I tried… different spreads
Why spreads?
The way I see it using food spreads are one of the easiest and most convenient ways to impart flavor to any meal. They also work both ways, you can go savory or sweet which opens up a myriad of options and I’m a big fan of any food group that does this. A large number of people are also just used to grabbing a piece of toast or bagel in the morning with their beverage of choice. So in terms of starting your day on a healthy note let’s look at what all can complement your toast or elevate that sandwich. Also while your current preference may taste great, can you make it work for your health too?
What are my options?
So for me depending on the meal or what I’m craving I have some savory and sweet options lying around. Almost all of these are pretty versatile in terms of applications and you can always look up some options to go with each spread. Some of these also classify as a dressing or a dip but I’ll be going over the ones which are more of a spread than a dip IMO, so basically leaving out things like guacamole which I love but doesn’t belong here according to me. Now when I talk about spread options, I’m aware that you can always make your own and there are some great recipes to do so. However, I’ll be going over options that are more readily available and are more convenient but if you’re someone who prefers doing things themselves more power to you. So let’s see what’s spreading? I’ll start with the more savory options moving onto some that can work either way and then moving onto the sweet ones.
Mayonnaise
Starting with my favorite savory option, mayonnaise or mayo can elevate anything in my opinion from a fancy burrito to a regular sandwich. The creamy and fatty flavor this imparts to savory dishes is hard to beat. Now mayo, if you didn’t know, is basically a mixture of raw egg yolks and some kind of oil, it’s fascinating how two fairly simple things create something this great. But talking about the health aspect, what can go wrong here? It’s the oil used for the emulsion. Now, this is a topic for another day but if you skim through this article you’ll know which oils are good for you and how others are terrible. Unfortunately, most of the in-store mayo options opt for the latter which causes more harm than good. However, you can still enjoy mayo, like I do, by opting for something like “avocado-mayo” which as the name suggests is based on avocado oil, one of the most heart-healthy oils. A good one I found is from chosen foods. However, this can be a little pricy, if that concerns you rather than going for a regular one let’s look at some other options.
Hummus
Hummus and Tahini are like gold from the middle east. Hummus is a savory spread made mainly from chickpea which makes it vegan friendly and a healthy option here’s why. Now it couldn’t get better but it does because it tastes great too. Hummus has an earthy flavor and is more wholesome than mayo. Moreover, there are plenty of flavor options within hummus as well. You have room to play around here and experiment with different flavors, ‘roasted garlic’ and ‘beet’ are my top two. Now while hummus is mostly benign, going back to the conversation of bad-for-you oils some manufacturers do add these in and some add a whole list of preservatives which in my opinion aren’t the best for you. So I usually pick one that steers away from these oils and has a handful of ingredients.
Cream cheese
Moving from two pure savory options to two options that play well either savory or sweet. Firstly, if you’re wondering why I skip the regular cheese spread options which most stores are filled with, it is because I couldn’t find one that’s worth trying given the options out there, if you know a good one let me know. Coming back to a better-for-you option, cream cheese is a light flavored spread made from cream. Now, this being dairy-based option didn’t make my everyday list due to lactose. Also, here I’d skip the ‘low-fat’ or ‘whipped’ cream cheese options given the fat here isn’t something to shy away from.
Nut butter
Again one of my absolute favorite food groups is nut-butters. So much so that I will be doing a separate post on this but it was worth mentioning this here as we’re talking about spreads. We know nut-butters are derived from nuts which are great for you(if you didn’t, read here). Plus they taste great and you can switch up the nuts in these, my preference is peanut but there’s certainly more. I use these not only as a spread but I throw these in my smoothies, oatmeal and I can also see these go well with savory options too. These especially go along well with the next option.
Fruit spreads
Fruit spreads/jelly/jam/preserves all fall under the same category of sweet spreads based on fruits. Because of the fruit here, there are many options for the base of the spread, from berries to something like grape or even apricots. I have tried a bunch of these and they all taste great, I mean you can’t go wrong with fruits, my top two would be raspberry and grape. These come in handy if you’re craving something sweet. Now a big issue with these is the amount of added sugar. You expect these to have sugar but the amount in many of the common options makes it a dessert, in addition, they throw in stuff like high fructose corn syrup to make it sweeter. The question here is aren’t fruits sweet as is? However, I did find some good options which rather than going this route opt for a sugar alternative. But again not all these sugar alternatives are good, I have a post coming up where I explore these options to help you choose. But an example of a good brand is goodgood (with ‘good’ in the name twice it can't be bad).
Chocolate spreads
Chocolate spreads are one of the most popular sweet spread options, especially amongst kids. This is valid because these taste amazing. However, if you’re someone trying to be cautious about your health, the common options here aren’t something you can indulge in regularly given the amount of added sugar in some of these. A major portion of these are just sugar and some subpar oil which both are bad for you individually and here they play a duet. Here’s where I found two options that do a better job in terms of health while matching the taste. First are spreads based on protein powders which amp up the protein content making it a better option. The one I tried was a “protein cookie butter” which was great. The other alternative is to use a nut butter with added chocolate flavor, my go-to is a chocolate hazelnut spread, the hazelnut here goes the best with chocolate and this tastes amazing without the extra sugar. Now both these options may not be the best for you but are way better than the common ones. Also, brand options here varied a lot and I’d advise picking a good one by looking at the ingredients and amount of sugar added.
My experience
Pros: Let’s start with the obvious which is the taste, all of the spreads taste amazing. With this, they’re also convenient and can help you sustain that diet you’re following a little easier.
Cons: With an exception of a few, almost all these options are in no way “low-calorie” because most of these have a decent amount of fat which is pretty calorie-dense. So if you’re someone on a calorie-restrictive diet you may wanna choose wisely, for example, pick hummus over mayo. The common options for most of these as I mentioned are ladled with inferior oils and sugar. Here’s where you should pick wisely to enjoy these while keeping your health in check.
Verdict
Spreads are a great way to add flavor and elevate the taste. If you’re someone who’s not the best cook, adding these in sandwiches can make it taste good without much effort. While tasting great, the good ones here are also in line with your health or fitness goals so it’s a win-win. I highly recommend you to give the good ones mentioned above a try.
Thanks for stopping by. Let me know your thoughts and what other categories would you like me to talk about. Have a great day!