Substitute for Butter?

[luckymamaoftwo]

I'm on a DF and SF diet (5 weeks almost...still no improvement...ugh) and I am dying for a butter substitute. Any suggestions?

Also wondering if anybody has a stellar veggie burger recipe?

[kjbrown92]

Completely dairy/soy free (even hidden ingredients and things like soy lecithin and soybean oil) and no improvement? Maybe it's the wrong culprits (gluten and corn are other common offenders if you haven't tried taking those out).

We use palm shortening on some things. What do you want the butter on? On baked potatoes, I use coconut milk yogurt (that I make), and it's sour cream-ish. Or I put gravy on them. On toast, I put peanut butter and/or honey. On veggies, I've always eaten them plain so I don't mind that I'm missing that. On bread, my kids have used palm shortening to make cinnamon-sugar stick. Or jam on toast (or on rice crackers).

[lastrid]

Lard!

[tanyalynn]

I've read there's a soy-free Earth Balance that tastes pretty good. Haven't tried it, but check it out and see if it's really soy-free (I've read it on vegan discussion threads, so it really should be dairy free).

I'd second Kathy's suggestion--if you haven't seen any improvement, I'd take out gluten (yes, it's a pain, it really is, but it's been very worthwhile for us). And/or consider other allergens--maybe start a food diary, see if you can match symptoms to foods you consume a bit less frequently? I wouldn't have been able to see gluten, the effects were spread out in time and we ate it too frequently.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

I've read there's a soy-free Earth Balance that tastes pretty good. Haven't tried it, but check it out and see if it's really soy-free (I've read it on vegan discussion threads, so it really should be dairy free).

I'd second Kathy's suggestion--if you haven't seen any improvement, I'd take out gluten (yes, it's a pain, it really is, but it's been very worthwhile for us). And/or consider other allergens--maybe start a food diary, see if you can match symptoms to foods you consume a bit less frequently? I wouldn't have been able to see gluten, the effects were spread out in time and we ate it too frequently.

Yes, it IS soy free eta: and I believe ALL of the Earth Balance margarines are vegan, so dairy free. It's corn based. Not sure how I feel about that, but anyway...
There's also a brand called Mother's which is, I think, really only available around Passover. I believe it's cottonseed oil based. Not that that helps you at present, but for future reference and for anyone who may come upon this thread..

[lnitti]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

I've read there's a soy-free Earth Balance that tastes pretty good. Haven't tried it, but check it out and see if it's really soy-free (I've read it on vegan discussion threads, so it really should be dairy free).

I'd second Kathy's suggestion--if you haven't seen any improvement, I'd take out gluten (yes, it's a pain, it really is, but it's been very worthwhile for us). And/or consider other allergens--maybe start a food diary, see if you can match symptoms to foods you consume a bit less frequently? I wouldn't have been able to see gluten, the effects were spread out in time and we ate it too frequently.

We use it and it tastes good.

[dulce_mami]

If you see no improvements, it would probably not be a good idea to try ghee since it may still contain some casein; however, if you plan on ``cheating" (which for my sanity I often had to do , I would definitely use ghee instead of butter). I try to avoid all margarines, and a lot of things that have omega 6 (mamafish and ome other people had good results after reducing omega 6 without necessarily increasing omega 3). I would second everyone else and encourage you to dig a little deeper and try to find what the culprits are. Eggs, peanuts? Also, it is the case with our children that it is not a food, but rather different components: sallycilates, oxalates, phenol, etc. Look at the larger picture too: is it fruits, or carbohydrates that your baby reacts to? Also, different foods tend to give different symptoms, for example my dd used to sweat profusely and throw up from eggs, but she would get rashes, diarrhea from other foods. My DS reacts to sweet potatoes (probably oxalates), but he is
still pretty happy, so I did not exclude them from my diet, instead I eat less of them.

[mamak05]

A good butter substitute - coconut oil, avocado (also works as a good cheese substitute), maybe a nut or seed butter. Go ahead try some of these ideas - it's the fat you're missing.

Also veggie burger idea - roast a winter squash, scoop out and use as your base. Add in sauteed onions, beans, dark greens, seeds, or nothing - whatever you want.

Another veggie burger idea - find a recipe for oven baked falafel and adapt it to what you can eat/like. I make good bean burgers with lentils and pinto beans and onions/garlic/bit of olive oil. Sometimes I think I'm eating bread with these (just in case you decide to go grain free these will come in handy!)

Best to you!

[rhesp1212]

Oh how I feel your pain!! I used to use coconut oil on somethings, on others I would drizzle olive oil with salt added to it to kind of give it that melted butter taste. Use a good quality olive oil that has a sweeter taste.

[luckymamaoftwo]

Thanks, Ladies.
Although attempting to be totally DF and SF, I have accepted some foods with soy lecithin and soybean oil in them, only because I've really struggled to eliminate all processed foods. Perhaps that's the reason why I haven't seen a great improvement? I guess I assumed that if I removed EVERYTHING else that was dairy and soy,except for these two, then we'd see SOME improvement???

I started a food journal and am also eliminating nuts and eggs from my diet, so we'll see....

Thanks for the suggestion for Earth Balance. I thought it contained soy proteins though. Maybe not? I'll try to find their list of ingredients online.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by luckymamaoftwo

Thanks, Ladies.
Although attempting to be totally DF and SF, I have accepted some foods with soy lecithin and soybean oil in them, only because I've really struggled to eliminate all processed foods. Perhaps that's the reason why I haven't seen a great improvement? I guess I assumed that if I removed EVERYTHING else that was dairy and soy,except for these two, then we'd see SOME improvement???

I started a food journal and am also eliminating nuts and eggs from my diet, so we'll see....

Thanks for the suggestion for Earth Balance. I thought it contained soy proteins though. Maybe not? I'll try to find their list of ingredients online.

It's the one in a maroon container, iirc. It specifically says "soy free" and does NOT contain soy in any way, shape or form.

eta: Here is an image (including the large label of "Soy Free"). If it doesn't look like this and doesn't have the Soy Free labelling, it's NOT the right one.

[luckymamaoftwo]

Awesome, thanks JacquelineR for the Earth Balance info. I'm not sure that our local grocer carries it but I'll see if they'll get it in (sometimes they're willing to do that).

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by luckymamaoftwo

Thanks, Ladies.
Although attempting to be totally DF and SF, I have accepted some foods with soy lecithin and soybean oil in them, only because I've really struggled to eliminate all processed foods. Perhaps that's the reason why I haven't seen a great improvement? I guess I assumed that if I removed EVERYTHING else that was dairy and soy,except for these two, then we'd see SOME improvement???

It depends on the person and the food. For example--DS needed every trace of gluten to be gone at first, we both reacted to really small amounts back then, and it still took quite a while to see a change when we started GF. But soy--he's intolerant, but he has _some_ tolerance, so reducing the amount of soy shows good results, and it takes a reasonable amount of soy (say a large portion of soy sauce in a meal) to see soy symptoms. Lots of people can tolerant soy lecithin and soybean oil but some can't. I don't know how to cut short the trial-and-error process.