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Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to start putting butter on your toast. And your potatoes, vegetables, in your baked goods…and anywhere else you might use margarine or a “spread” that makes some health claim or another.
Level of Commitment: Making Strides
This might be incredibly difficult for some of you, having grown up with the misconception that butter will not only make you fat, but will probably kill you with cancer if the heart attack doesn’t get you first.
For me, I had to stop using margarine when I finally learned about the hazards of trans fats. Butter seemed expensive, but so did the Smart Balance and similar spreads. I couldn’t fathom allowing trans fats in my house anymore, though, so I went with butter.
When my husband was diagnosed with high triglycerides (really high, with a family history of heart disease and early heart attacks!), we did what the doctor told us and switched to Smart Balance for the plant stanols, or sterols, or whatever they’re called. (Hubby calls the stuff “plant paste” in their honor.)
I find myself reading and re-reading the ingredients on the tub, wondering how, if not by hydrogenation, do the liquid oils listed become the solid spread within. ?? I actually asked the company about it. It’s a trade secret, so they won’t tell me. But it makes me nervous. Something is telling me there’s some sort of trans fat, or at least something rather unnatural, about those plant spreads.
The one my mother-in-law was told to buy after her heart surgery this summer is called Benecol (and it’s $5 for a tiny tub, too). Guess what the third ingredient is? Partially hydrogenated oil. GAAAAAHHHHH! The nutrition facts, of course, claim “zero trans fats”, but we know about that loophole.
If you’re nervous about the “artery-clogging” saturated fats in butter, please, please read today’s Food for Thought about saturated fats being healthy for you. I can’t stress enough how we need to drop the margarines, even those that claim “no trans fat.” Go with something that people have eaten for centuries, and if you think it might cause a heart attack, just eat less of it.
Thanks for joining me for A Fat Full Fall here at Kitchen Stewardship. If you’ve missed any posts, start here.
Be sure to get in on the awesome Soap Nuts Giveaway running through Thursday!
Did you catch the 60+ bean/legume recipes linked in to the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods? We’re going to be eating beans all month, I tell you. And be sure to come on back Thursday to get your fill of broth/stock recipes for the comfort food season ahead.
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If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
This week I’ve learned that people are pretty passionate about fat (see comments at the previous post), that restaurant service ain’t all it’s cracked up to be when you desire good food, and that butter is on sale at my local store. Phew! I’m out! See what other people learned at What I Learned This Week at Musings of a Housewife.
Hungry for more? Related posts:
I am absolutely a fan of butter. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t take it to the extent of say Paula Deen, but if olive oil won’t do, then it’s time to break out the butter.
Heather Solos´s last blog ..Menu Monday
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It’s so hard to get butter in Japan. One pound of butter is 8$. I use the imitation stuff but I just can’t wait to go home to be able to buy the real thing.
kanmuri´s last blog ..A Korean Tale, Part 2
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I have a post today that discusses fats, too. I’m also having a Pumpkin Festival. If you have a pumpkin recipe you’d like to post, come on over.
Kari´s last blog ..Recipe Remake: Low-Fat, Heart Healthy Pumpkin Pear Muffins (That Taste Really Good)
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One thing that really helps me keep margarine out of the house is making soft butter spread though I’ve found for it to not be rock-hard, I need to up the amout of water and canola oil.
Though it just occurred to me that I ought to poke around here a bit and see if there’s anything not-so-good about canola oil . . .
Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Link Roundup – Farmer’s Market Edition
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Katie Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Lenetta,
Ohhhh, it’s coming in a few weeks. I used to use canola all the time, but now I read that it’s not so good for us. Shucks ducks. It was an easy oil to use!
Still prob. better than margarine, though!
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I wonder if the Smart Balance spread uses interesterification? Spreads can be transfat free and still have interesterified fats.
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/interesterification.html
BTW, I keep my butter out at room temperature in a covered butter dish and have never had any rancidity issues. I’ve done this for years, as has my mother, even though it’s heavily frowned upon to leave anything out at room temperature anymore.
Laurie N´s last blog ..More Tomato Goodness – Canning Spaghetti Sauce
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Katie Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I leave butter out, too. Not for months or anything, mind you, but it should be pretty stable at room temp. Ghee is even safer – coming soon!
