Butter, light butter spread or butter substitute?

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autumnsquirrel
autumnsquirrel Posts: 258 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've heard that butter substitutes aren't good for us, so I went with regular butter...It took a little while to see that I can save some calories and fat by using Land O Lakes light butter spread. Is this spread real butter or or an unhealthy substitute? Just want to do the right thing, but don't want to give up the butter taste. Thanks for all your input:)
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Replies

  • erikkmcvay
    erikkmcvay Posts: 238 Member
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    Real butter is, well, Real. The rest is crap.

    Store bought butter is however, not entirely 'real' but at least it's the closest you'll get without making it yourself.

    I use it in limited qty mind you.

    One thing you can do is create your own soft spread by beating butter and olive oil together. Makes an almost whipped creamy butter :)
  • belinus
    belinus Posts: 112 Member
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    Real butter is, well, Real. The rest is crap.

    QFE
  • FP4HSharon
    FP4HSharon Posts: 664 Member
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    Land O Lakes Light Butter w/Canola Oil is MY choice for a spread. I don't use it much, but you're right, butter is better than butter substitutes, & their Light Butter is pretty much just butter & canola oil. A Tblsp of the Light Butter, has about the same calories as a tsp of regular butter. Good choice! :-)
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    All you need to know is that if the word "hydrogenated" is in the ingredients list, it is bad, otherwise, it's fine. Hydrogenated oils are trans fats and are about the only food ingredient that you should 100% avoid all the time.
  • salladeve
    salladeve Posts: 1,053 Member
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    I use butter spray or olive oil
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    Butter. All the way. You're not saving many calories and it's probably more expensive to buy that light stuff. Just use less butter.

    Plus, Butter. :love:
  • FP4HSharon
    FP4HSharon Posts: 664 Member
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    Real butter is, well, Real. The rest is crap.

    Store bought butter is however, not entirely 'real' but at least it's the closest you'll get without making it yourself.

    I use it in limited qty mind you.

    One thing you can do is create your own soft spread by beating butter and olive oil together. Makes an almost whipped creamy butter :)

    Land O Lakes also makes a Light Butter w/Olive Oil, if you want to save yourself some work...pretty much just butter & olive oil.
  • SkepticallyFit
    SkepticallyFit Posts: 71
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    Actually, the butter substitutes tend to be cheaper.

    The only butter substitute one should avoid are those made from partially hydrogenated oil. Just look at the nutrition label to see if it has any trans fats (or look at the ingredient list). If not, then the only other concern is flavor.
  • LolaTootsie
    LolaTootsie Posts: 12 Member
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    Butter - not too much, but butter.
  • autumnsquirrel
    autumnsquirrel Posts: 258 Member
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    Thanks, everyone:) I have Smart Balance, but only tried that a couple of times; I heard bad things about that, too. Will stick with real butter, but just use half of what the serving calls for----I only really like this on a piece of Ezekiel bread, or melted in with my Edamame pods:) Other than that, I use Pam spray for cooking. This dieting thing is hard; trying to get a good handle on it, but it is driving me crazy sometimes:/
  • meg516
    meg516 Posts: 67 Member
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    I personally like Olivio
  • owieprone
    owieprone Posts: 217 Member
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    butter, or spreadable butter (only has olive oil added so that it doesn't solidify quite asmuch). I don't eat bread so only use it for cooking/baking.

    I like the taste of margarine too much and could literally eat it off a spoon (disgusting i know) so i no longer use it, plus it's processed rubbish.
  • SJVZEE
    SJVZEE Posts: 451 Member
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    I only use butter or evoo :)
  • LexiAtel
    LexiAtel Posts: 228 Member
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    I don't eat butter anymore... I found out that I liked the butter taste mainly through the salt. I was buying the spread because it's cheaper, and we used a lot of it, but after we stopped using that, I went and bought butter, I have some in my fridge/freezer, I just never use it unless I make biscuits or gravy (which we hardly eat anymore)

    Try it one time... sprinkle a little salt on what you need butter on (well... if it's veggies or something), as for toast, just use butter, I guess.

    Usually I sprinkle cheese on my stuff anymore and I don't need salt or butter. I mixture of yogurt/sour cream 50/50 gives you a creamy texture on a baked potato without throwing away the flavour.
  • harleygroomer
    harleygroomer Posts: 373 Member
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    never use a substitute for ANYTHING. Low-fat means high calorie as well.. Just moderate what you eat.
  • LornaRodda
    LornaRodda Posts: 20 Member
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    Butter all the way for me too - it's the real deal - I don't like food that has been overly processed.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
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    I try to avoid butter, but if I have it, I have the real stuff.
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
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    Butter or ghee.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I use butter. Not so much as a spread... I use Ranch on my sandwiches. But I'll stir fry veggies in some butter.
  • RobP1192
    RobP1192 Posts: 310 Member
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    Everybody talking about the real deal... like it's trendy or the "in" thing. Some people just want to use a substitute or light version so they can save calories to use on something else, rather than waste 60-80 calories or more, on using real butter. Anyway, i use a light butter most of the time.

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