- Dogs love peanut butter, and its nutritional value makes it a great snack for them, even improving the appearance of their coats.
- You can take advantage of this in many ways… for example, if your dog hates taking baths and it’s a chore to get him into the tub, smear a little peanut butter on the side of the tub. He’ll be so busy licking it off he’ll forget about the bath, and you can easily rinse off the residue afterwards.
- Peanut butter can also be used to administer pet medication– stick a pill in a spoonful of the stuff and they’re none the wiser. (Works on both dogs and cats.)
- In a pinch, smooth peanut butter can actually be used for shaving, if soap, shaving cream or oil aren’t available. It works surprisingly well, and is much cheaper (and often better for your skin.)
- Peanut butter makes far more successful bait for mousetraps than cheese does.
- You can use peanut butter instead of regular butter in any recipe. It won’t change the cook time or the appearance, and the change in flavor can be an improvement.
- Peanut butter can absorb unpleasant scents: for example, drop some in the frying pan after frying fish to keep the smell from invading your house.
- Smooth peanut butter can not only remove gum from your hair, it can remove other sticky things as well. These include cement glue, airplane glue or the residue left behind by price tags.
- Use any kind of peanut butter to plug up a leaking ice cream cone (leaving a tasty bonus at the end!).
- Bait a hook with peanut butter mixed with bits of cereal or bread. Some fish like peanut butter as well, including bluegills, carp and catfish.
- Use it as a natural leather cleaner: apply a dab, rub in a circular motion and remove with a buffing cloth. It works like a charm.
- The oils in peanut butter make it a good natural lubricant: even rusty tools like lawnmower blades can be loosened up. Car or truck axles can be greased with it as well; George Washington Carver even used peanuts in a recipe for axle grease.
Posts Tagged ‘just for fun’
12 Amazing Uses for Peanut Butter
06
Oct
Why Choose Nuts? Health Benefits and Interesting Facts
22
Sep
Image: Maggie Smith
You may be inclined to think of nuts as nature’s junk food… a tempting, but ultimately unhealthy treat that you ought to avoid. After all, they’re high-fat and high-calorie, right? A glance at the nutritional facts for most nuts could make you think that, delicious though they are, they have to be bad for you.
Wrong. Actually, nuts are one of the healthiest foods around. It doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female, young or old, an athlete or a couch potato: eating nuts is one of the best things you can do for yourself, and here’s why.
What Benefits Can You Get From Nuts?
They improve your cholesterol. Nuts themselves contain no cholesterol. None whatsoever. Not only that, they may actually lower your LDL (or “bad” cholesterol) when eaten regularly. It’s true that nuts contain a high quantity of fats, but remember that certain types of fat are not only good for you but essential for health. These include omega-3 and unsaturated fatty acids, all of which are found in abundance in nuts.
They could help maintain a healthy weight. Nuts have a very low glycemic index– in other words, they fill you up without causing a dramatic spike in blood sugar, like many processed foods. Over the long term, making nuts part of your regular diet can reduce weight gain and inflammation, and combat obesity.
They’re full of protein and fiber. Most people need about 30-60 grams of protein per day. Vegetarians have been substituting nuts for meat for years, and no wonder– they contain high levels of protein without the associated saturated fat and cholesterol. They’re also an excellent source of dietary fiber.
They have been shown to promote heart health. Several studies have found that people who eat nuts at least 5 times a week are 20-60% less likely to develop heart disease.
They contain vitamins and antioxidants. Nuts are practically a natural multivitamin: they contain lots of phytochemicals (compounds which may help prevent cancer) as well as copper, potassium, zinc, niacin, folic acid and even calcium.
Peanuts
Image: Arvind Balaraman
Peanuts are great for your heart. In one recent study, “a high monounsaturated diet that emphasized peanuts and peanut butter decreased the risk of cardiovascular diseases by 21% compared to the average American diet.”
As for nutrition, peanuts are slightly higher in protein than other nuts. They’re also chock full of vitamins, especially Vitamin E, which is great for your skin and has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, and anti-oxidants.
Almonds
Almonds are higher in calcium and iron than other nuts, and are generally very high in potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, and protein, making them an excellent choice for the health-conscious. A handful of almonds alone provides 85% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin E.
Almonds are beloved by chefs and bakers alike, and almond flour can provide a delicious alternative for people with specific diets: it’s low-carb and gluten-free.
Fun Facts
Almonds have been loved for millennia; they originally come from the Mediterranean region, and were hugely popular in ancient Rome. Almonds were even found in Tutankhamen’s tomb. References to the tastiness of almonds can be found in numerous Shakespeare texts, and are scattered throughout the Bible.
Peanuts aren’t really nuts at all: they’re legumes, like peas and beans, and are grown underground.
In China, almonds are considered to be symbolic of female beauty.
Peanuts contain so many nutrients that peanut-based pastes are currently being used by a variety of organizations (including UNICEF and Project Peanut Butter) to fight malnutrition in third-world countries.
The natural oils in peanut butter make it useful in other ways: for instance, it can remove gum from a person’s hair!
Want to know more? Check out these sources:
http://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/classroom-funfacts.php
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/a/almon026.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/5922-need-protein-nuts/
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2001nov/2001novnuts.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_%28fruit%29#Nutritional_benefits
http://peanut-butter.org/peanut-butter/Health+Benefits+of+Peanut+Butter
