5 Protein-Packed Seed Butters You’ll Want to Eat Straight Out of the Jar

Confession: I currently have five different kinds of seed butter in my fridge (from sunflower to watermelon!). Seed butters are a new white-hot trend in natural foods—and for good reason. They’re rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, healthy fat, and fiber. Plus, unlike nuts, seeds aren’t common allergens.

Seed butters are just as versatile as nut butters, and come in a variety of delicious flavors and texture. Here are a few of my personal favorites, plus yummy ways to enjoy them.

Sunflower butter

In my opinion, sunflower butter is a perfect stand-in for peanut butter. It’s silky smooth, easily spreadable, free from grittiness, and mild in flavor. If you like the taste of sunflower seeds, you’ll be smitten with this variety, which you can buy sweetened or unsweetened, and in creamy or crunchy form.

Nutrition wise, sunflower butter is a powerhouse, supplying generous amounts of vitamin E, copper, magnesium, and B vitamins, as well as iron and zinc. A two tablespoon serving also packs 7 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber.

I love it straight off the spoon, but I also whip sunflower butter into smoothies and swirl it into oatmeal. For a healthy fruit dip, I fold in cinnamon, ginger, or chopped dark chocolate. Then I scoop it up with apple or pear wedges. I also use sunflower butter as the base of a savory peanut-free sauce by thinning it with low-sodium organic veggie broth, and adding fresh grated ginger root, minced garlic, and chopped chili pepper or crushed red pepper. This sauce is delicious tossed with steamed broccoli, cooked shrimp, and buckwheat soba noodles.   

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Sesame butter

Sesame butter (often labeled as tahini) is a staple in my household. I advise my clients to look for jars that contain only ground toasted sesame seeds and salt; and season the butter themselves. My go-to combo is fresh squeezed lemon juice, minced garlic, and cayenne pepper. It’s fantastic as a dip for raw veggies, a sauce for grilled or oven-roasted veggies, a topping for oven-roasted chickpeas, an ingredient in homemade hummus, or a salad dressing (when thinned with a bit of water).

It’s also chock-full of nutrients like copper, manganese, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, selenium, and thiamin. A two-tablespoon serving provides 5 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber, and it’s generally low in sodium. You’ll often find it with the nut butters in your market, but it may also be in the condiment aisle, near mustard, ketchup, and the like.            

Hemp butter

Hemp butter packs 9 grams of protein per two tablespoon serving, and is rich in vitamin E and minerals, including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron, and zinc. It also provides essential fatty acids, which have been shown to help curb heart disease risk.

But I have to admit that I can’t stomach hemp butter by itself. It’s a bit grassy and gritty for my liking, so instead I use it as an ingredient. I like to mix hemp butter with strong-flavored foods that tone down its taste. For example, I’ll add it to a smoothie with frozen cherries, raw cocoa powder, honey, and fresh ginger. It can also be mixed with other butters, including coconut butter, which is made from both the oil and meaty flesh of coconuts. Try this duo mixed with dark chocolate and cinnamon scooped up with fresh celery sticks.    

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Pumpkin seed butter

I love pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas), and I find pumpkin seed butter to be just as enticing. It’s packed with manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, zinc, and iron. Plus, a two tablespoon serving can provide up to 10 grams of protein along with a few grams of fiber. I love blending it into smoothies, and using it as an ingredient to thicken savory plant-based soups, like butternut squash or lentil. I’ve also folded maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice into pumpkin seed butter, and tossed it with spaghetti squash for a healthy dessert.

Watermelon seed butter

I only recently discovered packaged watermelon seeds, which I’ve munched on as a snack, and sprinkled onto salads, cooked veggies, and beans. Then when I found out about watermelon seed butter, made simply from raw watermelon seeds, I was over the moon.

In two tablespoons, you’ll find 8 grams of protein, and more than 10% of your daily iron needs. Watermelon seeds also provide B vitamins, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, sodium, copper, manganese, and zinc.

I still have a lot of experimenting to do with this new seed butter, but so far it has worked great in energy balls and smoothies. The butter has a yellowish color (it’s made without the seeds’ black shells), so it blends well with bold-colored berries, green veggies and fruit, or with other pale plants, like pineapple, mango, banana, and ginger. (The packaged seeds are sold without the shells too.)

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Homemade combos

If, like me, you’re a fan of chia seeds, you may be wondering about chia seed butter. I have yet to see pure chia seed butter. But I have seen both nut and seed butters that include chia seeds. To make your own DIY version, stir some into your butter of choice. And while you’re at it, experiment with various concoctions. One of the hottest trends in natural foods is combining nut and seed butters. I’ve also seen a number that include herbs, spices, and other unexpected add-ins, from dark chocolate to turmeric, rosemary, toasted quinoa, oats, dried fruit or freeze-dried fruit powder, chopped or shredded veggies, and balsamic or apple cider vinegar. Get creative, express your inner (culinary) artist, and savor your healthy creations!    

