Training & Nutrition - I can't belive it's not butter

So I switched from butter to "I can't believe it's not butter' it tastes good and I was hopping it's somewhat healthier then butter with 8 grams of fat (Actually soon I will switch to Light version with even less total grams of fat). When I was buying it the other day, one of my friends was with me. He saw it and started telling me how unhealthy and un-natural it is. I looked at the label 2g saturated fat (1g in light), 4g polysaturated fat ( thin it's 2 in light), 2g of monosaturated fat (I think it's 1 in light). Is it really that bad? Is regular butter healthier?

This will open up a can of worms but see these articles, http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html

I've reclaimed my health on a diet rich in traditional animal fats and I avoid man made fats like the plauge.

Regards, Anthony

First off, whether you eat butter or margarine, for the most part, you are eating 100% fat. Some margarines are blended with a bit of water to dilute them and reduce the calories. They probably make up for the reduced flavor by adding extra salt or other artificial flavor.

Regardless of whether you use butter or margarine, you should use them sparingly. A small amount of either on your morning toast or dinner roll is not going to make any health difference. If you slather it on 10 rolls at dinner, it might be a different story.

I switched from butter to olive and walnut oil. Tastey once you get used to it, and very good for you.

I use a non-butter spread thing sometimes, but it's a high omega-3 blend which has mainly monounsaturated fats if I remember right.

Saturated fat is worse for you than polyunsaturated fat, but monounsaturated fat is the best for overall and cardiac health.

Regardless of whether you use butter or margarine, you should use them sparingly. A small amount of either on your morning toast or dinner roll is not going to make any health difference. If you slather it on 10 rolls at dinner, it might be a different story.
I am. Maybe once or twice a week on a sandwitch. Actually thats my attitutde to most foods. Moderation.

So I switched from butter to "I can't believe it's not butter' it tastes good and I was hopping it's somewhat healthier then butter with 8 grams of fat (Actually soon I will switch to Light version with even less total grams of fat).
That's not healthier, only cheaper and has longer shelf life. If you need to reduce calories intake cut on quantity, not quality. If you need to cut on cholesterol intake, trans fat is a very poor substitution.

Common sense tells me that industry would do everything to maximize profit. If fat was cheaper than starch, we'd have had Atkins promoted from every shelf, and if sugar becomes chaper than HFCS we'll see large "NO HFCS!" labels on every coke can.

Using olive oil to substitute butter is a good idea, but it does not work all the time. Kashi (Russian style cereals; basically, boiled grains. I have no English word for that) is an example.

I think our biggest health problems are not fats and all the other so called culprits but all of the food industry that makes all the garbage we Americans stuff into our faces way too often. Cut out all of the processed crap and fast foods and we would find most of the medical advice about fats and such are not valid. Humans have been eating animal fats since we were human and now all of a sudden in the last 50 or so years it is a horrible thing. But there is way too much profit in the food industry so we are told that even more pressed foods are better for us then natural foods.
Makes you wonder who gets paid off to say such things?

Smart Balance is the best tasting margerine--but still not as tasty as butter.

I think our biggest health problems are not fats and all the other so called culprits but all of the food industry that makes all the garbage we Americans stuff into our faces way too often. Cut out all of the processed crap and fast foods and we would find most of the medical advice about fats and such are not valid. Humans have been eating animal fats since we were human and now all of a sudden in the last 50 or so years it is a horrible thing. But there is way too much profit in the food industry so we are told that even more pressed foods are better for us then natural foods.
Makes you wonder who gets paid off to say such things?

For the record, a person born in 1900 had a life expectancy of only 47.3 years. A person born in 1950 (just over 50 years ago) had a life expectancy of 68.2 years. Many diet related health problems do not appear until past age 50 - especially heart disease. So, those early humans didn't need to worry about clogged arteries, even if they knew what they were.

[EDIT] Added link to substantiate statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus05.pdf#027

For the record, a person born in 1900 had a life expectancy of only 47.3 years. A person born in 1950 (just over 50 years ago) had a life expectancy of 68.2 years. Many diet related health problems do not appear until past age 50 - especially heart disease. So, those early humans didn't need to worry about clogged arteries, even if they knew what they were.

