Reduced Fat Jif Peanut Butter / Rating – 1 (with a mad face)

Ah nutty, wonderful peanut butter…the stuff childhood dreams are made of.  It’s one of those things though, peanut butter, you either love it, or your hate it.  And if you love it, your peanut butter bloodline probably runs deep.  You are either die hard Skippy, or like highly intelligent choosey people (I’ll admit complete bias), you choose Jif. 

Jif, my most favorite of all peanut butters.  Many a time have I cheaply tried alternatives, trying to save money, only to throw out 3/4 of the jar and head back to my trusty Jif.  It’s the perfect smooth (or crunchy if you prefer) peanutty deliciousness.  My new diet staple has been a night time snack of an apple with 2tbsp of the nut butter.  It’s been a tried and true favorite…but then I’m always looking to save a point.

In the line of duty, last time I got groceries I lingered longer in the peanut butter aisle.  With a nice jar of regular Jif already in my cart, ready to head home, my head was swayed by the REDUCED FAT label, clearly posted across the top of an otherwise identical jar of Jif.   I glanced at it and made the #1 dieters mistake, I didn’t compare the labels.  “25% less fat”, the jar bragged, convincing me that the good people of Jif had my good health in mind.

So home I went, after casting aside my trusty regular Jif, feeling quite proud of myself, thinking smugly that I probably shaved a good point or two from my daily total.  A few days later, it was testing time.  I honestly didn’t have concerns.  I mean, sure they squeezed out a little fat in the name of good health, but they must have preserved that Jiffy goodness…mustn’t they?

Yeah, so failing to have concerns was my #2 dieters mistake.  I took a bite, and as I chewed and expected normal peanut butter, was I in for a rude awakening.  Let me think of the best way to describe this…imagine if someone took your normal peanut butter, poured in 3/4 cup of sandbox sand, stirred it up, and replaced the cap.  That, my friends, is what the reduced fat p-butter tasted like to me.  It tasted like peanut butter, with none of the mouth feel.  It was gritty and just left a weird and unappealing taste in your mouth.

To add insult to injury, I searched Jif to see what points the one teaspoon I actually ingested might hold.  I almost dropped my mobile Weight Watchers app when I looked at the screen and saw: 2 TBSP Regular Jif – 5 Points, followed immediately by: 2 TBSP Reduced Fat Jif – 5 Points!  What the WHAT?  This must be wrong, I assured myself, and ran to my trusty Google to get the facts directly from Jif.

Well…behold the facts.  First, let’s look at the nutritional info for the detestable, highly sandy, Reduced Fat Jif:

Check the details, 12 grams of fat, 190 calories in 2 TBSP.

Now, let’s look at Regular Jif:

Don’t get confused, or think I pasted the same label twice.  But if you look closely, the calories are the same, most everything is exactly the same except for 4 measly grams of fat, and a mere 20 fat calories.  20 CALORIES….and it IS exactly the same amount of Weight Watchers points regardless of what kind you eat. 

Lessons Learned:

1.  COMPARE the labels on anything “reduced fat”, as technically they can take out 1 calorie of fat and consider it reduced.

2.  Check my trusty points calculator before I make an impulse buy.

3.  Peanut butter isn’t so tasty when you pour a sandbox into it.

So that’s all for today’s field testing.  I’ll sleep easy knowing maybe just one dieter can be spared from this travesty of nuts!  😉