# butter or margarine?



## mamaT (May 18, 2009)

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed  the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. 

It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come outwith some clever new flavorings. 

DO YOU KNOW.. the difference between margarine and butter? 

 Both have the same amount of calories.  Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5grams.  Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% overeatingthe same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.  Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.  Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few  only because they are added!  Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavorsof other foods.  Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less  than 100 years. 

 And now, for Margarine..  Very high in trans fatty acids..  Triple risk of coronary heart disease.  Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)  Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.  Lowers quality of breast milk.  Decreases immune response.  Decreases insulin response.  And here's the most disturbing fact.... 

HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!  Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..  This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the  molecular structure of the substance).  

You can try this yourself:  Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area.Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:  * no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)  * it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?


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## surf girl (May 19, 2009)

I'm totally a butter girl, always have been.  I detest margarine, and now that the health risks associated with eating it are well known, I am delighted to have been gobbling down my butter instead all these years.  Even though there are now low/no trans fat margarines available, I can't stand the taste of the stuff and won't be eating it any time soon.

Having said that, I still get irritated by dubious factoids like these ones that have been presented:



			
				mamaT said:
			
		

> HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!  Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..  This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the  molecular structure of the substance).



This doesn't bother me.  In fact, I don't even know that it makes sense. (I need something more specific than "one molecule away from plastic" for it to make sense to me, since margarine is made from various hydrogenated vegetable oils, and plastics have variable structures as well...which molecules are we comparing, exactly?).  Statements like this are weird.  Water is one oxygen atom away from being peroxide. So....? I shouldn't drink water?



> You can try this yourself:  Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area.Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:  * no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)  * it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?



You know, I could leave a pile of salt outside and I bet I wouldn't see flies or fruit flies on it.  Nor  would it rot.  Point?


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## rupertspal42 (May 19, 2009)

HOLY CROW!! I love butter to.. mmm when I was younger there was nothing to eat because I ate everything and I started to eat a stick of butter... it was yum.. but then my mom smacked me and we went to go get food.. I was and still am an eating machine lmao


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## Guest (May 19, 2009)

I love butter , my hubby's Dr. suggested he use Becel .hmmmmm. There are so many schools of thought re butter vs margarine , it is hard to sift through it all.

Kitn


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## dagmar88 (May 19, 2009)

:wink: Since the hub is on a diet, we use those becel squirt bottles to cook with now; a lot less calories and luiquid is supposed to be better than solid  :roll: He's supposed to lose 20 kg cause otherwise he will get sugar disease. Blood sugar was reaaaaly high; but since the diet and less alcohol it is now acceptable. We found out cause he was a bigger pain in the but than usual   
You know in germany they found a way to make coconut oil have the consistancy and taste of butter and that's used a lot on bread   :roll: Haven't tried it yet.



> Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?



Well, since I don't like margerine, it sat in the fridge for a little too long. When I opened it, it had turned into a lovely green blue and purple landscape, so that is not true.

An I just looove melted tupperware on bread, a true Dutch delicacy    8)


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## mamaT (May 19, 2009)

surf girl wrote:





> This doesn't bother me. In fact, I don't even know that it makes sense. (I need something more specific than "one molecule away from plastic" for it to make sense to me, since margarine is made from various hydrogenated vegetable oils, and plastics have variable structures as well...which molecules are we comparing, exactly?).



You know some plastics are made from vegtable oils, not all are petrolum based.

Just thought I'd pass along some interesting science stuff, since we all deal with different types of oils.


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## LJA (May 19, 2009)

My hubby and I debate this all the time.  My conclusion is that if one of these doesn't kill you, aspartame, sugar, coffee, preservatives, smoke, cheeseburgers, red meat, MSG, salt, and heavy metal music will.   :wink: 

I don't think "experts" even know what's good and bad.


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## IrishLass (May 19, 2009)

rupertspal42 said:
			
		

> HOLY CROW!! I love butter to.. mmm when I was younger there was nothing to eat because I ate everything and I started to eat a stick of butter... it was yum.. but then my mom smacked me and we went to go get food.. I was and still am an eating machine lmao



This made me laugh out loud because both my younger brother as well as my own son _love_ to eat butter straight up.   

I remember on Saturday mornings when we were kids and my parents were sleeping late, my brother would sneak into the fridge, take out the butter and just start eating it. 

My son doesn't exactly do the same thing as my brother did, though. Instead, he likes to eat the whipped butter that they serve in restaurants in those little white paper/cardboard cups. When everyone is done eating, he scavenges for everybody's left-over butter at our table and chows down.

