Pass the butter please

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/23/butter-bad-saturated-fat-healthy-eating-industry
<snip>
Government and health charities have been doling out duff healthy eating advice for decades, but when are they going to admit it? That's the question raised by the remarks of cardiologist Aseem Malhotra, who writing in the BMJ has challenged the orthodoxy that the consumption of foods containing saturated fat, such as butter and red meat, causes heart disease.

Why? Counter-intuitive though it might seem, there's no evidence that fat is fattening. Indeed by sating the appetite effectively, it may prevent overeating. To quote Kendrick, "there is not one molecule of evidence to suggest that saturated fat consumption causes obesity". What's certain is that saturated fat is a key component of our cell membranes, and essential for the production of certain hormones. It also acts as a carrier for important vitamins, and is vital for mineral absorption, and many other biological processes. So why has the public health establishment so assiduously encouraged us to shun it?

Viewed cynically, however, it would be naive not to notice how the anti-sat-fat message has been used effectively by food manufacturers and processors to woo us away from whole, natural foods, such as butter, which is only minimally processed, on to their products, which are entirely the opposite, such as margarine.

The fatwa on sat fat has been a fabulous boon for the sugar and cereals industries. It acts as a red herring, drawing our attention away from the much likelier cause of obesity: an overabundance of sugar and refined carbohydrates, which disrupt blood sugar and insulin levels, encouraging fat production and storage in the body. It has been bad news for livestock farmers, who produce dairy and meat, but they don't have the lobbying might of the carb and sugar corporations.
--------------------
In our household we use 100% butter and olive oil for all cooking.

[Recursion]

1. I don't even see how it's counterintuitive. It's not as if fat in food goes into your fat cells

That's the most effective argument I've had with people, usually: we all intellectually know that fat gets broken down into hydrocarbons and water, not directly put into your cells, so it's not as if the fat itself is somehow glomming itself onto your body -- in fact, just eating the hydrocarbons saves a step.

Or, to put it another way: there's no fat in beer and pixie sticks.

[newfie11]

2. Same here, olive oil and butter. Nt

[bravenak]

3. Me too.

I've noticed I get full faster when I eat non processed foods and cook for myself. And we like to do hot cereal and fruit or yogurt instead of the Froot Loops.

[lillypaddle]

4. Me, too, malaise

Butter & olive oil only. Now, can you find me an article telling me that tequila is really quite good for a person?

[TexasProgresive]

10. Only if you eat the worm!

[lillypaddle]

29. Count me out, then

[djean111]

5. To illustrate the idiocy of fat = bad and sugar/HFCS/processed carbs = good --

years ago, I asked someone who had announced that they were on a diet why she was drinking an entire two liter bottle of soda. She pointed to the label - it proudly proclaimed that the soda was FAT-FREE!
Now, of course, soda is now blessed with "pure sugar! No high fructose corn syrup!" in many cases.
Should be labeled "there is no nutritional reason to drink this instead of water".

I use butter and olive oil, too - and coconut oil. Mmmmm....Hollandaise sauce.
In my sixties. No diabetes or heart problems. Or any problems that I am aware of.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. There is some evidence that High Fructose corn syrup is worse than sugar for health

... and may be slightly addictive.

For my part, I avoid sodas and put brown sugar (yes, sugar) in my coffee and on my oatmeal.

I always say, sugar is brain fuel !

The basics: avoid processed food, and fill up on healthy calories (veggies, fruit, fiber) to help keep total calories reasonable.

[djean111]

14. I use Sweetleaf Stevia - only has a smidge of fiber, no other additives.

Yeah, stevia has - I am told - a bitter aftertaste, but I don't notice it, I guess because I just do not like the way sugar seems to coat my mouth and is just too sweet. I mostly just drink tea or water with lemon or lime juice.
Not depriving myself, just what I like. I put buttery sauces on veggies and fish and meat, and skip wheat and other carbs when possible. I tried those yam fiber noodles, need to experiment more with cooking techniques, because they remind me too much of that Japanese treat, mochi (pounded rice). I had some of that, New Year 2000 breakfast in Japan, and while I evaded death by taking tiny bites, that stuff is frightening.

[newfie11]

24. Yes we changed to raw sugar

After a trip to Ireland. Never noticed it here in America but it was everywhere in Ireland.
It tastes so much better than refined sugar.

[xchrom]

6. du rec.

[chervilant]

7. Coconut oil, too. Way yum! n/t

[malaise]

12. Coconut oil is way too expensive and I live in coconut country

that said we drink an awful lot of coconut water and use the milk in several dishes.

[chervilant]

15. It's about what I'd pay for organic butter,

and I am vegan, so coconut oil -- way yummy on popcorn!

[malaise]

18. Makes sense for you n/t

[madokie]

8. I'm a butter eating

bacon and egg loving 65 year old man. I stay as far away from artificial anything as I possibly can. I use real sugar too and love it.

