Earlier this week we were having the family over for dinner, everyone was bringing something, so I thought I'd make one of my favourite compliant desserts, Chocolate Zucchini Brownies. These brownies are delicious, even the non-paleo people in the family will eat them. One of the key ingredients in my brownies is almond butter. I LOVE almond butter, sometimes when I'm away for a competition and the food options are limited I will buy a jar and eat it with a spoon, straight out of the jar (to be honest, I do this at home when there is plenty of compliant food around too).
As I enjoy almond butter so much, I'd eaten the last of ours. So off I went to the shops to buy some more, I was planning on getting one jar for my brownies and one, so we had some for the next time I felt like almond butter.
To my surprise, when I found the right aisle, there were two different options for almond butter!
One brand was significantly cheaper than the other, even though they were called exactly the same thing. Thinking this was a bit strange, I grabbed both jars off the shelf to check the label. Thank goodness I did!
The cheaper "almond spread" was not almond spread at all!! Just 23% of this jar was almonds. There was more vegetable oil and maltodextrin (which is a highly processed starch used as a preservative or filler in processed and packaged foods) than almonds in this "almond" spread.
I'm just glad I checked the label before choosing the cheap alternative! For people with auto-immune issues and food sensitivities like my mother or myself, accidentally eating milk solids, sugar, vegetable oil, maltodextrin, will mean the difference between delicious brownies to accompany a lovely family dinner and potentially a serious health set back. Thankfully the more expensive spread was 100% almonds, and so perfectly safe for us to eat.
Checking the labels on the food you buy make take a few seconds longer, choosing the more expensive alternative may cost you a few extra dollars, but when it comes to your health, there is no compromising quality.
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