Peanut Power Butter
By Brett Hall, R.D.
There is nothing more inspiring, empowering and useful then
a simple solution to a complex question. Throughout the course of
history it has been the simplest solutions to the most complex
quandaries that have had the greatest impact on our lives. Einstein
changed the face of physics with three little letters, E=MC2. Ben
Franklin lit up our world with electricity by flying a kite into a
thunder cloud. Alexander Graham Bell gave birth to modern
telecommunications with 2 tin cans and a piece of wire. And now there is
finally a simple solution to optimal sports nutrition; and
it's called PowerButter!
PowerButter is the first of a brand new breed of
high-performance-foods. Offering a combination of high quality protein,
essential fatty acids, healthy fiber, antioxidants and just a dash of
clean carbs, PowerButter provides athletes of all ages and ambitions
with the perfect blend of nutrients to maximize muscular performance,
recuperation and growth. And it does all of this in the form of a tasty,
all-natural peanut butter.
Sounds crazy doesn't it? I mean who's ever heard
of peanut butter being a high-performance muscle food? Sure natural
peanut butter is a decent source of "good" fats and tastes
good on toast. But that's about it, right?
True enough, but PowerButter isn't just peanut
butter, it's what peanut butter should be. Let me explain
why.
PowerButter vs. Peanut Butter
As state above, a good all-natural peanut butter from your grocery store
(containing just peanuts and salt) is a decent food. As an athlete, or
someone simply interested in staying healthy and strong, you probably
already use peanut butter on a regular basis. And why not? It's
tasty, convenient, low in carbs, provides some protein, and you've
been told it has the "good" fats your body needs. Makes
sense. But is regular natural peanut butter really all it's
cracked up to be?
I'm afraid the answer to that question is -- not
really. When you strip away all the rhetoric and assumptions
surrounding natural peanut butter, and boil it down to its true
nutritional essence, you'll find that it's really just a
dense source of decent calories. That's it. I say this for two
reasons.
First, the "good" fats contained in peanuts are really not
so much "good" as they are "not bad". They are
mainly composed of monounsaturated fats. And being such they don't
pose any health risks like saturated (or "bad") fats do. But
because monounsaturated fats are not considered "essential fatty
acids" (in other words you don't have to consume them in
your diet, because your body can make them from other fats) they also
don't really provide any specific health or athletic benefits.
There is no research connecting the intake of monounsaturated fats with
enhancement of any muscular performance or growth parameter. They simply
supply calories.
Second, the level and type of protein found in regular
natural peanut butter is very modest. Containing only 14% of calories as
protein, a 2-ounce serving provides about 14 grams of protein. However,
due to an incomplete amino acid profile, your body is only able to use
about half of that protein to build muscle. So you really only net about
7 grams of usable protein from a hefty 2-ounce serving - which also
contains about 380 calories, with 75% of those calories (25 grams) as
fat. Not a great ratio.
But PowerButter has changed all of this. By starting with
the best all-natural peanut butter available, then stripping out the
existing fat, and adding only natural, whole-food ingredients, the food
scientists at PowerButter have created a nutritional powerhouse.
PowerButter boasts a huge 32 gram dose of completely muscle-compatible
protein and 10 grams of essential fatty acids (EFA) per 2-ounce serving.
And the overall fat content has been decreased from 75% in regular
peanut butter to 50% in PowerButter. Toss in a solid 6 gram dose of fiber and an
incredible taste profile and this truly is what peanut butter should be.
Here is a comparison of the macronutrient content of regular natural
peanut butter and PowerButter. (* based on a 2-ounce serving)
Now that it's clear that the overall nutrient
composition of PowerButter is far superior to regular peanut butter,
let's take a closer look at the specifics of the selected added
nutrients, and how they can provide incredible support to your athletic
and physique enhancement endeavors.
