Butter or Margarine

tanyamum

Good afternoon All. Question regarding butter or marg. I have used butter for years but due too a book I read "Eating Clean" it doesn't recommend butter. So I have switched to Nutelex for the moment. Have I done the right thing? Or is there another alternative? I dont eat much of it anyhow so should I just stick to butter?

livingleanlivingclean

Which one tastes nicer? Choose that. I prefer butter, not that I use it much at all. I prefer to get fat from things that provide bulk... But that's personal preference!

deannalfisher

Use whatever you want! Personally I prefer butter but if you can’t eat dairy then avoid it - otherwise what you like

PaulaWallaDingDong

I'm not sure what's unclean about butter, but I would think "substitutes" would be even moreso. It's entirely up to you, since each "clean eating" guide has its own definition.

ceiswyn

No matter how much weight you lose, life will still be too short to subject yourself to butter substitutes.

kommodevaran

I would say the right thing is to throw the book in the garbage and eat whatever you prefer, and not too much. (Too much is when you find yourself gaining weight beyond what's healthy and/or exhausted because you're eating unbalanced).

Lillymoo01

Whichever you prefer although be careful as a lot of brands of margarine contain trans fat.

Gamliela

I use butter and olive oil for added fats. I prefer the taste and texture of these over margerine.
We ate margerine in our family because of the grand cholesterol scare. These news items, fears and books are losing credibility with me. Its become a matter of taste and comman sense again, like the old days. Well, I speak for myself, but my grandparents lived to be nearly centurians and all they used was comman sense, so I'm going with that.

jennifer_417

Trying to precisely define "clean eating" is trying to hit a constantly moving goal post. Ultimately, you have to decide what best helps you meet your goals

Lounmoun

I grew up with margarine and hated it. I'd rather use actual butter.
I don't think a person has to avoid processed foods to be healthy. I don't think small amounts of margarine will harm you even if I don't like it. I don't have health problems from years of eating margarine. I don't have health problems from using actual butter either.

Margarine is a processed food. https://youtu.be/P-M9i5gbEfM
Butter is a processed food. https://youtu.be/qwb2uZLSLhw
The videos show how they are made. Butter making is more of a mechanical processing of removing liquids and churning with just salt added. Margarine has more things added to the oil.

If your goal is weight loss calories are what is important not type of food.

Running_and_Coffee

Kerrygold butter is delicious.

DoubleUbea

Use butter but in moderation, no more than one stick per slice of bread.

BrSpiritus

If a book is telling you margarine is cleaner than butter then you need to throw that book out. I love to use Kerrygold butter but I only really use it for cooking sometimes and on popcorn.

fitcrt

Choose grass fed organic butter, what’s better than natural and organic? We’ve been eating real butter for centuries, long before processed foods. I strive to eat clean as well, and for me that means avoiding processed foods and choosing natural and organic as much as possible, with this in mind I haven’t had margarine since making this dietary change in my life, although I do try using plain olive oil at times in place of butter which is also a healthy option.

amusedmonkey

I like butter. It's like... milk fat. Nothing scary about that. It's when you overdo it that it becomes a problem, like anything else. Eat what tastes better to you.

It's always better to look at things in context, not on a single food basis. Without context, no single food will cure you of all ailments or kill you. If your diet contains enough vegetables and has a good variety of nutrients, you're good to go regardless of what else it contains. Worrying too much about these things can bring about its own set of problems, like stress, anxiety, guilt, and inability to enjoy the foods you love. Mental health and physical health are deeply intertwined.

jgnatca

It's butter in all my baking, and margarine on my toast. It's been a long time since there have been any trans fats in margarine.

xxzenabxx

Choose butter!

nowine4me

Going against the grain here, but I’ve say neither.

cathipa

I thought eating clean was about less processed foods? Go with what you like, but butter has my vote.

WholeFoods4Lyfe

Only butter in my house made with fresh cream. I prefer to keep the amount of lab created foods in my house to a minimum.

ThereAreManyNames

Go with whatever you think tastes better, just in moderation.

Either olive oil or real butter for me, even if they're more expensive. I had enough margarine growing up and if that's all that was available I'd rather do without.

