Stick Butter substitute?

13»

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    There is nothing wrong with real butter unless you have issues with cassein. Saturated fat is not bad for you. so unless you have some underlying dairy allergy - butter is healthy for you.

    I'm not sure if you actually know the OP and their medical history and speaking only to them, but as a general statement there are a lot of nutrition scientists and doctors who would disagree with this.

    Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saturated fat. The whole saturated fat MYTH has been debunked time and time again. Holes poked all through that theory..........

    That is not a general statement, that is fact. Saturated fat nor cholesterol causes Cardiovascular Disease. Inflammation causes disease and that inflammation DOES NOT come from Saturated fats or cholesterol.

    People really need to get out of that 1980's thinking. It is OLD and OUTDATED.

    I don't know what MYTH you refer to, but currently (2013) most nutrition scientists and doctors recommend limiting saturated fat especially from beef/dairy sources.

    "Most" nutrition scientists and doctors?? Not true. At least not the up to date/well informed ones. I am a Licensed/Reg. Dietitian and have been working in the field of clinical nutrition with many, many MD's for the past 20 yrs and I can tell you that "we" have not been recommending low saturated fat diets for quite some time and I always recommend using real butter over margarine or other "spreads" as part of a healthy, whole foods type diet.

    Can you provide information from an authoritative source of nutrition scientists that does not suggest limiting saturated fats? I mean, something other than a person blog or open internet forum post?

    First, I don't practise based on information in "person blogs" or "internet forum posts". Medical Nutrition Therapy has been my profession as well as a passion for me for a long time. I read current peer reviewed journals to stay up to date as well as attend graduate continuing education programs on a regular basis, along with tracking my actual patient outcomes. Second, your quotation from the Harvard School of Medicine actually illustrates my point quite well. The large body of evidence (data) surrounding the vast feild of nutrition science can be interpreted in many ways. It is true that science is ever evolving and what we "know" now may not hold true in the future. However, there is strong scientific evidence to suggest that (as the article you referenced depicts) saturated fats (as a single dietary factor) are not the main predictor of cardiac outcomes, especially when taken into account in use vs. a diet higher in hydrogenated oils and refined grains.

    But that was not the sugject of my post you attacked. Dietary recommendations were. Most nutrition experts, and all of the dieticians I know (which is admittedly only a handful), recommend limiting saturated fats.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    I personally think vegetable oil is FAR worse than butter for you so I'll take butter. Coconut oil is another good option- if I could find a salted coconut oil, I would be in heaven.

    Isn't coconut oil a vegetable oil?

    It's an oil from a tropical fruit- but by "vegetable oil" I am referring to canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil and various other highly-processed liquid-at-room temperature oils. Pretty sure you already understood that, though.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Even Harvard has changed it's stance recently, I guess they didn't want to appear totally uneducated, big deal. lol

    They change their stance when the data points that a change is needed. They've never been shy about changing or discussing why the change was needed. That's why I follow their advice. It is the most evidenced based I've found.

    But, I don't know why scientists changing their advice is cause for amusement or ridicule. Anyone that says they know it all when it comes to nutrition is suspect IMO. Too much is still left to be discovered. I'll always go with the advice of those that are on the forefront of that education, rather than MFP members who think they are qualified to educate the educators because they read an internet blog or trolled pubmed.
    Because changing advice now when contradictory data was available 30 years ago, doesn't make them authoritative, but rather foolish.

    If you can find a single study that shows saturated fat causes heart disease, I mean they been saying that forever, so that should be easy, but also a study where no refined carbs, trans fats and fast food where in that study. I'm probably giving to much credit to the masses here but generally speaking refined carbs, transfats and fast food contribute to heart disease, and we don't want any correlations here, do we, the funny thing is the "overall effect" with these products is, it lowers LDL, isn't that just mind boggling:smile:

    *sigh* HSPH did not just now change their advice. In fact, it is their current recommendation that saturated fats be limited.

    I could explain further, but the link I posted does that better than I could so either read it or don't.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,263 Member
    I personally think vegetable oil is FAR worse than butter for you so I'll take butter. Coconut oil is another good option- if I could find a salted coconut oil, I would be in heaven.

    Isn't coconut oil a vegetable oil?

    It's an oil from a tropical fruit- but by "vegetable oil" I am referring to canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil and various other highly-processed liquid-at-room temperature oils. Pretty sure you already understood that, though.
    Yes, deflection can be a forte to have as opposed to actually having an opinion and a conversation that isn't a cut and paste, just an observation though.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    There is no substitute for butter! Mmmm.....butter. :tongue:

    Seriously though - there are some recipes I have where I can swap olive or coconut oil for the melted butter (I'm thinking of my favorite "oven-fired fish recipe), or sometimes I'll use 1/2 butter & 1/2 olive oil instead of all butter, but there are some things where I just have to go all butter. And I do put real butter on my toast every day, but only 1/2 tbs, and I don't go through sticks of the stuff with daily cooking (well, I did with the holiday baking, but that's only once a year!).

