Bringing up the endless butter vs. low cal debate

Posts: 569
11/14/12 6:28 P

Heathy-ness aside, I stick with butter whenever it's available because it has better flavor. I'll add a half tablespoon to my "healthier dessert" serving just so that I can really enjoy it, otherwise I'm not satisfied and just go for more of something else.

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11/14/12 6:23 P

I suppose (baring any recommendations from your doctor, on which you should choose) it would come down to a matter of personal preference. I'd rather have nothing, than eat one of those spreads. It has to be real butter for me. That being said, I eat very little butter. It's a lot of calories, for what you get. Given your example of the cheese sandwich-- I'd skip the butter AND the spread, and eat more cheese. Or maybe slap a thin slice of meat on there, with the cheese.

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11/14/12 1:54 P

If you have cholesterol or heart problems. Then it would probably be a good idea to go with the lower fat, lower calorie option. Of course consult your physician/ dietitian.

Personally to me Country Crock tastes like plastic and I just don't like it. Would rather use a pat of butter to a whole tablespoon of Country Crock.

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11/14/12 12:36 P

I'm using spread these days. I watch my saturated fat intake so I end up getting lots more monounsatured and polyunsaturated fats. Saturated fat is in every single thing - it seems - and you can never cut it out entirely, so there's no need to be frightened of saturated fat. It's a fact of life. That said, if you don't consciously watch saturated fats, you really eat a lot of saturated fats. I sometimes let a meal slide, knowing it's loaded with saturated fats, but it doesn't bother me because I know the rest of my diet is unusually low - this is one part of the nutrition panel that I pay attention to.

It's only in the past year that I've been impressed with this fact, through reading. I will see whether my counting grams will show changes in my blood chemistry results when I visit the doctor at the end of the year. I also count fiber grams and eat a lot of fiber. Not unusual to go above 40 grams of fiber in a day!

Edited by: ALGEBRAGIRL at: 11/15/2012 (12:55)

Posts: 347
11/14/12 9:15 A

I hardly use either one... but when I do I use Land o' lakes as well. What I use most is Laughing Cow cheese wedges. The lite variety is 35 cals, and packs a lot of flavor.

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11/14/12 7:49 A

I am a heart patient, and eat 1/4 stick of butter every morning with 6 eggs and vegetables. I don't think of margarine, or lite butter as food.

My health has improved while eating this for breakfast, and I have lost 140 lbs almost. Every test they run shows improvement too, including bloodwork, echocardiograms etc. My cardiologist probably prefers not to hear what my diet is, but she just tells me to keep doing whatever it is I am doing. Problem is, she "knows" that it shouldn't be working.

Go with the butter, 50 calories is easy to cut. For me, I need it to get to 70% fat in my diet.

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11/13/12 3:55 P

We use butter in our home even though I don't like the taste as much as margarine (like Promise Light - Mmm). I'd just rather have something more natural, than something full of ??? ingredients and artificial stuff. I rarely use butter anyway though and we buy the Meijer brand of organic whipped butter.

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11/13/12 10:48 A

I only ever use real butter (wisconsin girl here, anything else is sacrelig), but I try to use less or cut it out completely when I can.

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11/12/12 1:55 P

I've changed my opinion on this over the past few years. Used to, I'd get the fake butter so I could have more of it. Now that I've cut butter out, and rarely use it (less then once/month even, unless in baking) I'd rather use the real stuff. Knowing I can now get away with less, and realizing I put more importance on real foods then the fake stuff, I've switched to real butter.
In the example, I would eat the less cheese for more butter on my mash later in the day, if that's how I ate.
Also, all that being said, I do keep the fake stuff in the house for hubby. I worry about his cholesterol, and his heart, and he loves his butter. He's gotten used to the fake stuff, and no longer complains. He also doesn't mind eating fake-er foods, so it works out in the end for both of us.

