Butter is Better

If you're thinking about making changes to your diet and don't know where to start, look to the butter dish. Americans have been taught that butter is bad and margarine is healthier. But nothing could be further from the truth. Full of hydrogenated oils, margarine is probably the most highly processed food there is. Let me rephrase that, margarine is NOT real food.

"These oils [in margarine and tub spreads] are as refined as the gasoline in your car. In the refinery they are treated with a caustic soda solution which removes the lecithin, an essential nutrient. Then the oil is steam-cleaned under a vacuum at tremendous temperature. This second step should destroy any remaining food value in the oil, but, just in case, the oil is then bleached at a ghih temperature to remove any color.

The liquid oil is then chemically treatecd by being bombarded with hydrogen under pressure in the presence of the metal nickel. This "hydrogenation" process is what makes the oil look like real butter. But now it's no longer a "polyunsaturate" which is supposed to be so good for you. The remianing step in the manufacture of plastic butter is to steam-clean it again at high temperatures to deodorize it. Then the preservative and color are added, and it is ready for your table.

The liquid part of margaine, which is the second largest component, is usually re-pasteurized, that is reheated, skim milk. So the butter stubstitute on your toast has been steam-cleaned or superheated at least four times." by William Campbell Douglass, MD The Milk Book

Sound appetizing? You won't find margarine anywhere near my plate. Butter is better!! Butter is a whole food. Butter is the nation's best source of vitamin A needed for a wide range of functions in the body from maintaining good vision, to keeping the endocrine system in top shape. Butter also contains all the other fat-soluble vitamins (E, K, and D). Butter is rich in trace minerals, especially selenium, a powerful antioxidant. Butter also supplies iodine, needed by the thyroid gland (as well as vitamin A, also needed by the thyroid gland).

It's important to buy a quality butter. Raw and cultured butter is best. If that is hard to find, then organic butter is your next best thing.

So, the next time you eat a piece of toast slather on the butter and feel good that you're eating the real deal.