    As far as "butter spreads" or margarine, give me real butter any day of the week - it's natural and my body knows what to do with it. I enjoy it, in moderation, of course. :)
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I personally think vegetable oil is FAR worse than butter for you so I'll take butter. Coconut oil is another good option- if I could find a salted coconut oil, I would be in heaven.

    Isn't coconut oil a vegetable oil?

    It's an oil from a tropical fruit- but by "vegetable oil" I am referring to canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil and various other highly-processed liquid-at-room temperature oils. Pretty sure you already understood that, though.

    No, but perhaps it's because I think lumping all those together is silly. There is plenty of evidences that vegetable oils can be part of a healthy diet.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,263 Member
    Of course you do.......that was precious, thank you.:bigsmile:
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    There is nothing wrong with real butter unless you have issues with cassein. Saturated fat is not bad for you. so unless you have some underlying dairy allergy - butter is healthy for you.

    I'm not sure if you actually know the OP and their medical history and speaking only to them, but as a general statement there are a lot of nutrition scientists and doctors who would disagree with this.

    Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saturated fat. The whole saturated fat MYTH has been debunked time and time again. Holes poked all through that theory..........

    That is not a general statement, that is fact. Saturated fat nor cholesterol causes Cardiovascular Disease. Inflammation causes disease and that inflammation DOES NOT come from Saturated fats or cholesterol.

    People really need to get out of that 1980's thinking. It is OLD and OUTDATED.

    I don't know what MYTH you refer to, but currently (2013) most nutrition scientists and doctors recommend limiting saturated fat especially from beef/dairy sources.

    "Most" nutrition scientists and doctors?? Not true. At least not the up to date/well informed ones. I am a Licensed/Reg. Dietitian and have been working in the field of clinical nutrition with many, many MD's for the past 20 yrs and I can tell you that "we" have not been recommending low saturated fat diets for quite some time and I always recommend using real butter over margarine or other "spreads" as part of a healthy, whole foods type diet.

    What about the butter spreads that are a mix of real butter and then add a bit of corn or canola oil to make it spreadable? That's the only downside to using real butter is that it tears the bread unless it's left at room temp to soften, but who has time to do that before dinner?
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    I personally think vegetable oil is FAR worse than butter for you so I'll take butter. Coconut oil is another good option- if I could find a salted coconut oil, I would be in heaven.

    Isn't coconut oil a vegetable oil?

    It's an oil from a tropical fruit- but by "vegetable oil" I am referring to canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil and various other highly-processed liquid-at-room temperature oils. Pretty sure you already understood that, though.

    No, but perhaps it's because I think lumping all those together is silly. There is plenty of evidences that vegetable oils can be part of a healthy diet.
    Perhaps you should take up that silliness with the FDA. I am not the originator of the concept of lumping vegetable oils together. Pretty much anything can be *part of* a healthy diet. The OP asked for healthier substitutes for butter- I do not agree that spreads made with vegetable oils are healthier than butter or coconut oil. Do I think that they can still be included - sure, a healthy diet is made up of many parts and vegetable oils can be one. They're pretty hard to avoid unless you cook 100% of your food yourself from scratch. That said, when I am preparing my food myself, I'll choose olive oil, coconut oil, or butter over vegetable oils.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    "What about the butter spreads that are a mix of real butter and then add a bit of corn or canola oil to make it spreadable? That's the only downside to using real butter is that it tears the bread unless it's left at room temp to soften, but who has time to do that before dinner?"


    There is a New Zealand butter called "Mainland Buttersoft" that has no added oils and is just whipped with a little water. I only buy that.

    Edited since I buggered up the quote
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    "What about the butter spreads that are a mix of real butter and then add a bit of corn or canola oil to make it spreadable? That's the only downside to using real butter is that it tears the bread unless it's left at room temp to soften, but who has time to do that before dinner?"

    There is a New Zealand butter called "Mainland Buttersoft" that has no added oils and is just whipped with a little water. I only buy that.

    Edited since I buggered up the quote

    We have whipped butter here in America too, but it still needs to be softened a bit. I have mostly been sticking to the idea of simply avoiding trans-fats. (which I only recently realized were in the spread I had previously been using) I recently switched to the Land O Lakes brand, but next time I may get the one with olive oil instead of canola.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    I personally think vegetable oil is FAR worse than butter for you so I'll take butter. Coconut oil is another good option- if I could find a salted coconut oil, I would be in heaven.

