Kitchen

[redtabby]

On 1/16/2014 ballinmom said:

On 1/15/2014 willdob3 said:

On 1/12/2014 sidsmom said:

I keep my diet 10% fat w/ nuts/seeds/avocado....and 80% carbohydrates consisting of fruits/starch (potatoes/rice/legumes). Very satisfying & slimming. Butter is ick on so many levels. It's dairy, which is evil on a whole-nuther level. It's a fat w/ no whole-food nutritional value (compared to avocado/almonds/coconut meat). It's a processed food, which again, is evil on a whole-nuther level. For the nutrients, calories, taste....there are so many other better alternatives.

We are all so different! Following your diet would kill me!

Me too! I work out and am quite active and could never survive eating 10% protein!

How do you figure she only gets 10% protein? Protein is in grains (oatmeal), legumes, even green veggies and fruits have protein. Did you know that Serena Williams is a vegan?

[Crazed4Gems]

Real butter and olive oil for me! In moderation of course...

[jetts_mom]

I was raised on butter (I don't think margarine even existed when I was young!) and have stuck with it. There was a short time when I was dieting that I changed over to margarine, but didn't like the taste or cooking properties. It was very short lived. For the relatively little I use, I don't worry about it. I do use EVOO as well.

[FunkyHulaGirl]

I used to use margarine for baking, but have switched to all butter. It's not all that much more expensive (especially since I get it at Aldi), the taste is better, and it's all natural - not artificial junk. I've always used unsalted whipped butter for eating, although sometimes I'll treat myself to Irish butter.

As for the increase in butter adding to the obesity epidemic, that's not true; they both have the same number of calories.

Here's some interesting stuff I found:

Margarine or Butter-Truth! & Fiction!

A list of comparative facts about margarine and butter.

The Truth:

The heart of this eRumor, the comparison between butter and Margarine, has been circulating since 2005. Later versions added the tidbit about Margarine being manufactured to fatten turkeys.

We'll go through the email one fact at time but it needs to be kept in mind that not every Margarine product is the same. There are other spreads that are loosely called Margarine but may, for example, be part vegetable oil or a fat-free Margarine product.

1. Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed The turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a Payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this Product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food Appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in Place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever New flavorings-Fiction!
According to the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers, Margarine was the idea of a Frenchman named Hippolyte Mege-Mouriez in response to a request from Emperor Louis Napoleon for ideas for a substitute for butter. In 1869 he used margaric acid and the name of his formulation became known as Margarine. It became a hit in the United States in the late 1800's.

2. Both have the same amount of calories-Truth!
A tablespoon of butter is 100 calories. A tablespoon of Margarine is 100 calories.

3. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study-Truth! But Updated!
We didn't find the "53%" study, but Harvard School of Public Health has published a report on this. It says that more than 30 years ago research indicated that saturated fat (such as in butter) was bad for the heart and people were told to switch to margarine. A Harvard study of women between 1980 and 1994 found a significant reduction of heart disease risk by reducing smoking, hormone treatment, and dietary improvements including reducing or eliminating saturated fat (such as in butter.) Further research has shown, however, that some margarines contained trans fat, which was even worse for the heart than saturated fat. The report cautions us not to make decisions as a result of just one study but to consider the body of recent research about an issue like butter versus margarine.

4. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 Grams-Truth!
A tablespoon of butter is 7g of saturated fat. A tablespoon of margarine is 2g of saturated fat.

5. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other Foods-Unproven!
We could not find anything definitive about this.

6. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
It depends on what you are measuring. The advantage of butter is that it is a more natural product than margarine and does have more vitamin content. But butter is high in saturated fat, which is associated with increased heart attack risk. Saturated fats are the ones that are solid at room temperature and increase the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) as well as the "good" cholesterol (HDL). The disadvantage of true margarine is the trans fat level. The more solid a margarine is at room temperature, the more trans fat it contains, as much as 3 grams per tablespoon. Margarine makers have responded to that by releasing tub or liquid products that have either reduced or eliminated trans fats. Watch for the labels. Heart doctors recommend butter over normal margarine but recommend trans fat free margarines over butter. It all gets very confusing. There are even margarine products now that say they actually lower cholesterol.

7. Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods-A Matter of Personal Taste!

8. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for Less than 100 years- Fiction!
Margarine was introduced as an inexpensive alternative in France in 1869, according to a history found in the Margarine and Spreads Association in the United Kingdom.

9. Margarine is high in trans fatty acids-Truth!

10. Margarine triples the risk of coronary heart disease-Unproven!
Although trans fats are to be avoided, we did not find any research that says that the use of margarine triples the risk of heart disease.

11. Margarine ncreases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)-Truth!

12. Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold-Fiction!
We could not find any substantiation of this claim.