[EDIT] Added link to substantiate statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus05.pdf#027
Good point. Since we're unlikely to die of starvation or overwork, nowadays we need to eat food that will sustain health for up to 80 years or more. Also, even the most fanatical cyclists today get less exercise than did our ancestors, who performed strenuous physical labor from dawn to dusk, six days a week.

We've been eating butter and lard for tens of thousands of years, margarine for only the last hundred or so. When it comes to saturated fats, I'll take the natural animal fats rather than hydrogenated (chemically altered) vegetable oil.

Besides, it tastes better and more intense so you need less.

For the record, a person born in 1900 had a life expectancy of only 47.3 years. A person born in 1950 (just over 50 years ago) had a life expectancy of 68.2 years. Many diet related health problems do not appear until past age 50 - especially heart disease. So, those early humans didn't need to worry about clogged arteries, even if they knew what they were.

[EDIT] Added link to substantiate statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus05.pdf#027

I doubt that we can say the way we eat now is why we are living longer. Our foods have less nutrition and are far more processed with far worse things in them then what nature puts in our foods. So you’re saying fast food makes us live longer? Come on now does that really make sense? Or is it just better medical care better hygiene and such that makes us live longer? Look what happens to old people nursing homes are a very big business. Is that really a good indication that our lifestyle now is better?
A lot of the medical myths that are out there like foods with cholesterol are bad for us. Well unnatural foods are but real foods with natural cholesterol tend to lower our cholesterol levels.
Marking and lobbyists keep us eating crap because they make money doing so. Think the FDA cares about health? There are so many loopholes and ways past our health it is pathetic.

I doubt that we can say the way we eat now is why we are living longer. Our foods have less nutrition and are far more processed with far worse things in them then what nature puts in our foods. So you’re saying fast food makes us live longer? Come on now does that really make sense? Or is it just better medical care better hygiene and such that makes us live longer? Look what happens to old people nursing homes are a very big business. Is that really a good indication that our lifestyle now is better?
A lot of the medical myths that are out there like foods with cholesterol are bad for us. Well unnatural foods are but real foods with natural cholesterol tend to lower our cholesterol levels.
Marking and lobbyists keep us eating crap because they make money doing so. Think the FDA cares about health? There are so many loopholes and ways past our health it is pathetic.

IMO one of the main reasons people are living longer is because we are learning how to deal with the symptoms of disease. Medicine has not cured much in recent history. More focus seems to be on relieving symptoms of disease and trying to make life bearable. In the old days if you had a stroke or MI it was good night Irene. Now we are able to adapt because of technology. As well in many cases when babies are born with defects or the mother has a disease that would affect the foetus there was no way to stop the spread of disease. Heck until recently it was thought that the placenta and amniotic sack protected the foetus from all harm.

I say eat butter and try to cut the other crap out of your life.

I switched to organic meats and butter a few months ago. I ate very clean already and tried to buy good food always, but I noticed a difference in my health within a week of switching to organic.

I just felt better, my workout and cycling performance improved as well and my recovery was better. I was already in good shape and had my diet dialed in properly for me. But the change in food made a dramatic enough difference that I could actually feel it. I use organic butter every morning with my organic eggs and have never been leaner or felt better.

It's all down to what your body can absorb and use and that it enhances your health long term. Some stuff seems ok but is taking something else away from your body, or putting something in it that will make it worse. Some power drinks and supplements are like that. It's down to trial and error, there's a ton of misinformation everywhere concerning diet and fats. Labels aren't always truthful either as they don't tell the whole story.

FYI check out this link-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15020846/

FYI check out this link-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15020846/


It would be interesting to see whether or not the banning of trans fats really does decrease the diseases that it supposedly causes. Or is it just being made into a sacrificial lamb.

I'll take the natural animal fats rather than hydrogenated (chemically altered) vegetable oil.

There is nothing natural about butter...unless you can find a cow that dispenses it right from the udder. And not all margarines are chemically altered.