    Isn't coconut oil a vegetable oil?

    It's an oil from a tropical fruit- but by "vegetable oil" I am referring to canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil and various other highly-processed liquid-at-room temperature oils. Pretty sure you already understood that, though.

    No, but perhaps it's because I think lumping all those together is silly. There is plenty of evidences that vegetable oils can be part of a healthy diet.

    Everything that I have read points to getting vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, canola out of the diet as much as possible due to the fact that they are rancid and no good and are high in Omega 6 which leads to inflammation.

    If you eat for health, there is no room for those kinds of oils.
  • joy31021
    joy31021 Posts: 216
    kerrygold butter is great- from grassed cows
  • joy31021
    joy31021 Posts: 216
    grassfed
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    There is nothing wrong with real butter unless you have issues with cassein. Saturated fat is not bad for you. so unless you have some underlying dairy allergy - butter is healthy for you.

    I'm not sure if you actually know the OP and their medical history and speaking only to them, but as a general statement there are a lot of nutrition scientists and doctors who would disagree with this.

    Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saturated fat. The whole saturated fat MYTH has been debunked time and time again. Holes poked all through that theory..........

    That is not a general statement, that is fact. Saturated fat nor cholesterol causes Cardiovascular Disease. Inflammation causes disease and that inflammation DOES NOT come from Saturated fats or cholesterol.

    People really need to get out of that 1980's thinking. It is OLD and OUTDATED.

    I don't know what MYTH you refer to, but currently (2013) most nutrition scientists and doctors recommend limiting saturated fat especially from beef/dairy sources.

    "Most" nutrition scientists and doctors?? Not true. At least not the up to date/well informed ones. I am a Licensed/Reg. Dietitian and have been working in the field of clinical nutrition with many, many MD's for the past 20 yrs and I can tell you that "we" have not been recommending low saturated fat diets for quite some time and I always recommend using real butter over margarine or other "spreads" as part of a healthy, whole foods type diet.

    What about the butter spreads that are a mix of real butter and then add a bit of corn or canola oil to make it spreadable? That's the only downside to using real butter is that it tears the bread unless it's left at room temp to soften, but who has time to do that before dinner?

    I would prefer one made with olive oil, like this:
    http://www.landolakes.com/Products/Custom/15179.aspx
  • Hey! I don't know if they have it in "stick" form, but I love Smart Balance butter. It's a vegan spread, but you HONESTLY can't tell. It's very yummy on its own (e.g. on a biscuit) or in recipes.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    There is nothing wrong with real butter unless you have issues with cassein. Saturated fat is not bad for you. so unless you have some underlying dairy allergy - butter is healthy for you.

    I'm not sure if you actually know the OP and their medical history and speaking only to them, but as a general statement there are a lot of nutrition scientists and doctors who would disagree with this.

    Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saturated fat. The whole saturated fat MYTH has been debunked time and time again. Holes poked all through that theory..........

    That is not a general statement, that is fact. Saturated fat nor cholesterol causes Cardiovascular Disease. Inflammation causes disease and that inflammation DOES NOT come from Saturated fats or cholesterol.

    People really need to get out of that 1980's thinking. It is OLD and OUTDATED.

    I don't know what MYTH you refer to, but currently (2013) most nutrition scientists and doctors recommend limiting saturated fat especially from beef/dairy sources.

    "Most" nutrition scientists and doctors?? Not true. At least not the up to date/well informed ones. I am a Licensed/Reg. Dietitian and have been working in the field of clinical nutrition with many, many MD's for the past 20 yrs and I can tell you that "we" have not been recommending low saturated fat diets for quite some time and I always recommend using real butter over margarine or other "spreads" as part of a healthy, whole foods type diet.

    What about the butter spreads that are a mix of real butter and then add a bit of corn or canola oil to make it spreadable? That's the only downside to using real butter is that it tears the bread unless it's left at room temp to soften, but who has time to do that before dinner?

    I would prefer one made with olive oil, like this:
    http://www.landolakes.com/Products/Custom/15179.aspx

    Thanks! I am going to try that one next time. I bought the Canola one because it was cheaper.
  • gddrdld
    gddrdld Posts: 464 Member
    There is nothing wrong with real butter unless you have issues with cassein. Saturated fat is not bad for you. so unless you have some underlying dairy allergy - butter is healthy for you.

    I'm not sure if you actually know the OP and their medical history and speaking only to them, but as a general statement there are a lot of nutrition scientists and doctors who would disagree with this.

    Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saturated fat. The whole saturated fat MYTH has been debunked time and time again. Holes poked all through that theory..........

    That is not a general statement, that is fact. Saturated fat nor cholesterol causes Cardiovascular Disease. Inflammation causes disease and that inflammation DOES NOT come from Saturated fats or cholesterol.

    People really need to get out of that 1980's thinking. It is OLD and OUTDATED.

    I don't know what MYTH you refer to, but currently (2013) most nutrition scientists and doctors recommend limiting saturated fat especially from beef/dairy sources.

    "Most" nutrition scientists and doctors?? Not true. At least not the up to date/well informed ones. I am a Licensed/Reg. Dietitian and have been working in the field of clinical nutrition with many, many MD's for the past 20 yrs and I can tell you that "we" have not been recommending low saturated fat diets for quite some time and I always recommend using real butter over margarine or other "spreads" as part of a healthy, whole foods type diet.

    What about the butter spreads that are a mix of real butter and then add a bit of corn or canola oil to make it spreadable? That's the only downside to using real butter is that it tears the bread unless it's left at room temp to soften, but who has time to do that before dinner?

    I would prefer one made with olive oil, like this:
    http://www.landolakes.com/Products/Custom/15179.aspx

    Thanks! I am going to try that one next time. I bought the Canola one because it was cheaper.

    I use the Landolakes Olive Oil butter. It's really good. Or, I take a stick of butter and 1/2c olive oil and blend them in a food processor then pour into a plastic container. Stays spreadable in the fridge and tastes great.
  • Oops! Sorry, I meant Earth Balance, not Smart Balance. :)
  • eat butter!!!
  • jsuaccounting
    jsuaccounting Posts: 189 Member
    Kerry Gold makes a grass-fed butter. It is all natural of course and has a better healthy fat profile than conventional brands. It still has the same calories but I think that real, pemium butter will satisfy you more than the fake stuff.
  • biogirl2011
    biogirl2011 Posts: 23 Member
    Do you have any recipe examples? Is it a 1:1 substitution?
  • biogirl2011
    biogirl2011 Posts: 23 Member
    In my experience, most things that I bake call for oil or butter. You can use mashed bananas or applesauce in place of butter & oil with baking. I'd recommend going one of these routes because then you know what you're putting in your body. Not some chemically processed junk that's been made to taste like butter. I've baked with bananas and applesauce and I really don't notice a difference in taste or texture over using oil or butter.

    Maybe you'll find this helpful:

    http://greatist.com/health/healthy-baking-fat-swaps/

    Do you have any recipes? Is it a 1:1 substitution?
  • Just eat real butter. No "butter substitutes".

    I also use unrefined coconut oil and olive oil as well.
  • ktied
    ktied Posts: 137 Member
    I use land o lakes butter with canola oil, just what i was brought up on. i think it has half the calories as stick butter
  • jsuaccounting
    jsuaccounting Posts: 189 Member
    There is nothing wrong with real butter unless you have issues with cassein. Saturated fat is not bad for you. so unless you have some underlying dairy allergy - butter is healthy for you.

    I'm not sure if you actually know the OP and their medical history and speaking only to them, but as a general statement there are a lot of nutrition scientists and doctors who would disagree with this.

    Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saturated fat. The whole saturated fat MYTH has been debunked time and time again. Holes poked all through that theory..........

    That is not a general statement, that is fact. Saturated fat nor cholesterol causes Cardiovascular Disease. Inflammation causes disease and that inflammation DOES NOT come from Saturated fats or cholesterol.

    People really need to get out of that 1980's thinking. It is OLD and OUTDATED.

    I don't know what MYTH you refer to, but currently (2013) most nutrition scientists and doctors recommend limiting saturated fat especially from beef/dairy sources.

    "Most" nutrition scientists and doctors?? Not true. At least not the up to date/well informed ones. I am a Licensed/Reg. Dietitian and have been working in the field of clinical nutrition with many, many MD's for the past 20 yrs and I can tell you that "we" have not been recommending low saturated fat diets for quite some time and I always recommend using real butter over margarine or other "spreads" as part of a healthy, whole foods type diet.

    Can you provide information from an authoritative source of nutrition scientists that does not suggest limiting saturated fats? I mean, something other than a person blog or open internet forum post?

    In case you are interested, here is the url to a Men's Health published article - http://www.menshealth.com/health/saturated-fat
    While Men's Health is no way a 'scientific' journal, I think it may help explain part of the reason why some people are second guessing the saturated fat guidelines. If nothing else, it outlines some data that might be interesting to you as a dietitian.