Cynthia Sass is Health’s contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and consultant for the New York Yankees. See her full bio here.

5 Protein-Packed Seed Butters You’ll Want to Eat Straight Out of the Jar

A World Without Down’s Syndrome? review – straight from the heart, and that’s the problem

‘This is Olly, my son,” says actor and writer Sally Phillips, over footage of her grinning 11-year-old cracking jokes to his siblings at the dinner table. Aside from being an amateur standup, paint-flinger and epic hugger, Olly has Down’s syndrome, a condition he was diagnosed with at 10 days old. Phillips wants to talk about a new test offered on the NHS that will give expectant mothers a non-invasive, 99% indication of the Down’s status of their unborn baby. Other countries using the test have had an increase in the rate of post-positive-result terminations. As it stands, nine out of 10 British women choose abortion if their baby is diagnosed in utero.

In her documentary, A World Without Down’s Syndrome? (BBC2), Phillips hopes to kick off a debate on the wisdom of introducing the test, which she fears will cause the number of terminations to go up here, too.

She goes to considerable lengths to take in all aspects of the subject, meeting parents, experts, educators and scientists in places as far apart as Iceland and California. But she is both the perfect person to give an account of Down’s syndrome and the worst possible person to present this documentary about the pros and cons of screening.

How could anyone look at Phillips’s son and say they wouldn’t want their child to be like him? This is the nub of programme, the undeniable foundation on which her argument is built. Now take that out into the world, this image of Phillips metaphorically clutching a picture of lovely, funny, warm, wonderful Olly in her hands and try to get a sensible conversation going about the pros and cons of screening. It isn’t possible for the other side of the debate to flow freely under these circumstances.

What I get instead of an even-handed discussion is at least a light shined on something that has only ever been in my peripheral vision. Phillips is right that the subject needs raising because the way a pregnant woman is spoken to about a Down’s diagnosis undeniably needs to change. “I expected tragedy and got comedy,” is how she puts it. A long list of potential health problems, as currently provided in NHS leaflets, isn’t enough to go on when you’re deciding whether or not to bring a life into the world. She has so much insight and intelligence to bring to this, but her interactions with experts and parents on the other side of this debate often leave her tearful and frustrated.

Producer/director Clare Richards does try to keep a careful hand on the tiller, often framing setups with Phillips’s own disclaimers about being a novice film-maker, and occasional questions about whether she is getting it right. Phillips herself said in an interview (on ITV’s This Morning) that she wanted someone else to make this film, someone with documentary experience. Presumably, her celebrity status made her a more appealing prospect for the broadcaster than a scientist or journalist with that degree of distance.

As she treads on ever more tricky territory, you can see why she was reluctant. The most difficult scene is her interview with Kate, an expectant mum who terminated a pregnancy after a positive Down’s diagnosis. As she describes aborting her 25-week-old foetus, Phillips tears up and bows her head. She acknowledges Kate’s bravery in talking about such a hard choice, but then she takes out an iPad and shows Kate a video clip of a young American gymnast called Chelsea, who also has the condition. Phillips’s smile seems to be urging Kate to see what she can plainly see: that their lives are no less valid. That people with Down’s can go on to great things.

“Do you mind if I ask you the really difficult question?” Phillips says, in the most direct confrontation of the programme. “So, you think her life would have been better not happening?” she asks tentatively. Kate takes a moment, then says that she thinks it should be up to each mother to decide.

“Kate didn’t want a child like mine,” says Phillips in voiceover after their interview. That wholly emotional summary of what we’ve just seen is why this doesn’t work as a documentary. When a subject is so close to the presenter’s heart that it is indivisible from it, the result is impassioned but not impartial.

As Phillips herself says, this is “a film that asks the question – what kind of society do we want to live in?” The answer here is unequivocal from minute one: a society that cares about everyone, no matter what their chromosomal makeup. Who could disagree?

A World Without Down’s Syndrome? review – straight from the heart, and that’s the problem

A&E targets missed for fifth straight week

For the duration of the initial week of June some twenty,000 patients or 94.three per cent or patients attending A&ampE units waited much more than 4 hrs to be noticed, missing the official target of 95 per cent.

It marked the fifth consecutive week that the 95 per cent benchmark, which is widely utilised as a barometer for troubles inside of the wellness service, right after falling quick for the whole of May possibly.

Separate figures published on Friday recommend cancer patients are suffering from escalating delays in the delivery of essential tests.

