BUTTER vs MARGARINE - for your health's sake!

Butter or Margarine

The difference between margarine and butter? Read on to the end....gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

And now, for Margarine:

Very high in trans fatty acids...

Triple risk of coronary heart disease...

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) Lowers HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol)...

Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold...

Lowers quality of breast milk...

Decreases insulin response.

And here is the most disturbing fact....

HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC...

This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure
of the substance).

YOU can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things: no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it; that should tell you something. It has no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it, even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.


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Hmmm, I haven't tried that last part, but even snopes, my online source of whether something is an urban legend or not, says butter IS better than margarine for us.

but how do we know if it's accurate?

Nonetheless, it's very interesting and I forwarded it to my family members so they can check it out for themselves.

thanks!
Donna M

I have also heard the same thing. I only use butter because my son is allergic to soy. I have not found a magarine that does not have soy lecithin in it.

I have always been a believer that nature is the best source, and as long as you use anything in moderation, you can't go wrong.
Thanks for the interesting newsletter. Where did you get this info?
Nancy

I convinced my daughter of this with same report. We tried the 'test', I live in the country, and any food you leave outdoors will draw bugs in a heartbeat!

We put a couple of teaspoons of real butter in a container, and a few teaspoons of margarine in another, the butter was full of bugs, the margarine just got hard and nothing out here would go near it!

Last week my daughter brought cramberry's to work, her friend had one of those frozen Mexican things that are wrapped with stuff in it (I do not even know the name of it, I do not eat junk food!), well her cramberries were full of ants, her friends lunch had nothing at all eating it!!

She got another lesson on eating healthy, and to stay away from junk fast foods in that category too.

She does not eat artificial sweetners anymore either, thanks to someone here who did a survey on them, and posted it. She eats natural sugar now.

Live and learn!


Shalom, Shirl

Why is it then that margarine is approved by the heart foundation? Or is that only in South Africa?
Some of the more expensive margarine's here have been scientifically proven to increase HDL (good cholesterol).
I'm not completely convinced that butter is better. Since I was a small child we have never eaten butter in our house and even when you go shopping you will see that between 10 different margarine brands there will be one butter, not that it necessarily means anything, but I have also never seen butter being approved by the heart foundation.

Phoebe

for the info. It was really an eye opener! I am definately switching to butter. Thanks again!!!

No Really!!!

I use extra light olive oil on cooked veggies, spuds and popcorn.
Virgin cocanut oil (Stores at room temp as a solid)
on toast, and for baking, and frying.

I use seasalt to complete and add flavor. (Mmmmm Salt)

RJay

I use butter on foods and use margerine to cook with.

JL

I found this info about 'some' margarines, and on what is preferable to cook with. Even tho this site repeats AHA's recommendation about using margarine, even they say not to use it in cooking. My guess is in about 10 years they will reverse their position. . . takes about that long for conventional medicine to catch up IMO.
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Light Spreads
Fortunately, there are a number of light spreads and margarines on the market that are trans-fat-free. Some of these spreads also contain plant sterols and stanols, which actively block the absorption of cholesterol, making these spreads much healthier alternatives to regular margarine and butter. Because these light margarines and spreads have not been hydrogenated, they are soft and usually sold in tubs rather than sticks.

Cooking
The main problem with light spreads and tub margarines is their unsuitablility for cooking and baking. Because they contain only about 25% fat compared with at least 80% in butter and margarine, they would ruin most recipes. For cooking, choose heart-healthy canola or olive oil instead. Better still, if you can use cooking sprays or broth you will save additional fat calories.
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There have been so many good studies about olive oil being good for us, that I use it for cooking (sauteeing/frying), sometimes with some butter. . . they've even canned tuna with it now! And now there are good studies about coconut oil also being good for us. . .


Victoria

I agree with the idea that Mother Nature Knows Best!

And, as Benjamin Franklin said, "all things in moderation (including moderation)"

So, I'll eat butter, thank you, and take it one step further, to butter made from milk from cows NOT fed hormones or antibiotics, and raised on organically grown feed. It tastes better, and I believe it's healthier.

I don't eat butter all the time, crave it other times, and I believe in listening to my body as much as possible. Mother Nature knows, if we will just listen.

my two and a half cents,
Beth.

Luckily, I always hated margarine. My Mom grew up using it because it's less expensive. We were always taught to use margarine for cooking. I rebelled and would only use butter. Once I told her about the butter thing, she switched too.

Of course, I love it so much that I sometimes overdo it with the butter.

VOICE of REASON! I always agree with you 100%, how can I help it? you are always right on the mark..........


I found a wonderful Farmer's Market that sells homemade butter, it comes in a two pound round roll, everytime I put it one bread, fry an egg with it, it brings me back to my childhood.

My grandfather had a dairy farm, and all we ate was unpasturized milk, homemade butter, (we had real cream off the top of the milk for our coffee!) cream cheese, yogurt, and fresh free range chickens and eggs! HOmemade bread to go with it all.......

No chemicals in the animal feed, or anywhere else on the veggies they grew .

We had fresh figs off the trees, blackberrys from the woods, and a strawberry field my uncle used to maintain for the family.

I also loved Mulberries, the trees grew wild here. They were as sweet as sugar..........

They also made wine with the berries, especially the Elder berries. What a way to live!

