butter or margarine?

[zakity]

We use butter for everything. Margarine has too many chemicals and it doesn't work on Q's special diet. I always buy it when I find it for a good price and just throw it in the freezer.

I do keep some margarine around though. I have a recipe that is from a WWII rationing cookbook. I have tried butter in it and it just doesn't come out right. That recipe is the only thing I use margarine for. It is one of those recipes that are great for taking to potlucks.

[schellie69]

I used to buy margarine and butter until an email I got told me all that is in margarine and I decided no more, the email said it was molcule away from being plastic, I have switched to butter they now have a spreadable butter that i buy I also read that margarine messes with the way the body uses insulin since my dd has type 2 diabetes we switched and her blood sugers have seemed to mellow out.
So now we use only butter I just cut somewhere else in the food budget like making things from scratch instead of buying ready made.

[FrugalWitch]

Butter. Haven't bought margarine in over 3 years

[qtkitty]

Although i would prefer to use only butter sometimes butter is not cost efficient.. so we use both.

[Rosebush3]

"Smart Balance" contains 'Interesterified fat' meaning its scientifically invented in a laboratory.

If you use Smart Balance read up on the studies out now that the interesterified fats are worse for you than trans fats.

30 years ago trans fats were created as a healthy alternative to saturated fats. What will they say 30 years from now about interesterified fats?

I can tell you what they are saying about them now. Interesterified fats can worsen LDL and HDL levels and increase blood glucose levels. Significantly. Up 20% in one month.

[schellie69]

here is an email that i got that convinced me to change to just butter
Pass The Butter, please! . This is interesting. . .
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.

DO YOU KNOW.. 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) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here's 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 does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

[Samigirl]

You may want to check out snopes regarding the emails that claim margarine was invented as a turkey fattener, and that it's one molecule away from plastic. The article addresses those issues about 3/4 of the way down. I'm not saying margarine is healthy by any means, but many items are one molecule away from plastic, and that change makes a world of difference.

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp

[Holly]

Dr took Fiance off margarine and told him butter only.
( and he has high cholesterol)
He is losing weight and doing so much better.

[REJB]

I use unsalted butter for baking and cooking. I do like to use "Brummel & Brown" spread for toast.