13. Margarine lowers quality of breast milk-Truth!
We didn't find any research on this but there are studies on how a mother's eating of trans fats affects the level of trans fats in her milk. One study, for example, comparing Canadian breast milk to Chinese breast milk found that Canadian mothers had 33 more trans fats in their milk than the Chinese mothers. So the quality of the breast milk can be affected by the consumption of trans fats.

14. Margarine decreases immune response-Truth!
We found several references to this including an article by nutritionist Dr. Mary Enig that said that consuming trans fatty acids "Affects immune response by lowering effeciency of B cell response and increasing proliferation of T cells."

15. Decreases insulin response-Truth!
Actually the trans fat can increase blood insulin levels, which increases the risk for diabetes.

16. Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC-Fiction!
We found no support for this. Perhaps whoever wrote this heard a discussion about the "plasticity" of margarine. It is "plastic" at room temperature meaning that the shape of it can be changed when pressure is applied. That doesn't mean it is composed of what we normally think of as plastic. It was originally made of animal fats but increasingly now is made from vegetable oils.

[Silkeej]

On 1/12/2014 Nana5 said:

Only use real butter. I'll take my chances with the natural thing instead of the chemicals. Somebody said that margarine is just one molecule different than plastic. I'm not a scientist so I have no idea if that true or not but I'll continue using butter.

I heard the same thing about margarine and plastic.... grew up on a farm and have always used butter, think it is so much better for us than something that doesn't come from nature.

[qvcfan526]

Butter is easier to get rid of, margarines have so many chemicals in them they are not good for your body. Butter, in moderation, is the best.

[chickenbutt]

I always say - half in jest - that margarine is about one molecule away from being polyester.

But seriously, I'm probably not all that far off.

I took a friend for a minor surgery one time and when I brought her home (it didn't involve her mouth so she could eat) if there was anything I could fix for her because she needed to stay off her feet and REST.

She said that her 'comfort food' was just noodles with butter and asked if I could make up a big pot of noodles with butter, so she would have that to eat for the next couple of days. Sure! Easy to do. As the noodles were cooking I headed to the refrigerator to find the butter and couldn't find any.

I asked her if she was out of butter. She said no and got out for me this brand new HUGE tub of margarine. Of course, I recoiled and said 'really?'. She said that is what she uses for 'butter'.

So I drained the noodles and added some of that yuck into them. I added the s&p that seemed like the right amount. But I have to say - I was not able to taste the dish because the smell of margarine is so repugnant to me and I know that the taste is equally gross. But I laugh when I think back on that because it was so distasteful to me that I had to create a dish, no matter how simple, using that stuff. She was thrilled, so job well done but - yikes! hehe

[Lipstickdiva]

I can't remember the last time I even reached for the butter to use on anything so for the little amount I use, I don't worry about it. But I'd certainly rather have real than the garbage that's in margarine.

However, I will say this, if a recipe, especially for cookies/dough, calls for margarine, you better use margarine as the consistency will not be the same. My sister made a bunch of various doughs one year for x-mas baking and many of them were unusable and had to be tossed. You couldn't work with the dough because it was too oily/greasy/slippery and many of the cookies came out totally flat.

[susan_ca]

I had been consuming the "essential fats" and "essential oils" when I heard and/or read about them. My health kept going downhill. About two years ago, a coworker (who was and still is) a certified nutritionist suggested I change my diet. She told me that it would be best if I go organic. If not possible, start with stop consuming what the so-called experts consider "essential fats" and "essential oils". I was very surprised ..... actually, SHOCKED..... to hear her suggested such a thing, but I was desperate because, as I said, my health kept going downhill so I gave her suggestion a whirl. By golly, when I had my annual exam, results were GOOD. The next annual exam EVEN BETTER. My LDL gone down, HDL gone up. I told my doctor what I have been doing/eating. She said what I do is working for me so keep on doing it.

My NEW diet:

Olive oil = sparingly

Canola oil = sparingly (use it to deep fry.... VERY seldom.... like once in a wild hair blue moon)

Salmon = sparingly (eat once every couple of months because I like the flavor/taste)

COCONUT OIL = my go-to oil .... for stir fry, sautee, etc.

BUTTER = only buy butter that contains 2 to 3 ingredients (milk and cream; or milk, cream, and salt)

[Bjjo]

I only have real butter in my fridge. I don't eat butter every day, but I love butter on toast. I use chicken broth for seasoning many vegetables, but butter is a must for some foods in our house. I enjoy butter on baked potatoes as well as sour cream. I only eat this once in a while and want it that way. I mostly eat plain baked potatoes when offered, but treat myself once in a while and I don't feel guilty. I am now 66 and don't take any medications for high blood pressure or for any other health reasons. I was raised on fresh food with very little junk food such as chips. When we had chips or so forth, it was a treat and not a regular thing in our home as a youth. I never missed what we call junk food today as it was never a big part of my life. So, butter for me!