Generally speaking saturated fats and hydrogenated fats are not good for you. Butter is a saturated fat and should be eaten in moderation or not at all. Margarine can be very bad for you or not so bad at all. The more liquid the margarine, the "healthier" it is.

Spray margarines are the best as they are mostly olive oil in some cases, which is a monounsaturated fat. They may have a small amount of partially hydrogenated oils mixed in.

Stick margarines have taken a somewhat healthy oil and thickened it up with hydrogenation so that it is no better than butter.

Tub margarine is partially hydrogenated and better than stick margarine, but still not very good.

Light tub margarine is also partially hydrogenated, but at least has fewer calories and less fat.


So, the moral of the story is, go with the spray margarines if you really want a butter like taste. Otherwise, use a poly or mono unsaturated oil, which are the best and actually have cardio-protective effects.

If you do go with a spray margarine, use the ones with olive oil as the cardio-protective effects may help to counteract the negative effects(if any) of the very small amount of partially hydrogenated oils they have.

There is nothing natural about butter...unless you can find a cow that dispenses it right from the udder. And not all margarines are chemically altered.



Ohh come on that's going too far. Saying that butter is not natural is like saying that washing your salad greens isn't natural!!

You can make butter at home by pouring some cream into a jar and shake, shake, shaking. It will eventualy sepperate into butter and buttermilk, you pour off the buttermilk, saving it for later and then forming the butter into a mould.

What's un-natural about that?

Regards, Anthony

I use "Smart Balance" myself. Maybe its a placebo effect, but I like the taste of it over butter.

Thank you, Anthony G.

Thank you, Anthony G.



Your welcome. Mindyou, which bit are you thanking me for.:D

Regards, Anthony

Refuting that butter isn't natural.

Refuting that butter isn't natural.

Yeah it was a bit of a silly claim. I was buying some cream from a small organic producer which had traveled 1000 km or thereabouts to get to my local store and the road vibrations on the way had induced some of the jars of cream to form a layer of butter on the top. This is the reason big food companies use emulsifying agents a lot. To prevent the natural sepperation of some foods.

Regards, Anthony

Your body can process animals fats much easier than anything artificial, some of the butter substitutes, you might as well be surgically adding it to your arteries. This was from some date line (or some such beast) news show a few weeks ago. Butter is the easiest way to go. The olive oil mixture is indeed healtier as long as it's not heated. All the good fats in olive oil turn immediately into bad ones when heated. I found this out when taking a Thai cooking course taught by The Heart Foundation chef.

I doubt that we can say the way we eat now is why we are living longer. Our foods have less nutrition and are far more processed with far worse things in them then what nature puts in our foods. So you’re saying fast food makes us live longer? Come on now does that really make sense? Or is it just better medical care better hygiene and such that makes us live longer? Look what happens to old people nursing homes are a very big business. Is that really a good indication that our lifestyle now is better?
A lot of the medical myths that are out there like foods with cholesterol are bad for us. Well unnatural foods are but real foods with natural cholesterol tend to lower our cholesterol levels.
Marking and lobbyists keep us eating crap because they make money doing so. Think the FDA cares about health? There are so many loopholes and ways past our health it is pathetic.

No, I'm not saying that fast foods make us live longer and can't see how you could interpret that from my previous post. The reason why we live longer now than in 1900 is that between 1900 and 1950 we made tremendous advances in medical technology. The advances allow us to cure, or manage, many illnesses that would have killed us in the early 1900's. Because we, on average, live longer than we did then, certain illnesses, like heart disease, that tend to become problems past the age of 50 have become more common today than in the past. So, in 1900, it mattered less what you ate (so long as you didn't get food poisoning) because you were likely to die of something like infuenza, appendicidis, diabetes, or just plain infection from a minor wound than you were to have a heart attack. Even then, if you had a heart attack, you were a goner since nobody knew how to treat it anyway.

