Butter or margarine?

Posted July 14, 2006
File under: Calories, vegetarian

Hi Everyone!

I was thinking about the benefits of real butter over margarine. I read in the vegetarian times one time that butter is better for your skin. I looked up a tablespoon of butter in my Food Counter, and it was 100 calories. A tablespoon of margarine is about 80 or 90 calories. On a cellular level butter is real food, and margarine is like eating plastic. A certain amount of fat is necessary for your body, so I take a little butter each day on my whole grain wheat bread. I don’t lather it on, I just put enough to lightly cover the toast and make it taste good.

I remember when margarine first came out; boy am I dating myself! Anyway when I was a little girl we got these strange plastic bags with white stuff that looked like lard. There was a red capsule in it which was squeezed, and then you worked it in the white stuff (the margarine) until it turned yellow. This stuff called margarine is not good for your health. Look it up in the search engine. For anyone worrying about their largest organ (skin) they may do well to think about eating butter.

This isn’t a scientific paper, but just a note to those concerned about their skin.

Today is going to be busy for me as I am going to visit my son. He is having a barbeque today. Take care everyone! Keep on track!

Luella

9 Comments so far

Dan @ July 14th, 2006

Hi Luella,
The only downside to real butter is amount of Saturated Fat - which is really bad for you.
If you or your family have any kind of heart issues, then you might want to consider switching.

Of course you have to be aware of the amount of Trans Fats & Saturated Fats in majorine too.? If you do switch, switch to a brand that has 0 Saturated fat and 0 trans fat? (otherwise there’ s point in switching)
Di @ July 14th, 2006

Luella, Everything Dan said is 100% correct.

Also be aware that if anyone has high cholesterol that you should also switch to margarine that has no Saturated/Trans fats.
Spring @ July 14th, 2006

I agree, Luella!? I’m a butter person myself.? I usually select the unsalted butter, though, to keep the sodium levels in my diet down!? Thanks for the note!
Anna @ July 14th, 2006

A little butter never hurt anyone, and I agree that the more artificial “oils” are probably not as good for you. I love making eggs with butter! It’s just not the same with margarine, but I like the soft spreads to put on bread, the butter is always too hard.

Enjoy the bbq! Have a great weekend.
sylvia @ July 14th, 2006

I had been thinking about the butter vs. margarine thing all week.? i don’t use a lot? of? it and usually use the spray margarine? lol talk about artificial?.? I need to concentrate on my points and getting used to eating food I cook over the frozen prepackaged stuff? like Smart Ones first.? Then I can move on to decide what I want to do there.? Good for you for thinking it all thru and knowing? what you want.? Keep up the good work

Sylvia
Kellie @ July 14th, 2006

I don’t eat much fats at all.? Some, alright, so when I do, I think more “natural” is better.? I am a butter girl, but it goes a loooonng way with me as I hardly use it.? But when I “fry” eggs, or “grease” the pan before baking chicken breast, I use a bit of spray PAM.? I know it’s not natural, but it keeps a lot of my fats down as I use much less than if I used butter.
Heart @ July 14th, 2006

Thanks for the info.? I usually use, I can’t believe it’s not butter, and regular butter. however, It would be nice if I paid moe attention to the nutritional info.
Char @ July 15th, 2006

Luella - I remember also about white marg. and mixing in the color. We would fight amounst us as kids who got to do it. I do however go with no sat. fats & trans fats with hubbies family heart prob. Who knows?????????
Judi @ July 17th, 2006

Luella I was just trying to catch up on everyone’s blogs when I noticed this entry. When I went on Atkins I switched to using butter and olive oil instead of margerine and processed fats. My cholesterol went down to lower than it has been in about 20 years.? The theory behind this is that your body doesn’t see itself as needing to process more fat?when you are eating natural fats like it does when you are eating highly processed fats. I guess that makes sense. I remember the first margerine too. It used to be my job to mix the coloring in. Anyway I just had a couple of minutes but I am trying to catch up with all my buddies and their blogs.