I have looked into interesterification a bit, too. Sounds fishy! Thank you SO much for the link – I bookmarked it for a future Fat Full Fall post.
Katie
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What a great idea! I’m going to try this, except I will definitely use olive oil instead of canola oil.
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Jen Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Meant for this to be a reply to Lenetta@Nettacow.
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Katie Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
That should do it to be 100% safe! Thanks, Jen and Lenetta!
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I have been a butter believer for over 20 years. Very rarely do I have margarine and that is only for a specific cookie recipe that calls for butter and margarine. So keep singing the praises of butter.
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Katie Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
The beauty of the 80/20 rule – cookies are a good place to be unhealthy if you’re going to be.
Have you ever tried 100% butter in the recipe? I’m going to take the plunge on my ultimate favorite cookie this Christmas – it calls for 1/2 and 1/2, but I wonder if way back the original recipe was all butter, and someone “trying to be healthy” changed it. ??
Katie
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Now here is a mission I am MORE THAN enthusiastic about. I LOVE Butter! And ever since learning about the truth behind the “lipid hypothesis,” I’ve made it my mission to stop feeling guilty about butter. Butter is better!
Melody Joy´s last blog ..Variety is the Spice of Life – Menu Plan Monday
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i started this mission a year ago and i love it! your blog is such a blessing to me.
tami aka agodlyhomemaker´s last blog ..a few free homeschool links i like to print
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I love butter! We switched about 18 months ago and every just tastes BETTER!
Although I will be buying shortening (I know!) to make my most favorite Christmas cut out cookies, they aren’t the same with butter. Any suggestions or just embrace the bad for the sake of childhood memories?
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Katie Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Karen,
Great question! You can just go with the 80/20 rule and assume that your homemade cookies with junk in them are still better than storebought cookies with junk in them (tastewise, at least!) and use the better fats the other 20% of the time.
There are “trans-fat-free” shortenings out there, a bit more expensive, but I’ve even seen them at my regular grocery store lately. Palm shortening might be one of them, but I can’t say I’ve tried them myself.
I actually just made the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever produced, with half butter and half coconut oil, so that’s another one you might experiment with. The final solid fat on the list is lard – I hear our grandmothers used to make AMAZING lard cookies. Go figure. It all depends on how much you’re willing to experiment with and what your fav recipe is like. If you find a winner, will you let us know?
Thanks!!
Katie
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We only use butter and olive oil. I just bought some coconut oil to try frying with it but haven’t used it yet.
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i’m with you. i love butter
melissa from girlymama´s last blog ..crying for no reason
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What I’m Reading 10/9 // Oct 11, 2009 at 10:00 am
[...] Monday Mission: Switch to Butter @Kitchen Stewardship [...]
What do you say about people with familial hypercholesterolemia? My daughter has this along with a lipid protein A condition that makes cholesterol stick even more. Every doctor and dietitian has instructed a strict low saturated fat diet. We buy the smart balance light.
Before all this was discovered my daughter’s father said before he died of a heart attack at 35 that it was just the families “curse” for generations that so many all died young of heart attacks. I wish more research would be done on people with this who continue with butter, full fats dairy, etc (minus trans fats) in their diets.
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Katie Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Minneapplemama,
Ohhhhhh, here is where I’m definitely not qualified to even comment. If I were you, I would read Nourishing Traditions (Fallon, Enig) and Real Food (Planck) and check out the Weston A. Price website to see if there’s anything about this particular condition. I wish more research would be done on real, traditional foods, too, but it’s so often the drug companies and/or food processing companies who fund everything…small, local farmers aren’t exactly sponsoring research to prove that their “goods” are better than the factory stuff.
I do hope your daughter can escape this “curse” – research and prayer are two of the best lines of defense, in my opinion. May God bless your family!
Katie
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I was a bit skeptical after I finished making the spread with olive oil because it smelled awfully “olive-y” but it tastes fine! Thanks for the suggestion!
I saw with interest on the Margerine vs. Butter post that a reader uses only butter and water! I may give that a try next time.
Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Link Roundup, Making a [small] Profit Edition
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Eat Real Food. « Red and Honey // Apr 28, 2010 at 10:00 pm
[...] No more evil margarine. Butter is full of healthy fats, plus it tastes WAY better! Also, avoid trans-fats like the [...]