Butter or Margarine

When I was in 7th grade, my home eco teacher asked us what the difference was between butter and margarine.  Honestly, I didn’t know at the time.  My family used margarine and called it butter (as sadly a lot of people do).  The teacher ended up saying margarine is healthier because it had fewer calories and less fat.  Seriously.  This is one of the issues with teaching children about health.

People still want to ‘teach’ counting calories and limiting fat (even if it was proven false) instead of teaching about real food and listening to your body.  People are too concerned with eating the ‘wrong’ food, told to us by the media and government, that they turn to chemical laden food products to ‘save them’ from these ‘wrong’ foods.  There are still fights over this.

Compare the labels of margarine and butter…

Margarine Ingredients:  Water, Vegetable Oil Blend (Soybean Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil), Tricalcium Phosphate, Salt, Whey (Milk), Mono and Diglycerides, Lactic Acid, Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids, (Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Disodium EDTA) Used to Protect Quality, Soy Lecithin, Xanthan Gum, Vitamin E Acetate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta Carotene (Color), Natural and Artificial Flavor, Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3)

Butter Ingredients: Cultured pasteurized cream

Yes, butter does have more fat and calories, but is also more satiating and is a real food.  You can make butter in your own home by using heavy whipping cream (avoid carrageenan if you go this route).  To make margarine, you need a lab and multiple ingredients, as shown with all the links in the margarine ingredient section.

Trans fats are created by a process that uses hydrogen to turn liquid oils (usually cheap ones – corn and soy, e.g., that are already rancid) into a solid.  Yet the people that live in fear of natural saturated fats because of heart issues are actually causing more damage than they realize.

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