Anyone know of a healthy butter?

I was logging what I ate for breakfast this morning, and I noticed that the butter that I use on my toast gets a really bad grade and adds an extra 60 calories per tablespoon to my intake. I don't really want to give up butter on my toast because I hate it dry.

So, can anyone help me? I just need to know if there are any butters out there that are better for you than what I'm using at least. Currently I'm using Country Crock Churn Style Spread. Any suggestions or butters that you've tried that you like?

~*~Gela~*~

Two that come to mind are I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and Smart Balance. I'm currently using ICBINB, and it's only 80 calories per tablespoon. A tablespoon of butter is usually fine to butter most breads. When I started looking at food portions, I took a tablespoon measuring spoon and put a tablespoon of ICBINB in it. Then, I buttered a bagel with it, and there was more than enough butter to cover the bagel. I'm not sure what Country Crock has for calories, but perhaps a single tablespoon isn't as serious calorie wise as you might think.

Despite that it's more calories -- I've read a lot that suggests eating real butter is better for you than the fake stuff. Might be something worth looking in to. I don't know much about the smart balance stuff (I know a lot of people who are fans) but margarine is supposed to be particularly terrible for you because of the kinds of fat that it has in it. Read up on it if you're curious...

Smart Balance makes a 50/50 butter blend.  It tastes a lot more like butter but it has more healthy fats than pure butter.  Any butter or margarine is never going to be low-calorie, though ...

Response to previous post:  Margarine is usually made with hydrogenated oils, which are full of trans fats.  Most folks now agree it is worse for you than butter.  Smart Balance is not made with hydrogenated oils; they use natural emulsifiers to solidify vegetable oils, and as such it is very low in trans fats.

Good to know -- I suspected that Smart Balance may not be guilty of the "margarine sins" because the people I've known who used it were usually super picky when it came to using 'natural' foods.

obviously I'm one of those super-picky fans. 

i've heard about a spray butter... although i've never used it.

i think it was something like 5 sprays for 0 calories.... but that just means it's like 5 sprays for 4 calories, because nutrition labels count by 5's.... so don't go too overboard with it! but it's definitely going to be a lot less calories than what you're using now.

good luck :] 

 

 

Here's a tip to save a few cals .... whatever you end up spreading on your toast, wait until it has cooled down a little.   Then the butter or margarine will scrape across the top of the toast rather than melting and soaking in.... 

I'm a little anal but, real butter in moderation is fine....better than any highly refined vegetable oil imo.

Original Post by septimusette:

Despite that it's more calories -- I've read a lot that suggests eating real butter is better for you than the fake stuff. Might be something worth looking in to. I don't know much about the smart balance stuff (I know a lot of people who are fans) but margarine is supposed to be particularly terrible for you because of the kinds of fat that it has in it. Read up on it if you're curious...

Agreed. If you get a good-quality butter, it's really worth it, and it's the most natural way to go. Although Smart Balance and other similar brands make lower-calorie butters with less saturated fat, I think bypassing the processing these products go through (they are modified vegetable oils) and instead using real butter is the best idea.

I use brummel and brown spread. It's made with yogurt, is soft and easy to spread..plus not horrible for you. I like how it tastes too.

Original Post by elfkittie22:

I use brummel and brown spread. It's made with yogurt, is soft and easy to spread..plus not horrible for you. I like how it tastes too.

 I just happened to go to my Mom's house for dinner tonight, and she had me try that stuff. It is DELICIOUS and only 45 calories a tbsp. The stuff I am currently using is 60 calories a tbsp, which actually is not as bad as most butters, contrary to what I believed when creating this topic.

I think I may stick with this.

Thank you everybody~ You helped a lot.

And also.....No, I am not willing to give up butter. Lol!

~*~Gela~*~

I love it when people refer to butter as "natural" and therefore better for you than vegetable oil based spreads.  In fact the processing required to produce both isn't that much different, just the source of fat is different.   Oil from corn or canola or sunflowers is just as natural as the fat derived from cow's milk.   It's the marketing that goes into butter that makes you think it's somehow more natural.   On top of that, there really isn't anything natural about eating a 100% concentration of the fat of another animal's milk.  No other animal on the planet does that.  The real debate is over the healthiness of seed oils vs. animal fats and the relative merits of both.

In Canada here, almost all margarines are now non-hydrogenated...we did away with the hydrogenated stuff years ago, although it's still available, just not widely purchased.  