No, I'm not saying that fast foods make us live longer and can't see how you could interpret that from my previous post. The reason why we live longer now than in 1900 is that between 1900 and 1950 we made tremendous advances in medical technology. The advances allow us to cure, or manage, many illnesses that would have killed us in the early 1900's. Because we, on average, live longer than we did then, certain illnesses, like heart disease, that tend to become problems past the age of 50 have become more common today than in the past. So, in 1900, it mattered less what you ate (so long as you didn't get food poisoning) because you were likely to die of something like infuenza, appendicidis, diabetes, or just plain infection from a minor wound than you were to have a heart attack. Even then, if you had a heart attack, you were a goner since nobody knew how to treat it anyway.


But I don't think that is valid because heart attaches for the most part from the lifestyle we now live are a fairly recent occurrence. I don’t think they were a big problem in the 50’s.

My opinion is that there probably isn't much of a difference between butter and various margarines. I don't use much of either (I use mustard on sandwiches), but when I do the flavor of butter is so superior to any of the substitutes.

Ohh come on that's going too far. Saying that butter is not natural is like saying that washing your salad greens isn't natural!!

You can make butter at home by pouring some cream into a jar and shake, shake, shaking. It will eventualy sepperate into butter and buttermilk, you pour off the buttermilk, saving it for later and then forming the butter into a mould.

What's un-natural about that

You are processing a fat that is a liquid at room temperature and altering it so that it is now a solid at room temperature. Cream once made into butter, will never go back to being cream again. Never. It is permanently altered by humans, therefore it is unnatural. Even anti-processing fanatics like you have to admit it is PROCESSED and ALTERED. Heck, you are anti pasteurization, which is a lot less processing than making butter!

Now excuse me, I am going to enjoy my freshly popped popcorn with copious amounts of butter. MMMm butter.... ;)

The reason why we live longer now than in 1900 is that between 1900 and 1950 we made tremendous advances in medical technology.
That's exactly true. Antibiotics, vaccination, and basic hygiene made huge difference.

Also, World Wars were not very healthy.

It is permanently altered by humans, therefore it is unnatural.
Not true. Milk fat is not altered, it is only collected. And yes, you can mix buttermilk and butter into the same milk again.

Though, you are right. We cannot put milk back into cow's breast. It is altered.

Make ghee! Might have been mentioned already in this thread but it is a much healthier, great tasting, easy alternative to butter. Just boil and strain butter and the stuff will keep indefinitely at room temp. Here's a recipe:

http://www.talyaskitchen.com/recipes.html#makingGhee

That's not healthier, only cheaper and has longer shelf life. If you need to reduce calories intake cut on quantity, not quality. If you need to cut on cholesterol intake, trans fat is a very poor substitution.

Common sense tells me that industry would do everything to maximize profit. If fat was cheaper than starch, we'd have had Atkins promoted from every shelf, and if sugar becomes chaper than HFCS we'll see large "NO HFCS!" labels on every coke can.

Using olive oil to substitute butter is a good idea, but it does not work all the time. Kashi (Russian style cereals; basically, boiled grains. I have no English word for that) is an example.
mmm Kasha. he he. I only eat it once in a while so quantity is not a problem. :) Mainly just my friend throwing a fit about "chemical, and un-natural." :rolleyes:

I use butter.
The amount I use has such little impact regardless if its good/bad for me, and it tastes a whole lot better.
If you really insist on margarine, make sure its one with no trans fats. Here in Canada, Becel is a very popular no trans fat brand thats been around for years.

On a sandwhich, i use only mustard.

Saturdated fat is natural, and in itself isn't bad for you. As many allude to, when you eat a stick of it with your meal, you've gone a tad overboard. Some recommend a moderate amount of total fat, equally distributed between sat, mono-sat, and poly-say. A half a tbsp of butter with your toast or bagel is usually plenty. Personally I don't like the taste/consistency of margarine.

You are processing a fat that is a liquid at room temperature and altering it so that it is now a solid at room temperature. Cream once made into butter, will never go back to being cream again. Never. It is permanently altered by humans, therefore it is unnatural. Even anti-processing fanatics like you have to admit it is PROCESSED and ALTERED. Heck, you are anti pasteurization, which is a lot less processing than making butter!

Now excuse me, I am going to enjoy my freshly popped popcorn with copious amounts of butter. MMMm butter.... ;)

Umm, no heat whatsoever needs to be used to proccess butter.