All the stuff that's come out about diacetyl makes me kind of wary anyhow, although I suppose you'd need it in quantities to have it be dangerous.

kimny72

In general, worrying about the "better or worse" of one particular food is wasting a lot of energy on minutiae. Especially if it's something you don't eat much of. That way lies madness.

Short answer is it really doesn't matter. I'd check and make sure the margarine you chose does not include trans fat (partially hydrogenated blah blah blah) as that's probably the only thing you really want to try to avoid. Otherwise, use whichever you like better.

If a book is telling you to eat some specific foods and to not eat other specific foods, you should probably take it with a grain of salt. What matters is the totality of your diet. A little bit of butter or margarine isn't going to hurt anything if your overall diet is working for you. Do what you need to do to eat a nutritious-enough diet that makes it easier for you to hit your calorie goal before worrying about finer details.

LiftHeavyThings27105

Running_and_Coffee wrote: »

Kerrygold butter is delicious.

Amen! +1 to that. I put that in my BulletProof Coffee! Love it!

missysippy930

Butter

amusedmonkey

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

Running_and_Coffee wrote: »

Kerrygold butter is delicious.

Amen! +1 to that. I put that in my BulletProof Coffee! Love it!

So many votes for that. I was curious about it and bought it, but didn't feel it was special. It felt tasteless like the cheaper butters we have and it wasn't as smooth and creamy as what I'm used to. Maybe because I grew up eating Lurpak which has a unique flavor and feels like it has more butterfat.

nickssweetheart

nowine4me wrote: »

Going against the grain here, but I’ve say neither.

For me, this is the answer. I did purchase a Smart Balance vegan margarine about a month ago because I was thinking about making something that used it, but I ended up not making it, and it's still sitting unopened in the fridge. Give me olive or avocado oil any time.

kshama2001

amusedmonkey wrote: »

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

Running_and_Coffee wrote: »

Kerrygold butter is delicious.

Amen! +1 to that. I put that in my BulletProof Coffee! Love it!

So many votes for that. I was curious about it and bought it, but didn't feel it was special. It felt tasteless like the cheaper butters we have and it wasn't as smooth and creamy as what I'm used to. Maybe because I grew up eating Lurpak which has a unique flavor and feels like it has more butterfat.

Ya, Kerrygold is always on sale before St. Patrick's Day and doesn't taste any better than Cabot to me.

kshama2001

DoubleUbea wrote: »

Use butter but in moderation, no more than one stick per slice of bread.

My OH managed to (just barely) have less than one stick of butter with steamers and lobster last night.

RaeBeeBaby

Love butter! (in moderation, of course) I grew up on margarine and the first time I tasted real butter I was in heaven! For cooking I also like coconut oil and olive oil.

During one really lean period in our young lives my husband worked at a margarine factory for a couple months. Just horrible. He said the process is pretty disgusting. He came home smelling awful and couldn't get the grease out of his hair or off his skin even after a long hot shower. So grateful when he got a different job. To this day he avoids eating margarine.

My daughter is dairy-free due to allergies so I will use Melt vegan butter substitute if I'm cooking something special for her like cookies or baked goods.

ridiculous59

We ate margerine for years because it was cheaper. Now that my three kids have left home, its butter all the way! Read the ingredients on a package of margerine. Then read the ingredients in a pound of butter. Now decide which you'd rather eat.

AJ_G

tanyamum wrote: »

Good afternoon All. Question regarding butter or marg. I have used butter for years but due too a book I read "Eating Clean" it doesn't recommend butter. So I have switched to Nutelex for the moment. Have I done the right thing? Or is there another alternative? I dont eat much of it anyhow so should I just stick to butter?

My first suggestion would be to unread the book that you just read. Since that is impossible, the next best thing would be to completely disregard everything the book said. Despite what you may have been told, restrictive diets, including "clean eating" are not healthy for you mentally or emotionally. They cause people to develop a bad relationship with food, and to be honest, "clean eating" is built on a lie. I strongly suggest you go another path. Look into flexible dieting. Also to answer your original question, butter all the way. Also, even if you were going by what the book is supposed to be telling you to do, margarine is more heavily processed than butter and has more trans fat. Stick with butter.