enough, I get this question a lot. I stare deeply into the eyes of the beholder and, before responding back with a ridiculous answer or debating whether or not to steal his or her soul, I pause, smile, and provide multiple solutions.

Here are three ways to incorporate almond butter into your life:

For example purposes, let’s assume that each of your meals contain 30g of carbohydrates, 30g of protein, and 10g of fat.

1. Use as a stand-a-lone:

Simply measure the almond butter and eat as is from the jar.

Pre- workout Meal:

• ¾ C. baked sweet potato
• 3 ¾ oz. pan-seared shrimp
• 1 tbsp. almond butter

I typically end my meal with the added fat, as it secretly serves as a dessert.

2. Combine in a protein shake:

Precisely measure the almond butter and combine it with the other blender ingredients to fulfill your macronutrient count.

Post-workout Meal:

• ½ C. dry quick oats
• 1 1/3 scoop whey protein powder (preferably chocolate flavored)
• 1 dash cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. instant coffee
• 2 tbsp. 100% cocoa
• 1 tbsp. almond butter
• Ice
• Water

Place all of the ingredients into a blender and mix until well incorporated.

*Amounts of ice and water vary depending upon your consistency preference. I suggest conservatively adding the liquids while mixing until desirable consistency is achieved.

3. Mix with oats:

Merely add 1 tbsp. of almond butter to a warm, creamy, fruit-filled bowl of oatmeal.

Meal 1:

• ¼ C. dry quick oats
• ½ small banana (sliced)
• 1 tbsp. almond butter
• 1 1/8 C. pan-fried egg whites

Cook oatmeal as you prefer. Add sliced banana. Add almond butter. Then, in a bowl, mix oatmeal, banana, and almond butter together. Prepare and eat eggs as normal.

As far as sequence is concerned, I’d eat my eggs first and then end my meal with the nut butter concoction.

Spread (literally) the good word!