Do you remember your childhood ryhmes. Little miss muffet (sp?), curds and whey?

When you make cheese your sepperating the milk into curds and whey with the curds being used to make the cheese. Now fresh, unpasturized milk will sepperate into curds and whey simply by leaving it on the bench top but usualy to speed the proccess a little heat and/or acidity is used. When you sepperate cream by aggitation only the whey portion is called buttermilk and the curds are the butterfat. As I posted earlier sometimes cream will sepperate all on its own. Its fairly normal and not the proccess of un-natural proccessing. The butterfat is squeezed to remove excess buttermilk to produce a very smooth butter and salt can be added.

Its a real food, you can make it at home realy easily but you can argue the pedantics of what "proccessing" means.

Now to margerine. You CANT make that in your own kitchen. That requires a lot of heat and from memory Cadmium is used as a catylist. This is a heavy duty industrial proccess.

Pasturization is cooking. It may be short and sweet but its cooking none the less. Not as bad as the proccesses used to make margerine but it destroys the benificial bacteria that are natural to fresh milk and dairy.

Regards, Anthony

I thought that when one made butter the fat that is contained in the fat globules is released, because the membrane surrounding the fat is broken. Thus the hydrophobic fat is now exposed to water, so naturally it clumps up to minimise exposure to water. That is why agitating cream creates butter, it mechanically breaks down the membrane that contains the fat globules. Of course I think that enzymes may be used to break down the layer that contains the fat globules.

Anyways, I do not think that saturated fat is bad for you, unless like anything else you eat more than required. But that being said I will almost always choose olive oil over everything else because to me it tastes the best.

The American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American dietetic Association, the American College of Sports Medicine.....

Are they all lying when they say that saturated fat and trans fats are causes of Coronary Artery Disease? They all say that we should limit saturated fat to 10 % of calories, and to strictly avoid trans-fats.

Butter contains saturated fat, so I use it in small quantities. Most margarine contains trans fats, so I don't use it at all. Smart Balance margarine contains no sat. fats and no trans fats, and it has a more favorable ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3. It also tastes better than any of the other margarines, and almost as good as butter. To me, it looks like a good choice.

I don't think "I can't belive it's not butter" has trans fats, in any significant quantities. It lists 0g for 14g serving. So it's probably under 1g, since ingredients list "hydrogynated soybean oil". I will look in to Smart Balance.

Id be very leary of their claims of trans fat content. Anything below .5 grams per serving does not need to be reported. All their packaging and advertising do not say "trans fat free" , they say "no trans fat per serving".

To me thats marketing talk. Id say they are just under the limit that says they dont need to report it.

Id be very leary of their claims of trans fat content. Anything below .5 grams per serving does not need to be reported. All their packaging and advertising do not say "trans fat free" , they say "no trans fat per serving".

To me thats marketing talk. Id say they are just under the limit that says they dont need to report it.


Whether or not you agree on the effects of sat fat, at least you know what you are getting with butter.

The American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American dietetic Association, the American College of Sports Medicine.....

Are they all lying when they say that saturated fat and trans fats are causes of Coronary Artery Disease? They all say that we should limit saturated fat to 10 % of calories, and to strictly avoid trans-fats.


Yes, they are lying about the harmful effects of saturated fats anyway!

Look the truth is rather complicated. No one is deliberately lying or involved in a conspiricy with the margerine makers/seed oil industry. They all believe that what they are reccomending is in the best interests of "Public health" and "Public Health" is a political issue NOT a scientific issue. Their greatest sin is a sin of omission in that they know they don't have the hard scientific data to implicate saturated fats but they believe the lipid theory is correct anyway, its just a failing of the scientific methods used so far so in the interests of "Public Health" they will keep on telling us to avoid saturated fats.

Its a tough gig but someone has to do it!!

How on earth saturated fats get lumped together with trans fats is beyond me because even a cursory understanding of them shows they are comletely different other than they are both solid at room temperature and that trans fats are used to replace saturated fats in our foods.