Original Post by johnnypenso:

I love it when people refer to butter as "natural" and therefore better for you than vegetable oil based spreads.  In fact the processing required to produce both isn't that much different, just the source of fat is different.   Oil from corn or canola or sunflowers is just as natural as the fat derived from cow's milk.   It's the marketing that goes into butter that makes you think it's somehow more natural.   On top of that, there really isn't anything natural about eating a 100% concentration of the fat of another animal's milk.  No other animal on the planet does that.  The real debate is over the healthiness of seed oils vs. animal fats and the relative merits of both.

In Canada here, almost all margarines are now non-hydrogenated...we did away with the hydrogenated stuff years ago, although it's still available, just not widely purchased.  

Why not fill us in on how butter is made and then fill us in how canola oil is made..............refined vegetable oil is not fit for human consumption, especially the polyunsaturated ones, and canola isn't much better considering it has trans fats in it.......it looks like somebody has bought into a marketing scheme.

While I don't mind smart balance, I too have read that real butter is healthier fat (as fats go). A lot depends on taste, but I discovered that I would much rather have a very thin layer of the real thing than my 'usual serving' (i.e. pre-trying to be healthy) of smart balance. Honestly, it boils down to personal preference. Cut calories/fat by eating less of what you like, or an equal amount of a low-cal/fat substitute.

I believe they make one with olive oil if im not mistaken..

Neanderthin, I think you might have gotten the wrong message from my post.  While I referred to margarine as being just as "natural" as butter, I never said either one was a healthy alternative.  I think seed oils, generally speaking, are the devils brew and butter is not far behind, given what it actually is, which is the concentrated, processed fat from the milk of another animal, something the human body is not designed to consume, not to mention the completely unnatural way most of the animals are raised, the chemical stews they are given, their living conditions etc.   I have no butter in my house and keep a small container of non-hydrogenated, olive oil based margarine on hand for those rare occasions when it's needed and I use maybe one small container per year, if that. 

natural almond butter is really delicious, it's about 80 calories per tablespoon. normal and all-natural peanut butter is usually around 100 calories per tablespoon.

I also really like Horizon Organic Whipped Butter, it's real butter, but since it's whipped or whatever it comes in a tub and it has 50 cals/tablespoon which is HALF of what normal butter has.

If you're totally turned off by all of this, there's always sugar free preserves and jams for your toast. smucker's has some really nice ones for only 10 cals/tablespoon.

Original Post by septimusette:

I've read a lot that suggests eating real butter is better for you than the fake stuff.

This. 

If you use a teaspoon of butter instead of a tablespoon, that cuts the calories to a third. I find that jam and cream cheese require a tablespoon, but with butter/margarine, that's far too much for my tastes (and a teaspoon is better). If that's too much of a jump to make in one go, why not slowly reduce the portion size?

Original Post by johnnypenso:

Neanderthin, I think you might have gotten the wrong message from my post.  While I referred to margarine as being just as "natural" as butter, I never said either one was a healthy alternative.  I think seed oils, generally speaking, are the devils brew and butter is not far behind, given what it actually is, which is the concentrated, processed fat from the milk of another animal, something the human body is not designed to consume, not to mention the completely unnatural way most of the animals are raised, the chemical stews they are given, their living conditions etc.   I have no butter in my house and keep a small container of non-hydrogenated, olive oil based margarine on hand for those rare occasions when it's needed and I use maybe one small container per year, if that. 

I understand. So you don't consume any dairy I would presume like yogurt, cheese, kefir that kind of thing............

Personally I don't see any debate over natural fat whether it comes from animal or vegetable, they all have health benefits, given the source of course..........it's the processed ones that I feel are extremely detrimental to our health on the whole. As well, unless that olive oil spread is made from cold pressed olives I would also throw that product into the highly processed batch.......and more often that not olive oil margarines are made from more than 1 oil source, generally soy, or canola......

I think consuming milk is more natural that boiling soy beans and then using toxic chemicals to extract the oil, then bleaching and deodorizing the otherwise rancid oil with more toxic chemicals and metals a pretty nasty product, not to mention making the sludge that's left over into tofu that apparently slid right by the USDA on GRATIS status and then is marketed as a health food.

Anyway, saying that I do have a bottle of hellmans olive oil mayo in my fridge....Take care.