Why Butter is Better for your Health than Margarine

The dangers of margarine & hydrogenated fats vs. the health benefits of
butter.
By Lady-in-the-Window
Everyone knows how delicious butter is. What tastes better than a nice plop pf butter on a
crisp-skinned baked potato, or a thick smear of butter across a piece of pillow soft, warm
bread? Butter gliding across an ear or corn, melted on top of a stack of pancakes, or
hidden away inside a melt-in-your-mouth butter cookie. WOW. Is your mouth watering?

I can remember twenty years ago when I ate fat free food only (totally stupid I know
now!). On the rare occasions I would go out to eat I would allow myself to spread some
butter on the rolls. Nothing tastes so good! I would eat so much buttered bread that I
couldn’t finish my meal. I bet you have done this too. Ahhhh, the power of butter!

Okay, so we all know that butter tastes great. Just ask renown cook Paula Deen, who
routinely adds a stick of butter to most of her recipes. But, did you know that butter is the
better choice (not just for taste) but for health as well? Humans have been eating healthful
butter for thousands of years. People around the world have prized butter for it’s health
benefits throughout history. Heart disease used to be very rare, back when we all ate
butter as a regular part of our daily diet.

I can see you recoil in horror and disbelief. How can it be? Isn’t butter a hotbed of
saturated fat and artery clogging badness? Isn’t margarine better for you? Isn’t it lower in
saturated fat and cholesterol?

Despite all the “evidence” to the contrary, suggesting that margarine is better because it
does not contain saturated fat and cholesterol. There are things far worse about margarine.
Let’s take a look at margarine.

The mess that is margarine

Margarine became popular in the earlier part of the 1900’s, but didn’t overtake butter in
popularity until the 1950’s or so. By 1960 heart disease became our number one killer.
Coincidence? Margarine (other hydrogenated oils) is a main cause of heart and
atherosclerosis, not butter, as the American Heart Association would have you believe.
Because of the trans-fatty acids, margarine is correlated with more heart disease than any
other food- including butter.

The trans-fatty acids in margarine (and vegetable shortenings like Crisco) increase LDL
cholesterol (the bad one), and lower the healthier HLD cholesterol. This raises the risk of
heart disease. What you have been told about margarine being better because butter has
cholesterol is a big, fat, lie. I’ll explain more about that in the butter section of this article.

Heart disease, diabetes, and other killer diseases are all running rampant and at an all time
high, thanks largely to hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils that are used to
provide a long shelf life to commercially prepared baked goods, crackers, cookies, frozen
prepared foods, etc.

In order to make margarine the vegetable oils need to go through a process called
hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is the process of forcing hydrogen atoms into the holes of
unsaturated fatty acids. This is done with hydrogen gas under pressure that is bubbled
through the vegetable oil with the help of a metal catalyst, such as nickel, platinum or
some other metal. When the hydrogen atoms combine with the carbon atoms, the oils
becomes saturated or hardened.

When this occurs, this new product ( margarine) no longer resembles the original oil. It is
now a dark and rancid mess. Nickel is a toxic heavy metal and some amount will always
remain in the margarine at it‘s completion. To make this unpalatable gloop appeal to the
masses ( that would be you and me) deodorants and coloring agents are added to disguise
the rancid smell and to hide the disgusting grey color of the unappealing slop. Much like a
magicians sleight of hand, this slick trickery of bleaching, filtering and deodorizing goes on
behind the scenes, and we are none the wiser.

What remains is a highly artificial fat that contains trans-fatty acids (Trans-fats. You’ve
heard of those, right? That’s the bad stuff.) and the same calorie count as butter. All the
original essential fatty acids are now gone, and any semblance to nutrition has
disappeared. Welcome to margarine, a plastic fat.

So how does use of margarine effect your health? Because the hydrogenated oils (and
partially hydrogenated) in margarine are known to cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease,
and much more. They block the bodies ability to absorb essential fatty acids, which are
critical for every bodily function. And, if all that weren’t enough, they make you gain
weight like crazy. Still think margarine is the healthier choice?

