butter or

I would use butter... in moderation.

However, my personal toast favourite is coconut oil! ..onomnomnom. And its good for you, bonus!

My kids and I sometimes make butter by shaking some cream in a tupperware. I couldn't make margarine at home without a mad scientist kit.

Canola oil! It's healthier than both but still a whole food.

Butter. It's real. It's natural. Right now, just to cut calories, I'm using I can't believe it's not butter light. (I can't "afford" 100 cals for 1 tbsp butter right now). Once I get closer to my goal and have more calories, I'll switch to real butter. I miss it!

Smart Balance

Butter for sure

That, or in NZ (not sure where you are) we have a product called Olivani, which is made from olive oil - they also do an avocado spread which is nice. Failing both of those, mash up an avocado and spread that on!

I love butter, but because I need to get more of the good cholesterol and lower my bad cholesterol, I am now sworn off of it. I am using an olive oil spread, which is surprisingly good.

the plastic thing - not true!

16. Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC-Fiction!
We found no support for this. Perhaps whoever wrote this heard a discussion about the "plasticity" of margarine. It is "plastic" at room temperature meaning that the shape of it can be changed when pressure is applied. That doesn't mean it is composed of what we normally think of as plastic. It was originally made of animal fats but increasingly now is made from vegetable oils.


http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/b/butter-margarine.htm

Okay .. so the whole Margarine/Plastic thing is getting a little out of hand. It's not true or false - it's vastly over simplified.

The most common plastic (polyethylene) is composed of tightly packed saturated hydrocarbon chains. Saturated fats (triglycerides) are saturated hydrocarbon chains attached to a glycerol molecule. So technically... if you cleaved the glycerol off the molecule you would you would have "plastic". The process of making margarine involves "hydrogenation" of unsaturated fats into saturated fats. Margarine is from made from oils, plastic is made from oil and if you added a few steps to the margarine process you could make plastic.

But really none of that matters nutritionally. Here are my random thoughts on butter and margarine (I am a biochemist and I also worked for a nutritionist for six years, so I like to think I can offer some useful information) :

Both butter and margarine are high in saturated fat, which isn't the greatest choice. But, many margarines contain "trans" fats due to the hydrogenation process involved in making margarine. Trans fats are really bad for you, and have been linked to coronary heart disease, and type II diabetes. Avoid margarines with trans fats.

Butter is naturally higher in vitamins, but many margarines have a few of them added.

I personally stay away from margarine because it is hydrogenated, flavoured, coloured, "enriched", and emulsified, all of which involve adding chemicals, preservatives or additives I don't want.

When it comes down to it, nutritionally, you want to have unsaturated fats in your diet. Specifically essential fatty acids called omega 3s....which is deficient in the average diet because omega 3 fats are uncommon in vegetable oils. Omega 3 is essential for the maintenance of the brain, skin, eyes and much more.. Omega 3 is high in fish oil and flax oil, FYI.

A great choice for a toast spread is to mix butter with flax oil and keep it it the fridge, this increases the nutritional value and makes it easier to spread. But don't cook with it because flax oil has a very low smoking point and it will burn, which is bad for you.

Not by choice, but margarine. With 2 dairy allergic kids in the house, butter is a rare thing to use. If the kids could handle butter, we would use it 100%. Except on popcorn, I like the taste of marg. on popcorn.

Here's how I understand it:

Some oils/fats are higher in fats than others.. the ones that are solid at room temperature (like butter) are particularly fatty.

The way margarine is made (usually), is they pump hydrogen through a light veggie oil which makes it become solid at room temperature so that it tastes a little like butter.. when this process was invented they thought GREAT, it seems like a saturated fat but isn't one. So they flavored it which a bunch of artificial flavorings to make it taste even more like real butter.

But then more research was done and it was found that when a light veggie oil becomes solid after hydrogenation it loses the benefit of the light veggie oil on it's own and becomes more like a real saturated fat anyway.

I've been preaching it for years.. eat the real butter, just go sparingly.

Margarine was invented because they thought it would be healthier but turns out it's not.. but now people are used to it so it's never gone away.

I use "I can't believe it's not butter" spray. It has 0 calories for-cryin-out-loud! I force ignorance about how processed and wrong it is. Just can't beat the ZERO calories. Oh well, at least I'm not shooting heroin.

Actually, that's wrong. The bottle actually contains 990 calories and over 90 grams of fat. Read this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/497408--0-calorie-foods

I use "I can't believe it's not butter" spray. It has 0 calories for-cryin-out-loud! I force ignorance about how processed and wrong it is. Just can't beat the ZERO calories. Oh well, at least I'm not shooting heroin.

Actually, that's wrong. The bottle actually contains 990 calories and over 90 grams of fat. Read this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/497408--0-calorie-foods

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! :sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:
Well fudge. I'm at a complete loss. How does one even calculate each spray??? Now I have to go do math... DAMN YOU FDA!!!!

thanks for the info though. At least I can calculate more accurately.

Olivio is non hydrogenated. And it tastes great.

Butter is better for you. It's actual food (even if it's fat) instead of some random mix of chemicals.

Butter or EVOO!!!!