The Perfect Protein
How is it possible to increase the level of muscle building protein in
natural peanut butter by over 450% (from 7 grams to a whopping 32 grams
per serving) -- all while maintaining a perfectly creamy consistency
and terrific taste? This was the single toughest question faced by food
scientists at PowerButter during the development of their prize product.
And because they were determined not to settle for anything but the
best, they set rigorous standards for the protein they would accept. The
protein had to come from an all-natural source, be of the highest
possible biological quality, digest easily and completely, have a
neutral taste characteristic, and lend itself to the proper creamy
consistency. This is a tough bill to fill. But once again it was the
simple solution that solved the problem.
And that solution was pure, pasteurized egg white protein.
Egg protein (or egg albumin as the techy crowd calls it) fit the protein
bill perfectly. First and foremost it is an extremely high quality
protein. As a matter of fact it's amino acid profile is so
perfectly balanced that it has been used as the Gold Standard of protein
quality, upon which all other proteins have been rated, for decades.
This means that every single gram of egg protein is "complete" and can be
utilized by your body to build muscle, create complex protein enzymes and
neurotransmitters, or fulfill any of the other thousands of protein related
demands of your body. It's just what your hungry muscles need.
Next, egg protein actually has the ability to transform
low-quality peanut protein into a complete protein in its own right. A
protein that can feed muscles every bit as effectively as pure egg
protein. Let me explain.
As mentioned earlier, only about 50% of the protein found in
peanuts is actually able to be used to create muscle. This is because in
order to be considered a complete, muscle-matching protein that protein
must have a very specific balance of essential amino acids. There are
nine essential amino acids. And if any one of those nine are in short
supply compared to the structure of human muscle, then that amino acid
"limits" the functionality of that protein to build muscle.
This is called the limiting amino acid.
In peanuts there are three limiting amino acids. They are methionine, lysine and threonine. They are in short supply compared with
what our muscles need in order to grow. However, egg protein has an over
abundance of these three amino acids within it's makeup. That
being the case, when mixed with peanut protein (as in PowerButter), it can lend
it's excess of these amino acids to the peanut protein. Thereby "complimenting"
peanut protein, filling in the blanks as it were, and making it a 100% viable,
muscle-building protein.
For this reason all 32 grams of protein per serving of PowerButter
are complete and able to lend themselves directly the feeding and building of
muscle.
Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's)
While quality proteins are the building blocks of muscular structure,
EFA's provide the physiological fuel needed to propel muscles
toward optimal performance and growth. These simple fatty acids are the
unsung heroes of performance nutrition. With the responsibility of
controlling dozens of crucial metabolic functions (including many that
related directly to muscle growth and performance) EFA's truly are
an indispensable part of any performance nutrition plan. And PowerButter
plays that part perfectly.
There are two types of EFA's - alpha-Linolenic acid
(omega-3) and Linoleic acid (omega-6). They are called essential fatty acids
because your body cannot produce them internally. They must be consumed in your
diet on a daily basis. And they are essential not only to muscular performance,
but the general function, health and well being of your body, including brain
and nervous system function, as well as blood pressure control and immune system
support. If these two fats were absent from your diet you would literally waste
away and die.
But the sad truth is there is a serious imbalance in the EFA
intake of the typical American diet. Changes in our food supply since
the industrial revolution have jeopardized both the quantity and balance
of these nutrients. First of all, our overall intake of EFAs has become
quite limited. And the EFAs we do manage to consume provide excessive amounts of
omega-6 fatty acids in relation to omega-3 fatty acid content. This is a problem
because excessive amounts of omega-6 fats have the potential to increase blood
pressure, inflammation, platelet aggregation, and allergic reactions. While
omega-3 fats have the much more positive and desirable opposing effects. Not
only can omega-3s help suppress and control inflammation in recuperating
muscles, they also tend to stimulate anabolic hormone production more
effectively. There is clearly a need for a concentrated food source of omega-3
fats in the diet of the modern-day athlete.