A great source of information on the dangers of these products can be found at Shirley’s
Wellness Café, a great natural health themed website that I find invaluable.

Visit Shirley here: www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/oil.htm

The benefits of butter

You don’t need to be afraid of butter. In fact, you can freely embrace its
creamy, satisfying goodness.
Butter is best when raw and organic, of course, but that may not always be available. If it
is, grab some. Butter has a lovely list of attributes that I bet you aren’t aware of. Did you
know that butter is a good source of vitamin A, and the other fat soluble vitamins as well?

Butter is also rich in trace minerals, particularly selenium, which is an antioxidant. Iodine
can also be found in butter. Fatty acids are abundant in butter. Butter has a perfect blend
of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, which render it very stable in cooking. Even
at high temperatures it will not break down.
Butter has less cholesterol (11mg per teaspoon) than a cup of low fat milk (18 mg), less
than 3 oz of light tuna in water(25 mg), or even 3 oz of beef, lamb, pork or chicken (71-
79mg). Calves liver has 477mg of cholesterol per 3 oz serving, and an egg yolk 208 mg. I
bet that butter looks pretty innocent now, huh?

And something you may be shocked to hear, dietary intake of cholesterol has no impact on
the level of cholesterol in your blood. If you check out the link at the end of this article,
you will finds lots factual information on cholesterol that you may not know.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/07/21/statin-drugs-part-four.aspx
Dr. Mercola speaks on cholesterol

"There's no connection whatsoever between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in blood.

And we've known that all along. Cholesterol in the diet doesn't matter at all unless you
happen to be a chicken or a rabbit." Ancel Keys, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the
University of Minnesota 1997.

Butter also contains short chain fatty acids that have immune stimulating and antimicrobial
properties. In addition, butter also contains the correct balance of omega 3 and omega 6
fatty acids. Fatty acid balance is critical to optimal health. If someone ever calls you a
fathead they are right! The human brain is more than 60% fat.

Check out this helpful website than helps explain this better than I can:

www.goodfats.pamrotella.com/

There are just so many benefits to butter that I am going to refer you to a website that
clearly lists the top twenty benefits of butter.

Benefits of Real Butter Top 20 List:

www.bodyecology.com/07/07/05/benefits_of_real_butter.php

Hard Butter vs. Soft Spreadable Margarine

So now you know that butter is the better choice, right? Maybe you have the same
objection as my mother does; that butter is hard to spread when you take it out of the
fridge. Guess what? It is perfectly safe to leave butter out on the counter for hours or
believe it or not, days. That is, in temperatures that are not in the high 80’s or 90’s, in
which case you would have a puddle of butter, not exactly spreadable. So leave it out if
you know you will be having that morning English muffin. That way you always have
delicious soft butter ready to use.

Because of the high fat content, butter just does not spoil or go rancid very easily. Keep it
covered though. And if you are still worried, buy what is called a “butter bell”. Apparently
this is a container for butter that holds a well of water beneath it allowing it to stay cooler,
yet remain spreadable. Check it out- this looks pretty cool to me and I may have to get
one. Awesome idea!

www.butterbell.com/ Butter Bell Crock- Butter Keeper

Watch a video about the Butter Bell Crock. It shows you just how easy it is!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dTGrTxVlqY” Making Butter on You Tube

Back in the days of your grandparents, everyone left the butter out all the time. In fact,
they often made their own butter. Making butter is so easy, that you may have accidentally
done it once or twice while whipping cream. Essentially that is all butter is, whipped
cream that has gone too far…LOL!

This lady on You-tube shows you how to make your own butter at home with a food
processor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcO7L8LEDXg

And here is a wonderful web page that shows you photos and walks you through the
procedure of home made butter.

www.webexhibits.org/butter/doityourself.html

And now that you have all that homemade butter, you will need some recipes to use it up!

www.wisdairy.com/OtherDairyProductInfo/Butter/Default.aspx
This is a website from the Wisconsin Dairy Producers. Looks good to me.

Flavored butter recipes:

www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/289/0.shtml