When You Eat Peanut Butter With Oatmeal, This Is What Happens To Your Body – Health Digest

Recent diet trends will have you eating crazy amounts of fat or protein, but a more balanced approach is better for your weight loss goals. You need some protein in your diet to preserve and repair muscles, so aim for between 20% and 30% of your daily calories to come from this macronutrient, suggests Cedars Sinai. The oatmeal and peanut butter combo gets 15% of its total calories from protein, so you know you’ll probably need to add a little more protein to your lunch or dinner.

Carbs fuel your body and brain to support your activities and body functions. Rather than processed carbs or sugar, you’ll want to choose carbs from whole grains such as oatmeal. Carbs should account for about 40% to 50% of your calories for the day. Oatmeal flavored with peanut butter rather than sugar puts your carbs at 38% for this 356-calorie meal.

Fat helps fill you up so you’re not tempted to snack between meals. Not all fats are alike. Saturated fats can increase your risk of high cholesterol, but unsaturated fats from nuts, seeds, and fatty fish reduce cholesterol and inflammation. Although the oatmeal and peanut butter pairing gets 47% of its calories from fat, just 3.7 grams of fat come from saturated fat. Aim for less than 30% of your daily calories to come from fat.