And PowerButter is that food source. By removing virtually
all of the peanut oil found in regular natural peanut butters, and
replacing it with a pure, cold-pressed flaxseed oil, the food scientists
at PowerButter have completely changed the fatty acid profile. Whereas
regular natural peanut butter contains over 50% of its fat as
monounsaturated fat (discussed above), 29% as omega-6 fat, and a sad 0%
as omega-3 fats; PowerButter boasts an impressive 37% of fat as omega-3 and only
10% as omega-6 fats. This translates to 7.5 grams of omega-3 fats and 2.25 grams
of omega-6 fats per serving.
As an active person your minimum daily requirement for
omega-3 fats is 2% of your total caloric intake per day. If you consume
2,000 calories per day, that means you need 40 calories as omega-3 fat,
or about 4.5 grams per day. As you can see, just one serving of PowerButter well
exceeds that requirement. And recent research suggests that for athletes
exceeding the minimum requirement may be a very good thing.
An extensive clinical study, assessing the effects of EFA
supplementation on athletic performance and general well being in
athletes, was recently carried out by members of the Danish Institute
for Optimal Nutrition, in collaboration with the Aarhus State Hospital
in Denmark. In the study 47 athletic participants were supplemented with
an average of 20 grams of omega-3 fats per day, over a 2 month period.
Researchers measured the following parameters, stamina and
endurance, strength, recovery time after physical activity,
inflammation, and increase in lean mass. After 2 months of
supplementation it was found that 75% of the participants experienced
significant improvements in one or more of these parameters. The most
dramatic improvements were seen in stamina and endurance, and recovery
time.
One competitive endurance runner in the study noted that
during the study he was able to go from running approximately 90 km a
week, to running a total of l47 km a week, without reaching the point of overtraining. Previous attempts to increase his running mileage to more
than 90 km per week were unsuccessful because he would overtrain and become sick
or injured.
Previous research shows that EFAs can improve various
biochemical and physiological reactions in the body. These reactions
play key roles in enhancing athletic performance, including an increase
in blood flow and oxygenation of tissues, as well as an increase in the
ability to absorb and utilize oxygen (VO2 max) . These effects of EFAs on human
physiology and biochemistry could explain why so many of the participants in the
trial experienced improvement in stamina and endurance, as well as a decrease in
recovery time after physical exertion.
The anti-inflammatory effects of EFAs likely played a role
in the decrease in recovery time as well. Mild inflammation occurs in
various tissues - muscles, joints, connective tissue, etc. - after
physical exercise when the immune system becomes engaged in breaking
down dead and damaged cells. If this post-exercise inflammatory state
becomes too pronounced, healthy cells can also get damaged. Therefore
the recovery time increases, because healthy tissue is also being
destroyed by the immune system. An over-pronounced post-training
inflammatory state can occur due to the following:
-
A lack of EFAs
-
An over-production of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids from arachidonic
acid (created from omega-6 fat),
-
Or due to a lack of antioxidants.
Sufficient intake of a blend of EFAs, such as that found in
PowerButter, addresses all the above problems. Furthermore, EFAs
increase the output of human Growth hormone (hGh) after physical
exercise and improve the binding of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)
to its receptors in cell membranes. Human Growth hormone and IGF-1 are
also involved in processes during the recovery phase after physical
exercise.
It is abundantly clear that no athlete interested in optimizing his or
her performance and muscular development should be without a consistent
source of quality EFAs. And PowerButter offers the most convenient,
tasty, and value-added source available.
The Facts on Flaxseeds
"There is nothing that has the potential to increase the health of
a society more than the introduction of flaxseed into the daily
diet." Albert Einstein said that. Clearly he didn't limit
his genius to physics, but dabbled in nutrition as well. He knew that
flaxseeds are an incredibly nutritious food. We're just glad that
peanut butter wasn't a hot item in his day, or he may have beat us
to the punch. Because PowerButter is not only loaded with pure flaxseed oil, but
contains a hefty dose of the whole seeds as well. And the whole seed itself
possesses a variety of health benefits above and beyond that of its omega-3 oil
content.
