A peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be a healthy, quick meal if you use the right ingredients. Peanut butter has satiating qualities that help you feel full and provides protein. Understanding the nutrition potential of this food can help you include it as part of a healthy diet.
Standard Sandwich
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with 2 tbsp. of commercial peanut butter, 1 tbsp. of jelly and two slices of commercially prepared white bread contains 404 calories. This sandwich has 18 g of fat, 4 g of which are saturated. It provides 51 g of carbohydrates, 4 g of fiber and 16 g of sugar. This standard sandwich has 13 g of protein.
Make It Healthier
Using commercial wheat bread instead of white increases the fiber content to 6 g per sandwich. Some brands of wheat bread contain even more fiber -- check labels to find one with 3 g or more per slice. Using an all-fruit spread, instead of jelly, or apple butter saves you up to 4 g of sugar and about 25 calories. Instead of jelly, try banana or very thin apple slices on your peanut butter sandwich to reduce added sugars, add fiber and increase nutrition. Choose natural peanut butter, which has no added hydrogenated fats or sugar.
Additional Nutrients
Peanut butter makes the peanut butter and jelly sandwich provide 15 percent of the recommended dietary allowance for vitamin E. Most of the fat in the sandwich is the heart-healthy, unsaturated type -- also courtesy of the peanut butter. A peanut butter sandwich on white bread provides 11 percent of the RDA for calcium and 16 percent for iron. It also offers 35 percent of the RDA for niacin, 23 percent for folate and 20 percent for thiamin. Choosing a different type of bread alters this nutrition information slightly.
Weight Concerns
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich may seem like a high-calorie indulgence. Of the 400 calories, almost 200 come from the peanut butter. Reduce the amount of peanut butter you put on the sandwich to save some calories and use just a teaspoon of jelly. Researchers from Purdue University found that individuals who ate 56 g of peanut butter daily did not experience significant weight gain after four weeks, as reported in a study in the "British Journal of Nutrition" in August 2010.
Options
A healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not only for the lunchbox. Instead of a nutritionally empty doughnut, have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat for a sweet breakfast. Pack a sandwich as a snack to have in lieu of vending machine cookies or snack mixes containing trans fats.
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