Peanut Butter

Is there such thing as "too much of a good thing?" Several people have asked this question before, and most health articles claim that, "Even nutritious food can be too much of a good thing if you eat it in too large a quantity or too often" (Chicago Tribune, 2015). But, let's say, hypothetically, you chose one food to be a component of all your meals. Hypothetically, you would just do it for one day to avoid any potential health hazards while still hypothetically seeing whether or not you were sick of that food that you hypothetically love by the end of this very hypothetical day. Well, I have done the hypothetical.

Now, I love peanut butter. First "invented" in 1895, this creamy (or crunchy) spread has become a staple in pantries and refrigerators all across the globe. I thought that it was surely a versatile enough food to withstand this day-long test. It pairs well with fruits, vegetables, chocolate, and of course, jelly, so I was sure to get my daily nutrition, all the while pairing a variety of foods with the delicious peanut spread. Let me walk you through my culinary day.

I don't often stray from a small bowl of cereal for breakfast, but I thoroughly enjoyed my toasted English muffin with peanut butter in the morning. It was this early that I made my first realization: my jaw was going to be sore from eating sticky peanut butter all day. For lunch, I made myself a classic PB&J sandwich with a side of green apples and celery, both with peanut butter. I also had a side of the peanut butter filled pretzels that you can get at Costco (they are very good). It was at lunch when I made my second realization of the day: peanut butter is very filling. I wound up not finishing half of my sandwich. For the same reason, I opted out of an afternoon snack which brought me to dinner.

There are not a lot of options to incorporate peanut butter into a normal dinner, so I had a salad from Salad and Go, but I did make sure to get the Thai Peanut Dressing to keep peanut butter in my meal. While peanut butter was still a predominant flavor, I found myself relieved to have a crunchy and flavorful salad to pair with the taste of the dressing. For dessert, I brought peanut butter back in full force with a peanut butter banana fudge milkshake with crushed Butterfingers as a garnish. That was good. My final realization of the day was that that pairing anything with ice cream covers any aversion. 

Even with such a yummy and versatile food as peanut butter is, I did think it was a little much for a single day. Because of my sore jaw, my full stomach, and my temporary aversion to peanut butter (when not with ice cream), I did steer clear from it the following few days, but ultimately, I rediscovered my liking for it on toast, sandwiches, apples, celery, and salad, and in milkshakes and pretzel nuggets... just not all in one day. 

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