For starters whole flaxseed contains a special group of
nutrients in the hull called lignans. These potent phytonutrients were
discovered in flaxseed back in the 1950s, but their powerful metabolic
effects weren't realized until well into the 80's. At that
time scientists discovered that lignans interfere with the development
of breast, prostate, colon and other cancers. These lignan compounds
have shown such extraordinary potential that they have been studied by
the National Cancer Institute for their cancer preventative properties.
This research has found that lignans not only have anti-cancer
properties, but anti-viral , anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties
as well. They are also powerful anti-oxidants. Most of the lignans
tested for their anti-oxidant activity have shown themselves to be 5
times greater in activity than Vitamin E.
All of these health promoting properties are of special
interest to hard training individuals, because intense training not only
increases the level of free-radicals in hard working muscles, but tends
to increase testosterone levels as well, which in turn can lead
to greater production of DHT, and increased risk of prostate cancer. The
lignans in flaxseed can help to both protect your prostate, as well as support
your immune defenses and neutralize damaging free-radicals. It's good stuff.
And whole flaxseeds are really the only viable dietary source of these
potent lignans. Some flaxseed oil products may claim to contain lignans,
but because they are only found in the hull of the seed, this really
isn't the case. As a matter of fact, products claiming "High Lignan Flax Seed Oil" tested by the University of North Dakota
have been found to contain practically no lignans at all.
The other component of whole flaxseeds that offers a benefit
to athletic enthusiasts interested in maintaining a fit physique is an
abundance of fiber. About 25% of the whole flaxseed is composed of
fiber. About 1/3 of which is soluble, while the other 2/3 is insoluble. PowerButter contains a formidable 6 gram dose of fiber per serving, due
in great part to the presence of whole flaxseeds.
The great thing about this is that recent research indicates
that consuming 20 to 30 grams of fiber per day can be greatly beneficial
to people's ability to lose fat and maintain a fit figure. Here is
a summary of some of those findings:
When consuming a fixed number of calories (like on a structured
1,500 calorie diet say) the addition of fiber to the diet:
When caloric intake is not controlled, fiber added to the diet
of overweight subjects:
In a study originally designed to assess the effects of
fiber on blood lipids it was found that healthy, normal weight adults
all spontaneously lost body fat without any other dietary alterations.
Average fat loss over 11 weeks was 3.5 lb. No muscle mass was lost. And
subjects with the initially lowest level of body fat actually gained
muscle (1.3 lb.) while they lost fat mass.
Soluble fiber (pectin in this study) decreases the absorption of
both sugar and fat from the intestine.
Because soluble and insoluble fibers tend to act a bit
differently in the gut - with insoluble fibers soaking up water,
creating bulk and a sense of fullness that lasts, while soluble fibers
do a bit more of the fat and sugar binding - it appears that consuming a
mixture of the two (like that found in PowerButter) is optimal.
PowerButter in a (Pea)Nutshell
PowerButter is the perfect performance food. Can I say that?
Yes -- yes I can! Because when you boil it all down it's three
extremely valuable sports supplements rolled up into one great tasting
food. It's got more, and better quality, protein per serving than
many chalky protein drinks. Each serving also replaces ten (that's
right -- 10!) big EFA capsules you would otherwise have to choke
down. And you would have to eat two whole apples to get the same dose of
healthy fiber as you get from one serving of PowerButter. On top of all
this it is an incredible taste treat in its own right.
So pick up a jar of PowerButter today, and you'll be
well on your way to meeting all of your protein, EFA, and fiber needs as
you sit down tomorrow morning and munch happily away on your PowerButter
covered toast. This isn't just peanut butter -- this is what peanut butter
should be!
Click
here to buy Peanut Power Butter
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