The amount of men and women waiting longer than the target time of six weeks for an MRI or CT scan has doubled in the previous yr and reached its highest level since 2008, The Guardian reported.

Final month The Telegraph exposed that the nationwide target of 85 per cent of sufferers commencing therapy inside the target time of 62 days had been breached for the first time.

Official figures published on Friday display that in April some 16,981 sufferers waited far more than six weeks to be tested for cancer, the highest variety since February 2008.

The figure is far more than double the seven,788 sufferers who waited longer than 6 weeks final June and virtually 5 occasions the figure of 3,495 in April 2010.

The information was published as Department of Overall health announced that a one-off payment of £250 million will be ploughed into the NHS to help keep waiting instances for elective surgery sufferers down.

A&E targets missed for fifth straight week

Sit up straight: five of the very best posture workouts

If you have a medical issue or injury, seek the advice of your GP or physiotherapist just before undertaking these exercise routines.

Back pain reliever (above)

Most of us commit too much time sitting down, and this shortens our anterior hip muscle tissue (a group of muscle tissue that attach to the front of pelvis in numerous ways – namely the hip-flexors, quadriceps and psoas). In flip, this pulls the pelvis forward into a tilt to the front, and can ultimately lead to back pain and bad posture simply because it generates an exaggeration to the curve of our lumbar spine. “By stretching these muscle tissue, we assist to hold our pelvis in neutral alignment,” says Jan Keller, a postural correction professional. If you have a decrease-back ache or tightness, this may possibly offer instant relief.

“Kneel down, then spot your right leg out in front of you at a 90-degree angle. Place your hands behind your head and push your left hip forwards. You will truly feel the stretch through the front of your left hip and front of the thigh. Hold for thirty seconds. Don’t lean forward, but hold your shoulders over your hips.” Go back to kneeling and repeat on the other side. Try this five instances a day.

Shoulder stretcher

Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

A lot of of our day-to-day pursuits, this kind of as driving or functioning on a pc, involve reaching forward with our hands, triggering our shoulders to curl and our chest muscles to shorten and tighten. Rishi Loatey, chiropractor at the British Chiropractic Association, suggests the following exercise to relieve stress from the shoulders and counteract the effects of hunching up.

“Stand with your feet just wider than hip-width apart and put your arms out to the side. Bend your elbows into a appropriate angle, with the palms facing forward, and draw your shoulder blades collectively. Start creating tiny, backwards circles with your arms and hands, maintaining your shoulder blades drawn collectively. As soon as you’re into a rhythm, start swaying gently from side to side.” Consider this for 10 seconds once or twice a day.

Back strengthener

Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

This physical exercise from Christianne Wolff, a Pilates instructor, is superb for strengthening the core-stability muscle tissues that wrap close to our middle and support to assistance the lumbar spine – weakness in them leads to bad posture.

“Get down on all fours, with your hands under your shoulders and knees beneath hips, eyes searching at the floor. Breathe deeply. As you exhale, lift your right arm and left leg out straight, to be level (or as near as you can get) with your physique. Do not lean into your right hip to assistance oneself – counterbalance by engaging your core-stability muscle groups rather. They are like a corset wrapped about your middle – picture pulling it in tight. Inhale, and reduced your arm and leg back to the starting position, ensuring that both touch the floor at the identical time. Exhale, and increase the opposite arm and leg. Inhale, and lower. Maintain moving with each and every breath.” Aim for ten-20 raises in complete.

Spine relaxer

Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

This Alexander Approach workout makes it possible for the spine to rest and regain its all-natural curve, enabling you to sustain far better posture when you stand up yet again. Peter Nobes, an Alexander Strategy instructor, suggests the following exercise.

“Use books to make a 6cm-9cm assistance for your head, or whatever feels comfy. f your chin is dipping in direction of your chest, take a book away. Bend your knees to carry your feet flat on the floor, and maintain the knees slightly wider than hip-width apart. Now, retaining your elbows resting on the floor, deliver your hands to rest somewhere in between your reduce ribs and hips, wherever feels cozy. Keep in this place for ten-20 minutes and come to feel your spine, slowly but surely, chill out and soften.”

Stand tall

Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

This exercise, recommended by the physiotherapist Sammy Margo, will aid you fight the effects of the round-shouldered desk slump, and remind your physique what it feels like to actually stand up straight.

“Uncover a blank segment of wall and stand tall up towards it, with your heels touching it. Make positive that your shoulder blades and bottom are in make contact with with the wall. There ought to be a gap among your reduced back and the wall, to keep its natural arch. Now try to place the back of your head against the wall by tilting your chin downwards somewhat. Think about a piece of string pulling the back of your hair up. Stand right here for 30 seconds and then step away, keeping this newly straightened posture.”

Sit up straight: five of the very best posture workouts