We definitely prefer butter over margarine at our house. I personally can't stand the taste nor the mouth-feel of margerine.  I don't like to eat butter straight-up, though. I _definitely_ need to have it on something.  

IrishLass


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## Tabitha (May 19, 2009)

> HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..


 :shock: 



> Water is one oxygen atom away from being peroxide.


 :shock: 

Strange science...


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## LJA (May 19, 2009)

Tabitha said:
			
		

> > HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..
> 
> 
> :shock:
> ...


 :shock: 

Strange science...[/quote:3jgl0djn]

And often, this chick I know is one Cosmopolitan away from being a total tramp, so....there ya go.   :wink:


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## SimplyE (May 19, 2009)

LJA said:
			
		

> And often, this chick I know is one Cosmopolitan away from being a total tramp, so....there ya go.   :wink:



SWEETTT!

Butter is better.  It is the way it should be and always has been.  Unfortunately, my DH has high cholesterol, so we use "Smart Balance" and olive oil.


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## LJA (May 19, 2009)

SimplyE said:
			
		

> LJA said:
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My hubster does too, but Smart Balance is bleccch.  Never tried it with olive oil.  Hmmm.


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## SimplyE (May 19, 2009)

I don't use the one with OO.  I can't remember but something in the ingredient list put me off about it.  I just normally cook with olive oil, but if I need to use butter for something, I use Smart Balance or butter.


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## heartsong (May 19, 2009)

*x*

i got this from a women's magazine a while back and hubby and i love the stuff:

using a mini crock pot:  to 1 cup non-virgin olive oil add:  3-4 large cloves of crushed garlic and 2-3 tbsp of italien blend herbs  the virgin olive oils are too strong and green for me. let warm overnight.

i keep this on the counter (covered) and when i make toast or a sandwich i use this instead of mayo or butter.

it is especially good blended with parmesan cheese, spread on sourdough slices and broiled.


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## SimplyE (May 19, 2009)

*Re: x*



			
				heartsong said:
			
		

> i got this from a women's magazine a while back and hubby and i love the stuff:
> 
> using a mini crock pot:  to 1 cup non-virgin olive oil add:  3-4 large cloves of crushed garlic and 2-3 tbsp of italien blend herbs  the virgin olive oils are too strong and green for me. let warm overnight.
> 
> ...



That sounds yummy!  Be careful with it though.  Garlic-infused olive oil is notorious for harboring bacteria and growing botulism when at room temp.  (my restauranteur coming out)


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## ChrissyB (May 19, 2009)

Monet that sounds delish.


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## surf girl (May 20, 2009)

LJA said:
			
		

> And often, this chick I know is one Cosmopolitan away from being a total tramp, so....there ya go.   :wink:



LMAO!!      



			
				mamaT said:
			
		

> surf girl wrote:
> 
> 
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Indeed.  But that doesn't mean squat when it comes to comparing one substance with another with respect to edibility or health concerns.  As per the H2O vs H2O2, things that are different molecules are different.  And "one molecule away from plastic" doesn't make sense to me (I don't understand the wording with respect to chemical structure).  That's all I was pointing out.  I hate it when nonsensical statements are put forth as some kind of scientific basis for decision-making.


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## jeffp2007 (May 25, 2009)

Very very interesting. What was a heart attack before 1920? It rarely occurred. There was no epidemic. Butter, eggs, whole milk... I thought those were deadly? Well lets see when these trans fats started being sold... 1910-11? Thats odd. But no, there cant be any connection there. Big business says so. 

You talk about being one molecule away from being plastic. What about artificial sweeteners? Most of these were discovered by accident, and not for the intention of human consumption. The first artificial sweetener saccharin was discovered while researching toluene, a highly toxic chemical. Even though the government tells us what is safe and what isnt, we can never really be sure. Not when we live in a society that is bought out by Mega-corps.


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## studioalamode (May 25, 2009)

LJA said:
			
		

> And often, this chick I know is one Cosmopolitan away from being a total tramp, so....there ya go.   :wink:



Hilarious... do you know me?!


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## chrisnkelley (May 27, 2009)

Butter, definitely.  I try to use the most natural God-given state of all foods that I can.  It really is hard considering all of the crap that is in food nowadays.  I don't go extreme with it, but something as simple as butter vs. margarine is a no brainer.  An artificial product imo is bleck.


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## vivcarm (May 28, 2009)

I _love_ butter, and I had it on my toast this morning - sublime, but I also have soya marg too in the fridge.


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