Butter or margarine/spread- anybody have an opinion?

Butter all the way ... my family uses it a lot so I keep a butter bell on the counter so it is always spreadable. Doesn't go bad for us.

I used to always use fake butter (Country Crock, I Cant Believe its not Butter) because we were told it was healthier than butter when I was a kid.

Eventually, I came to see that this wasn't true and went back to butter.

If you are on a very low fat diet and don't use margarine very much anyway, they probably won't make a difference healthwise. But I would look into the effects of too much use for health outcomes.

Margarine is a "new food", very recent in human consumption and didn't exist until the 19th century. Refined vegetable oil didn't exist until then either, as the ability to extract seed oils with machines and solvents was new.

Butter however is an "old food" in existence since goats, sheep and cows were domesticated. It is unlikely the modern diseases people suffer from are from old foods, but rather from new foods or old foods over-processed and over-consumed compared to the past (like white flour and sugar).

Some links to look at.
Very layperson-friendly, but they link to studies for further research
http://authoritynutrition.com/butter-vs-margarine/
http://authoritynutrition.com/7-reasons-why-butter-is-good-for-you/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/opinion/bittman-butter-is-back.html

Like I said above, I'm a butter person, because it tastes better and I don't use so much that it matters (most people probably do not). And butter has benefits in baking, of course.

But since some are generalizing too much about margarine, I'll throw in this to present a counterpoint:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/butter-vs-margarine/faq-20058152

Margarine is made from vegetable oils, so it contains unsaturated "good" fats — polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. These types of fats help reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol when substituted for saturated fat.... But not all margarines are created equal — some margarines contain trans fat. In general, the more solid the margarine, the more trans fat it contains. So stick margarines usually have more trans fat than tub margarines do.

Butter all the way

I trust cows over chemists.

I usually use Becel light, because: calories.
I'm on a fairly low end of the calorie allowance scale (1200-1400) so 100-200 calories in butter could equal a couple of snacks, or half a meal.
But I agree....nothing tastes like real butter!

meganridenour wrote: »

Butter!!! Margarine tastes nasty to me, and the color scares me.

Depends on what they use. Many of the better brands use annato seed which is also used to give butter its color as well as giving cheddar its orange color. Totally natural.

Ready2Rock206 wrote: »

kerrygold butter - I rarely use butter but when I do it's the good stuff

^This.

I'll use the store brand for things like waffles that I make every day for the family, but when I'm putting a pat of butter on my veggies? I want the good stuff.

Bonus? Kerry Gold is softer than regular butter straight out of the fridge. It spreads nicely on toast.

Butter. No reason not to.

Ghee is awesome too!

Butter.

We leave a stick of butter in a covered tray on the counter, except on the hottest days of summer.