Is Palm Oil bad for you?!
Question:
Is Palm Oil bad for you?
I bought some "Natural" Peanut Butter by Skippy the other day, and the ingredients are peanuts, salt, and palm oil. I know that there are healthier peanut butter's out there, but do you think that this one is healthy?
Answers:
Not particularly. Palm oil was removed from commercial popcorn vendors (like movie theaters) about 10 years ago because it's so high in saturated fats (bad for you).
Why not just go to your local health food store and buy peanut butter there? In its purest form, peanut butter is just ground up peanuts and salt. There's more than enough oil in peanuts to lubricate the spread; in fact, when natural peanut butter stands for an hour or so, it separates and you need to stir it to blend the peanut oil back in.
Commercial peanut butter makers drain off the peanut oil and sell it separately for oriental cooking, cosmetics, animal food, and other uses. Then they add hydrogenated fats and oils to keep the peanut butter smooth and so you don't have to stir it.
Peanut butter is also very easy to make at home if you have a food processor.