skandal20

So my housemate and I went grocery shopping. We are pretty much mega health nuts, so we're always looking for alternative ways to brighten up our bland meals. As we passed the butter section I joked to him, "Hey we should get some fat free butter!" (Thinking it didn't exist) I checked it out, and Promise makes a fat free butter spread! Too good to be true! And it was...I bought it and we came home. My roomate scarfed down two slices of bread with the evil condiment atop. He smiled in delight and retired to his room licking his lips. Well I was a little more hesitant and wanted to google it first. Heres what I came up with...

https://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/labels1.html

I guess things like this are too good to be true! My roomate is crying in his room right now.

SandySwimmer

That's pretty disturbing (including the pictures).

What do you think of Benecol and some of those that are supposed to lower cholesterol? I've been using mainly flaxseed oil or olive oil on my toast, but I kind of miss the consistency of butter or margarine.

skandal20

Im not sure about the cholesterol aspect of it. I just know I dont want anything to do with this evil twin of butter.

foehn

Sorry, if it is fat-free it AIN'T butter!

steveknight

Only in America do we still have the silly fear of fats. Fats don't kill if you eat normal health foods. Healthy foods are foods not processed and not made with junk in them. In other words normal foods humans have been eating for eons.
We have a silly fat fear that is not justified in anyway. Same with cholesterol foods with natural cholesterol tend to cause your body to produce less cholesterol.
Americans if we dumped all the processed foods all the pre made junk and only ate real foods fats would not be a fear. I get a kick out of people thinking fat is worse then the fake crap and processed low fat foods.

skandal20

Im not saying that fats are evil. Fats are essential. I would just rather get them from other sources such as nuts, vegetable oils and fish oils. I was only looking for an alternative to butter, to replace the flavor I lost in cancelling butter from my diet. Don't jump so quickly to conclusions.

steveknight

most fat free sugar free carb free foods are pretty evil. companies prey on peoples fears and make real crap and then lie about how good it is for us.

steveknight

why butter is not bad if you don't use lots of it. sure tastes better then veggie oils.

'nother

I agree. People go to these extremes to avoid "evil foods" and end up putting a load of even worse stuff into their bodies instead. Just eat your regular butter and enjoy it already, will ya?!

skandal20

Because through fish and nut oils I can get more of the good stuff like protein and monounsaturated fats, without all the saturated fats which are packed into butter.

DannoXYZ 

SteveKnight's got a point. All this processing to drive the profit bottom-line is killing us. In addition to not having to report calories from mono- and di-glycerides, the label also doesn't have to report any kinds of fats other than saturated, unsaturated and mono-saturated fats. Which means all that "partially-hydrogenated veggie/soy/olive oils" DO NOT have to be reported. I'm sure they comprize a large percentage of calories in a lot of products that contain them as well. And they have the same detrimental effects as saturated fats.

John B.

Read the labels & it's obvious that real butter is better for you then any of the supposedly "healthy" alternatives you find in the dairy case. Nothing tastes as good as real butter on a piece of warm homemade bread & it's all I use. As with most things moderation is the key to healthy eating not some tasteless fat free spread masquerading as butter, mayo, ect.

Jarery

Here in Canada they sell becel


Becel

How does that stack up against butter ?

John B.

I don't know, how does it taste? I like the part where they tell you to let your toast cool before spreading the Becel on as it contains so much moisture it makes the bread soggy. Yum! Cold toast with unmelted margarine. What oils are they using?

sillygirl

If it has anything to do with my zero calorie Smart Balance Butter Spray - I dont want to hear it. Putting my fingers in my ears - la la la.

Its the one non- "clean" item that I use, and I would like to stay ignorant.
mmm, liquid butter.

cheebahmunkey

Here's something I recently found and have yet to use. If you want a stick of margarine (non-dairy) but don't like trans fat, Earth Balance seems like a good deal although I have no idea how many calories or fat is in the stick or spread.

Bud Bent

Interesting stuff. I did not realize how deceptive food labeling could be.

Like many here, after I started cycling, I also started trying to eat healthier. My favorite snack has always been peanut butter and crackers. Of course, I was appalled to see the dreaded "hydrogenated" on my peanut butter of choice, and promptly switched to natural peanut butter.

Even more surprising to me was the fact that most crackers have hydrogenated oil. On a recent Wally World visit, the Wheat Thins were the only cracker in the place without it. I wonder if they just use label trickery. I've been trying some crackers from Whole Foods which claim not to have hydrogenated oil; I may be staying with them.

But my biggest gripe of all with the food companies is the granola and granola bars thing. Most of them, even while advertising to be healthy on the package, also have hydrogenated oil. Even my Nature Valley granola bars, while claiming to have no hydrogenated oil and have all natural ingredients, contain high fructose corn syrup. Would it really have cost that much more to sweeten them with honey?

steveknight

now you see all these fried foods like chips and such claim no trans fats per serving. what they don't tell you is that if it is less the .5% it can be rounded down to 0

cnw126

After recently purchasing a jar of honey, I could not believe the price. I'm not exactly sure how much it would affect the price of the granola bars, but I believe that it would cost significantly more to sweeten with honey.

One problem is that most people don't care if they eat HFCS, so the food companies use it. The bottom line for them is profit, so if they can make a product that 99% of people will buy with or without HFCS, they will use HFCS because it is cheaper.

All of this food label trickery is starting to really bother me. It is no wonder that this country is full of obese people with there preventable health problems. It seems that all of our goverment regulatory agencys practices need to be changed from the ground up.

sillygirl

Trader Joes came out with its own granola bars sans trans fat. They are pretty good too! Oh and have I mentioned the no trans-fat version of nutella that they put out. YUM

cheebahmunkey

you guys wan delicious granola bars without HFCS or Hydrogenated Oils? One word, KASHI

DannoXYZ 

Partially hydrogenated oils doesn't sweeten, it serves the same function as lard, it's smoothes things out and makes it taste softer and creamier. Like the difference between old-fashioned peanut-butter vs. Skippy grease.

John B.

After trying most of the popular energy/granola bars I now only buy Cliff Bars or make my own. The Cliffs are mostly organic, contain no hydrogenated oils, wheat or dairy & best of all I've yet to try one of their flavors that didn't taste good. The food channel website has a very good recipe for energy bars which includes dried fruits thats very tasty.

Jarery

Cliff bars = good
Kashi Bars = good but impossible to find in my area

Everythign else, including nature valley bars = candy bars, hand em out on halloween

foehn

Au contraire, the hydro-fat stuff keeps the oil from the peanuts from separating out of the peanut butter. "Natural" peanut butter (i.e. sans trans-fat, hydro. fat) wil be smooth and creamy, though somewhat firm if you stir in all the oil on top and then store in the fridge. So indeed it is softer because you can store it at room temp without separation.