[malaise]

11. Don't eat red meat or pork

but we eat eggs and use brown or yellow crystal sugar - no white sugar.
Love our brown sugar lemonade and tangerine mix - which we make from scratch

[RebelOne]

42. Don't eat any kind of meat except occasionally fish.

There is no sugar in my house. I only use Splenda for sweetening. I am an ice cream addict and I buy that sugar-free. My weakness is butter, which I must have on toast and vegetables. A baked potato is no good without gobs of butter.

[malaise]

43. We've reduced how much butter is on the potatoes or vegetables

Coconut milk is a nice alternative for the Veg. Hate Splenda - indeed I hate all Diet sugars and drinks. Brown sugar now - we love that.

[Ferretherder]

9. Whole butter and olive oil for years, now.

[gademocrat7]

16. Butter and olive oil.

I always use butter and olive oil. Processed foods are simply not healthy.

[marble falls]

17. Read the nutrition labels for lard and corn shortening. Lard is more nutricous.....

we've been cutting fat from our diets since the 1900's and heart disease has increased anyway.

[pinboy3niner]

19. Real butter, olive oil, peanut oil, bacon drippings, lard

You have to use the right tool for the job.

[Shanti Mama]

20. Grass fed butter and fat, if possible

Avocado oil, coconut oil, lard... all better than the vegetable and seed oils in all the processed food. I've lost about 30 lbs very easily, with NO hunger pangs. Just eliminated wheat and most starchy carbs. I put coconut oil in my coffee, butter on my beef, etc. The fat satiates me and I healthy happy and fit!

I've read a lot about how we got to this sorry state of affairs, with the government and NGOs giving out such bad advice. Pretty pathetic, and much of the world follows suit.

[IrishAyes]

21. I don't think anyone who watched Julia Child for 5 minutes could ever shun butter.

At my age and after a bad wreck, I started to put on weight, partly because the TBI made me almost too dizzy to walk. Even as my balance improved over the course of 2 years, I think my self control had been affected also. Basically I just ate whatever I saw, including carbs and sugars. But while compromised I also started to watch Dr. Oz and gradually improved my diet w/o going on a diet. Still couldn't get around too well, so exercise really didn't figure into my gradual, easy weight loss. Dramatically improved nutrition did that all on its own.

I still enjoy a sane amount of carbs and sugars, I just don't dive into them as I used to do. I'll enjoy an eclair once a week, not every day. Now as the effects of the TBI gradually fade, I'm better able to get around and resume limited exercise. My weight continues to improve, and sat fats in reasonable amounts don't seem to affect that.

BTW, I've also learned that if carbs like pasta are briefly sauteed, it lowers their effect on the hypoglycemic scale.

[tridim]

22. I recently switched to coconut oil...

Fully saturated, medium chain triglyceride goodness! The stuff is amazing, healthy, and smells/tastes incredible. I also use butter and olive oil.

I promptly threw out my jug of Crisco, which IMO is the worst fat you can buy. Just stick your finger in it and try to wash it off. It's not easy.

[pinboy3niner]

26. I knew a Vietnamese woman, newly-arrived here, who bought a can of Crisco...

...because she wanted to surprise her American husband by cooking him an American dinner.

She opened the can, she told me, and began digging through this white stuff, trying to find the fried chicken that was pictured on the label. It wasn't in the can.

She puzzled over her predicament for some time, until she heard her husband's car pull up out front. Embarrassed and in a panic, she quickly stuffed the Crisco into the garbage disposal and turned it on with the cold water running. That's when the garbage disposal motor burned out...

[Le Taz Hot]

23. I can't stand the taste of margerine

or anything that margarine is added to. Butter only at my house. I use olive oil but I also use grapeseed oil. I used to use canola oil until I found out that 85% is made from GMO's so that had to go. Same thing with safflower oil.

And I just posted this in Cooking and Baking that when I recently went to see friends/family in the Bible Belt I was reminded of the use of relish trays. For those unfamiliar, sometimes you see them at Thanksgiving/Christmas meals. Basically, it's a shallow dish with all kinds of fruits/vegetables/pickled items, cut up to bite-size pieces. I have room for 6-7 items in mine. Anyway, for me it's better than cutting up a salad (since lettuce has almost no nutritional value and is not in season most of the year) and you get a wider variety of fruits/veggies. My current relish tray consists of broccoli, baby carrots, bread-and-butter pickles (homemade), green olives, dill pickles and red flame grapes. I also use it as a healthy munchie source when I've feeling a bit peckish.

[malaise]

25. Yep the fact that hubby and I hate the taste of margarine

helped big time in making the correct decisions.
We eat lots of fruit and serve lots of fruit as well.

[Trajan]

27. It saddens me to read this

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr Dean Ornish have both saved the lives of coronary artery diseased patients by reducing saturated fat in thier diets ... they saved President Clinton's life, who now DOES NOT have heart disease, thanks to a vegan diet low in fats and oils ...

This seems a bit reckless and self directed ...