Well you can see that's enough for the types who used to dunk witches in the river but it doesn't stack up to scientific enquiry. Saturated fats are totaly stable, which is what makes them healthy. Trans fats are a free radical overload which is why they are hazardous.

Regards, Anthony

The American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American dietetic Association, the American College of Sports Medicine.....

Are they all lying when they say that saturated fat and trans fats are causes of Coronary Artery Disease? They all say that we should limit saturated fat to 10 % of calories, and to strictly avoid trans-fats.

Butter contains saturated fat, so I use it in small quantities. Most margarine contains trans fats, so I don't use it at all. Smart Balance margarine contains no sat. fats and no trans fats, and it has a more favorable ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3. It also tastes better than any of the other margarines, and almost as good as butter. To me, it looks like a good choice.

They are not lying it's just that things get lumped together. Plus it is easy to blame the natural sat fats for everything when ti is all the possessed crap we eat. Look at France with very low problems and all the natural animal fats they eat. if we as Americans dumped all the fast food all the processed foods pre prepared foods and exercised more things would change dramatically. That includes cutting way down on sugars and low quality grains we stuff ourselves with.
Low fat was a marketing gimmick that was never based on facts that took over the medial industry. Fats are bad run away from them at all costs. Foods with cholesterol are bad they raise cholesterol levels and all the other bad science out there that we Americans seem to fall for.

It would be interesting to see whether or not the banning of trans fats really does decrease the diseases that it supposedly causes. Or is it just being made into a sacrificial lamb.

It would be interesting to see but that law will either go unenforced or be overturned way too soon to see any effects from it. It's ridiculous.

Make ghee! Might have been mentioned already in this thread but it is a much healthier, great tasting, easy alternative to butter. Just boil and strain butter...

I'm not gonna disagree on ghee being tasty, but by definition a product derived from butter cannot really be considered an alternative to butter. You are basically just removing some of the milk solids and other impurities with this process (same as drawn butter, clarified butter, etc.) and actually increasing the fat %.

Id be very leary of their claims of trans fat content. Anything below .5 grams per serving does not need to be reported. All their packaging and advertising do not say "trans fat free" , they say "no trans fat per serving".

To me thats marketing talk. Id say they are just under the limit that says they dont need to report it.
Yes thats what I basically said:
I don't think "I can't belive it's not butter" has trans fats in any significant quantities.

It would be interesting to see but that law will either go unenforced or be overturned way too soon to see any effects from it. It's ridiculous.

Its worked for a number of European contries. The only reason establishments are using trans fats is because of cost reductions. Like the article says, there are many 'natural' alternatives that can be used, so why should they be able to cut costs are the public's expense?

There is nothing natural about butter...unless you can find a cow that dispenses it right from the udder. And not all margarines are chemically altered.

Generally speaking saturated fats and hydrogenated fats are not good for you. Butter is a saturated fat and should be eaten in moderation or not at all. Margarine can be very bad for you or not so bad at all. The more liquid the margarine, the "healthier" it is.

Spray margarines are the best as they are mostly olive oil in some cases, which is a monounsaturated fat. They may have a small amount of partially hydrogenated oils mixed in.

Stick margarines have taken a somewhat healthy oil and thickened it up with hydrogenation so that it is no better than butter.

Tub margarine is partially hydrogenated and better than stick margarine, but still not very good.

Light tub margarine is also partially hydrogenated, but at least has fewer calories and less fat.


So, the moral of the story is, go with the spray margarines if you really want a butter like taste. Otherwise, use a poly or mono unsaturated oil, which are the best and actually have cardio-protective effects.

If you do go with a spray margarine, use the ones with olive oil as the cardio-protective effects may help to counteract the negative effects(if any) of the very small amount of partially hydrogenated oils they have.

So OJ is not natural? How about a cut up carrot? According to your logic cold pressed olive oil is out as well-

Edit-FRESH SQUEEZED OJ, not pasturized...forgot to say that-

I'll stick to butter thanks.....

There is nothing natural about butter...unless you can find a cow that dispenses it right from the udder.

They do. All you have to do is shake it a bit. You shake an apple tree to get the apple and you shake cow's milk to get butter. Are apples natural?