Nothing was ever cooked with lard, always Italian Olive oil.




Shalom, Shirl


[This Message was Edited on 05/23/2005]

COCONUT OIL.

Everyone seemed to be talking about coconut oil.

I just bought some. Where does it stand in all of this?

I noticed that it has a high fat content. How can it be good for you?

Also, I thought it would be like Crisco, but it's harder than a rock!

All animal fats are healthy. It's the simple carbs which cause us risk, that and artificial additives.

People on the Atkins and SomerSize low carb diets eat all kinds of butter, cream, eggs, and meat. Typically, their blood pressure, total cholesterol and LDL decrease and the HDL increases.

Love, Mikie

Here's a collection of quotes from stuff I found on the net, too brain-fogged to coalesce it into my own words. . .
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"Even today’s medical advances may be overstated. Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Laurie Garrett has pointed out that the invention of antibiotics and other 20th-century medical “marvels” have contributed less than 4 percent to the total improvement in life expectancy since the 1700s. Instead, she calculates, longer average life spans are due to better basic public-health measures, including providing clean water, sewage systems, and better nutrition for the poor."

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"Vital statistics data from England, Wales, and Sweden show that in 1700 the average male. . .lived just twenty-seven to thirty years. By 1971 male life expectancy reached seventy-five years.

"More than half that improvement occurred before 1900; even the bulk of the twentieth-century increases in life expectancy were due to conditions that existed prior to 1936. In all, 86 per cent of the increased life expectancy was due to decreases in infectious diseases. And the bulk of the decline in infectious disease deaths occurred prior to the age of antibiotics.

"In the United Kingdom, for example, tuberculosis deaths dropped from nearly 4000 per million people to 500 per million between 1838 and 1949,when antibiotic treatment was introduced, an 87 per cent decline. Between 1949 and 1969 the TB death rate fell by only another forty million cases to 460 cases per million, or 9 per cent.

"The same can be said for the United States, where less than 4 per cent of the total improvement in life expectancy since the 1700s can be credited to twentieth-century advances in medical care.

"It is a matter of considerable academic debate which factors were most responsible for the spectacular improvements seen in life expectancy and infant mortality in the United States and Western Europe between 1700 and 1900.

"Some of the following were key: nutrition, housing, urban sewage and water systems, government epidemic control measures, swamp drainage and river control engineering, road construction and paving, public education and literacy, access to prenatal and maternity care, smaller families, and overall improvements in society's standards of living and working.

"In the early twentieth century elimination of urban, overcrowded slums that lacked plumbing and toilet facilities clearly improved the health of tens of thousands of Americans and Europeans.


The critical dilemma for the twenty-first century was embedded in the disparity between the rich and poor, both within and among nations. In the wealthy world the twenty-first century was greeted by stock markets ebullient about biotechnology and protein-based public health—the alleged pharmacopoeia of future disease prevention."

Laurie Garrett is a New York-based Pulitzer prize winning reporter
© Laurie Garrett, 2001

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from a school sponsored project:
"Fat has both primary and secondary uses in Aboriginal cultures. Fat is a concentrated source of energy. Adequate fat is essential for both energy and insulation in cold climates. This is true for both people and the animals they rely on for food. Fats also make certain vitamins available for use in the body, cushion vital organs, make up part of all body cells and help maintain body temperature. Fat that is not immediately used is stored in the body and can be used later.

"Most fat is white. Brown fat occurs in many young animals and adult mammals. Brown fat is more energy rich than white fat meaning that it generates more warmth as it is metabolized. Brown fat deposits are extremely important for these animals to survive cold winters. "Rabbit Starvation" refers to the fact that rabbits and hares have very lean meat.

"As a result, if rabbit or other lean animals are the only source of food, it is possible to starve to death even if large quantities are consumed. In addition, after a particularly severe winter, large game animals may also be so lean that their meat fails to provide adequate nutrition and starvation may follow if this is the only source of food."

I've always thought margarine was yukky. It took some doing, but I switching my dh back to butter. He LOVES butter. But, searching for a healthier alternative, I came across "Earth Balance Buttery Spread"...it's a vegan, non-hydrogenated spread made of soybean, canola and olive oils. It also has Omega 3 in it. My dh loves it. It tastes good and I can even use it in baking.

It's so good to have a doctor validate this.

I lost weight on the SomerSize diet and my doc was amazed with my labs. As he was leaving the room, he said, "Good work and keep watching those fats." DUH! I had just explained that I had been eating low carb, not low fat. He also knew that I had insulin resistance.

Most docs have been so brainwashed about fat that they just don't listen nor understand that there are good fats and bad fats. The govt. has been pushing complex carbs and low fat and as a result, we are obese with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Some complex carbs are good and one has to have balance, but no fat and too many carbs have ruined our health.

Love, Mikie

When my brother had his heart attack manmy years ago, a top New York Heart Specialist told him, "you are better off eating less butter, than margerine, as the chemicals in the magerine will kill you faster than the fat in the butter".

He went on to explaine that lite/light doesn't always mean better. He suggested using fresh ingredients where possible. If one needs to purchase pre-made dressings for example, DO NOT by anything low-fat or lite. They usually add more sugar and other crap one does not need. He suggested by the regular product, just learn to use less.

Amazing huh?

And butter is so satisfying that you end up using much less of it than the margerine.

..Gail