You can cut your saturated fat in half by choosing almond butter or sunflower butter over peanut butter. Two tablespoons of sunflower butter have 1.5 grams of saturated fat, while the same amount of almond butter has 1.3 grams. That doesn’t mean either of those peanut butter swaps is lower in calories or fat, though. Both have about 10 more calories per serving than peanut butter and a little more than a gram of fat calories.
What that does mean, however, is that you’ll get more of the heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. Peanut butter has 6.6 grams of monounsaturated fats, compared to 12.5 grams in sunflower butter and 10.3 grams in almond butter. Specifically, both sunflower butter and almond butter have more oleic acid than peanut butter. Oleic acid is an omega-9 fatty acid that helps to reduce cholesterol and limit inflammation. Peanut butter tops the three types of spread with 7 grams, but the other butters have just a gram or two fewer than peanut butter. Almond butter beats out the others in terms of fiber with 3 grams.
