Whole Foods Haul! Coconut Butter Benefits too

This morning I made the mistake of putting a teaspoon of coconut butter on my protein pancakes. Why was this a mistake? It was so freaking good, I wanted to use it as frosting all over them! I’ve heard coconut butter aids in weight loss so maybe I should…

Whole Foods invited me to a blogger event in Boston when I was in Texas. Since I could not go, they sent me a littler package with a variety of fun products, most of which I had not tried. In 2008, I did sample coconut butter at expo east and brought home a sample but I was always turned off from buying it because of the price.

I will say that despite being 186 calories per 2 tablespoons with 18 g of fat (16 of which are saturated but they are good medium chain fatty acids! ) it is worth the money. Moderation is key. It may be a superfood but it’s not low in calorie. I think a jar costs around $11 or $14. One study said a farmer tried to fatten up his cattle feeding them coconut butter but they lost weight instead. All the doc’s I found online said this isn’t the case for humans but it is beneficial to us for many other reasons including lower cholesterol and having antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal capabilities. It’s also great to use a skin and hair moisturizer.  According to EatingWell.com, eating coconut oil/butter speeds up the metabolism by 5% while digesting. If you ate a 500 calories meal, 10% is typically used for digestion. If some of those calories came from coconut oil, allegedly your body would burn 75 calories instead of 50 while digesting.

They also sent some Beanitos, Paleonola, Bonk Breakers, Bonnieville Cookie, Summit Seeker Trail Mix and raisins for baking up a storm. The Beanitos were gone quickly. As was the power cookie. Roomie declared Bonk Breakers his favorite bar ever. I first tried these at the Kona Ironman and knew they were good but are pretty high in calories for an energy bar for the activities that I do. If you do long bike rides, these are awesome!

The summit seeker might be my new favorite trail mix made with raw sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, walnuts, pepitas and a few chocolate chips. I first ate out the cashews and chocolate of course. The Paleonola was also a fun addition. I do not buy granola on my own because I’m terrible at portion control with the bags. The sugar sends me on a downward spiral and the small portions set me up for overeating almost always. It was really good and if you want a grain free granola, check it out. The Bonnievilles cookie did not taste like a typical cookie but I liked it. It’s gluten free, vegan and made without refined sugars. I tried the peanut butter caramel, which is made with 9 ingredients and has 260 calories. With 19 g of sugar it’s a dessert for sure but it does have 7 g of protein and 3 g of fiber from natural sources. Not a bad option if you eat gluten free and have a sweet tooth!

If you are looking for a homemade dessert for gluten free diets, check out this delicious chocolate and almond freezer pie I found in the Udi’s Gluten Free Community.

Have you discovered any new goodies?