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11/12/12 12:51 P

I almost always use butter or bacon fat (which is around 117 calories, and ~13 g fat (5g sat, ~6 mono, and a little less than ~2 poly). The fat content doesn't bug me. The only time I don't use either is if I'm making a grilled cheese and I don't have bacon fat available. I'm too impatient to wait for butter to soften up so I'll use the tub stuff that's easier to spread. If I use bacon fat I melt it in the pan then put the sandwich in, versus spreading it on the bread.

I've also found when I use butter/bacon fat, I use less of it because it has more flavor. Like, 1/3 of a tbsp of butter is plenty for me to put on a baked potato, whereas the other stuff I need more to get the flavor.

However, in your example of a butter and cheese sandwich (which is what a grilled cheese is), I'd be more inclined to use 1oz of cheese and use the spread, because cheese has protein whereas the butter/spread does not.

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11/12/12 12:45 P

I don't use butter, and I really need to watch my saturated fat intake. I "save" my saturated fat intake for being able to eat meat, so I go with the spreads. That said, I don't really have much occasion for spreads. Maybe on toast. Or on crackers if I'm feeling sick. For cooking I use vegetable oil anyway.

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11/12/12 12:43 P

I'd choose the fake stuff. I'd rather use my calories on something I really like. I don't care for butter so if I "have" to use it, I'd use the lowest calorie option. But usually I would use olive oil instead. I use olive oil instead of butter almost all the time. I have neither fake butter nor real butter in my house.

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11/12/12 12:29 P

I'm with Kapelakin and most of the other posters: real all the way. The more processed and manmade a food item is, the worse I think it probably is for our bodies.

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11/12/12 12:22 P

The butter and the sandwich are seperate I guess haha. I always just put mustard on sandwhiches. I'm saying using the butter later in the day, like on some mashed squash with dinner.

So it'd be do you save the 50 cals from using the spread to use on something else, or ditch that and eat the regular butter.

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11/12/12 11:15 A

I'd eat the butter and skip the bread.

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11/12/12 11:05 A

Real butter, every time.

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11/12/12 10:56 A

I always try to choose the natural option over the fake option. In the 80's butter was evil, and everyone was eating margarine thinking it was healthier. Then we learned that trans fats are worse for us than sat fats. Oops. I'm sure there are lots of manmade things we're consuming now that we might find later are not as safe as we once assumed.

Now on the sandwich, I think I'd leave the butter off and use hummus or mustard instead, or even some olive bruschetta or something, depending on what kind of sandwich it is.

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11/12/12 10:48 A

To answer the op's question, it's that 7g vs.1g SATURATED fat that makes some folks, especially those with cardiac or cholesterol problems, shy away from butter.

For the rest of us, it's mostly a matter of taste. (I always use butter.)

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11/12/12 10:44 A

well I'd have none in a sandwich, its simply not necessary anyway.

And why wouldn't I eat the spread?

its fake, its chemicals and junk at worst... at best its butter simply spun out with water, so you are paying twice as much for half the original product with added water.

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11/12/12 10:43 A

I try to use real butter for baking.

For cooking and normal daily use, my favorite substitute is Land O Lakes Light Butter with canola oil. It's not that I have a problem with using real butter, but I do have trouble with the moderation part. And the Land O Lakes version is quite good!

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11/12/12 10:31 A

For the same calorie count...
I rather have 1/2 tablespoon real than 1 tablespoon fake.

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11/12/12 10:11 A

So, I know this topic has been beaten to death worse than the proverbial horse, but what is some insight for the real butter vs. light (no trans) buttery spreads? With this important part added: The extra calories from butter are cut out somewhere else in the day.

1T Butter: 100 cals, 11g fat (7 sat, 3 mono)

1T Contry Crock light spread: 50 cals, 5 g fat (1 sat, 2.5 poly, 1.5 mono)

So aside from the big issue why many use it, is that they can use the light version and cut half the calories when they butter their mashed potatoes. If I realize I'm using real butter and cut out fat somwhere else, would it be better?

Example if having butter and 1/2 ounce cheese slice on a sandwhich, vs. the light spread and a full ounce of cheese. Both versions are about 150 calories of mostly fat, so which would be better in your opinions?

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