Butter versus Margarine

1578 Views 34 Replies 31 Participants Last post by texaspeach, Nov 16, 2006

melissabb

Discussion Starter · Aug 10, 2006

Hey ladies!

Never posted on this forum before but I have been reading and it looks great. Lots of great advice here.

This debate had probably been posted before but here it goes...

Do you prefer butter or margarine?

I am at odds with this one. We are an organic family and try to stay with natural stuff. I also read alot about fats etc but the info seems to change daily and you never know what "they' will suggest next. Not that we really listen wholeheartedly to those who have only the bottom line at heart.

Anway, I like butter for it's natural properties but I worry about the saturated fat content (hubby has high cholesterol - thanks to his dads side!). We eat great, whole foods and no red meats etc.

Any thought out there?

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mrsbernstein

· #2 · Aug 10, 2006

Hello!

PLEASE throw out the margarine!!! They are made with partially hydrogentaed veggie oils that will INCREASE your husband's heart problems...not help!

Weston A Price has some WONDERFUL information as to why Butter isthe Best! Here is an article:

http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/butter.html

HOpe this helps!

Mrs Bernstein

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lisalou

· #3 · Aug 10, 2006

Butter if it was good enough for Julia Child, it's good enough for me.

lrlittle

· #4 · Aug 10, 2006

Neither!

Ruthla

· #5 · Aug 10, 2006

Butter is a much more natural choice.

If you *must* use margarine, use the kind made from a blend of natural oils, not artificially hydrogenated ones. I think it's Earth Balance or Soy Garden or something like that (available in the HFS/ natural food section of the regular supermarket.)

timneh_mom

· #6 · Aug 10, 2006

Margarine is a chemical that was invented in a lab. Margarine is not found anywhere in nature, therefore our bodies recognize it as they would if we were eating plastic! Use butter. You can at least make it yourself in your own kitchen very easily.

just6fish

· #7 · Aug 10, 2006

I am a butter and coconut oil user. Reading THE CHOLESTEROL MYTH really changed my thinking!

melissabb

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 10, 2006

Oh, I should have also said that we DO use Non-Hydrogenated/No Trans-fat margarine. Not that I am defending it. Just wanted to clear that up.

I like the taste of butter better too. Just wanted to know what you all think.

I read alot of Dr. Weil's literature on the butter issue and he seems to think that in moderation it is okay.

I just know that all of you Ladies are so insightful and some of you might have been eating organically for much longer than us. We have only really been organic for about 6 months now. Up until then it was a very healthy (read - whole foods) diet but not necessarily organic.

melissabb

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 10, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by just6fish
I am a butter and coconut oil user. Reading THE CHOLESTEROL MYTH really changed my thinking!

Okay, looks like a good book. I just put in a bid for one on ebay. I looked on my library webpage and they don't have it

.

Thanks!

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craftymom

· #10 · Aug 11, 2006

Butter!

I figure, that's what our ancestors used, and that got all of us here. And no, their cows didn't get antibiotics and corn feed (though I bet some did eat corn and whatnot), but plenty did get smelter residues and whatbot, depending on where your ancestors lived, and when.

Of course, I was raised on margarine, and now my parents think we are very, very snooty for prefering butter. It tastes better!

Ex Libris

· #11 · Aug 11, 2006

Butter!

I don't want to put anything in my body that even the flies won't touch!

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oldermamato5

· #12 · Aug 11, 2006

Butter here too. I attended a nutrition group for awhile that is based on Weston A. Price's studies. Our group leader told us that margarine is one molecule away from being plastic. Wow. I was glad we had been using butter.

leximom

· #13 · Aug 11, 2006

On top of all the other reasons, margarine for cooking seems to offset the taste for me. I may be crazy a little though

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~~MamaJava~~

· #14 · Aug 11, 2006

Well, once I found out that margarine doesn't really biodegrade, I was done with it. (As in, bury it - and if you dig it up 20 yrs later, it's still there - ew!). I used to buy it because I *thought* it was cheaper...but a pound of butter goes a lot further than a tub of margarine, IMO.

Rico'sAlice

· #15 · Aug 11, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by melissabb
I read alot of Dr. Weil's literature on the butter issue and he seems to think that in moderation it is okay.

I love Dr. Weil's thoughts on healing, visualization, altered states of conciousness, drug use, etc. But, after reading Weston A. Price and some other stuff, I find that line of thinking on nutrition (traditional foods including animal fats) more compelling than Weil's sat. fat is bad-whole grains are good sort of thing.

NB Mom

· #16 · Nov 12, 2006

I was coming here to post this question

We use butter here and I always felt that margarine is just chemicals, so how could it be better for us? Of course, anything that humans make must be better than something that animals or nature gives us

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rmzbm

· #17 · Nov 12, 2006

Butter! Margarine is icky in both composition and taste!

Just_Isabel

· #18 · Nov 12, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by momandmore2

View Post

I don't want to put anything in my body that even the flies won't touch!

:

I say butter too! I've never liked the taste of margerine, and after reading NT I'm so glad I've never bought it.

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Brisen

· #19 · Nov 12, 2006

Hi Melissa

I see you live in London -- I moved there for school and we just moved away less than a year ago. We're in Toronto now, and I miss London. Sigh...

Anyway, I'm in the butter camp, for pretty much all of the reasons that have been stated already. We also never had margarine when I was growing up -- my dad always felt that margarine was a chemical substitute and not as healthy. We buy raw, organic butter from a farm. If you're shopping at a Loblaws, they have a few options. I *think* that their cultured butter uses raw milk, but I don't think it's organic.

Coconut oil is a good sub for margarine as well.

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guestmama9916

· #20 · Nov 12, 2006

Butter made from grass-fed cow's milk is best. You know you have grass-fed butter when its a rich yellow color (without additives!), not white. Kerrygold brand has the best color followed by Woodstock Farms and Organic Valley. To get the most from your butter, it needs to be a deep yellow color which is actually Vitamins A and D from the cows eating grass and being in the sun as opposed to being in a barn and eating grain.

Kim

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