[panader0]

28. Real butter and expeller pressed Safflower oil.

Olive oil too, but it's more "fragile" than safflower oil.

[Egalitarian Thug]

30. Try picking up some butter from Europe (if you dare to risk disappointment).

You will find that it isn't "just getting older" or your taste buds changing, butter still tastes just like it did when you were a kid, it's just that we allow the American dairy industry to put so much filler and crap in our food here that it has no taste. Cheese and beef are also barely recognizable as such, it's all just low nutrition bulk filler now which is what we feed livestock and call it fodder.

[malaise]

32. I eat New Zealand or French butter

There's very little American butter in these parts.

[Egalitarian Thug]

33. We have to pay a steep premium to get real food here. n/t

[malaise]

34. Profits before people

It's sad for real

[Sunlei]

31. goat butter, tastes like the best cultured cow butter to me.Love the slightly lower melt point.

[shanti]

46. Really?

I've never seen goat butter in any store. Doesn't it have that "goaty" taste?

[Motown_Johnny]

35. One obvious flaw in this line of thought...

...is that Humans produce saturated fat.

The way this article is phrased seems to suggest that we should be ingesting saturated fat because "saturated fat is a key component of our cell membranes, and essential for the production of certain hormones. It also acts as a carrier for important vitamins, and is vital for mineral absorption, and many other biological processes."


We don't need to eat this stuff. We will produce what saturated fat we need on our own.

The idea that there is no evidence that fat is fattening is not reasonable in the least. You can get around it the way the Atkins Diet did, but that doesn't change anything. Fat is unquestionably more fattening than proteins or carbohydrates or even alcohol.


This is climate change denier rational. Please don't take that crap seriously.



P.S. Butter isn't that bad because the flavor is so much better than butter substitutes, people tend to use less. This helps offset the amount of fat you are ingesting.

[malaise]

36. We don't use a lot of butter

but we use no butter substitutes.
The article is pointing out that there are bigger problems with sugar and processed foods.

[TBF]

37. I love real butter and use it -

along with real sugar.

My grandparents were farmers so I prefer the taste - just can't get used to the margarine and artificial sweeteners. I do keep both in the house for guests and so forth but I think a diet of real food in moderation (not so much processed and eating out) is the way to go.

[Blue_In_AK]

38. I use butter and olive oil, too,

and sometimes peanut oil if I don't want the flavor of olive oil in whatever I'm baking. Coconut oil, too.

[Sheepshank]

39. I gave up wheat in April, 2013

my cholesterol was 230 and I was 40 lbs overweight.

As the weeks went by , I eliminated more carbs...but not completely. I will occassionally eat some rice or potatoes.

By August 2013 (4 months later), I'd lost 20 lbs and my overall cholesterol dropped to 155!!!

Since August I've lost another 8 lbs....but I am hitting a plateau.

I have increased meats and eggs and cheese (including bacon and sausages) and veggies....the increase in meats seems counter intuitive to the cholesterol numbers I'd been hearing all of my life. My doctor also was on the 'wheat belly' diet and noticed the same drop in overall cholesterol.

I just ran my first 5 k (and in my mid 50's I'm no spring chicken). That wheat stuff is nasty.

[malaise]

41. Brown or yellow crystal sugar, brown rice and whole wheat flour for pasta

and bread. Occasionally we do bake with white flour.
Still I do like butter on warm bread or baked potatoes. Every white sauce in this home starts with real butter .

I lose weight easily when I increase protein intake and reduce carbs. I always loved vegetables and adore tomatoes.

I used to run 10Ks back in the day but now I walk between 3-4 miles three times a week and I exercise on my stationary bike for 20 minutes daily and I still love old fashioned calisthenic exercise.

[polichick]

40. Lots of olive oil. Also coconut oil - and real butter on my toast.

[shanti]

44. Butter and EVO only here too

I was raised on oleo though. Mother told me that when she was a kid, oleo came white, and you had to add the yellow coloring. Sounds nasty!

However, I do like to try innovative products too, and found a tasty spread recently - Melt, with honey. It's made of a mixture of butter and coconut oil and is quite tasty on my English muffins/toast.

[malaise]

45. LOL

Never used it. My mother spread butter so thin you'd have to look real hard to fine it. Many times it was peanut better on the toast - and that was spread real thin as well.

[llmart]

47. Always, always use butter and olive oil....

If I'm going to eat something, it's going to be the real thing, not manufactured/processed crap. I am almost 65 and have weighed the same all of my adult life (not including the pregnancies). I have blood pressure in the 97/70 range every time I have it checked. I am on no meds. My cholesterol is low. I don't take any vitamin pills either. I still walk 4 miles every day. In good weather I bike about 18 miles on a bike trail.

All of these food fads and eat this, don't eat that "advice" is killing us. My thoughts are everything in moderation. Do I eat a whole stick of butter every week? No. But I do use a pat of butter on those things I like butter on.

If we would just enjoy life more and stop thinking we can control every single thing about it, we'd all be better off.