Butter is EVIL

So I'm new to this forum and to counting calories. I thought I was doing really good. I'm allowed 1550 calories a day. For dinner tonight I had baked chicken breast, brown rice and steamed asparagus. At the last minute I added a slice of butter to my rice for flavor and that tiny slice of butter was like 100 freaking calories!! I need flavor that won't sabotage my progress, any suggestions?

Some veggies, in my opinion, take a "buttery" flavor when cooked. Corn, potatoes, and cabbage take on a sweet flavor.

Also, experiment with spices and herbs. Garlic is a good butter substitute. Try all different kinds of herbs -- they are all very low in calories, so you can't go overboard with portions when dealing with spices.

I weigh my butter, it is a treat for me.  You can make it go farther by adding some EVOO to it.  Makes it a little easier to spread.

I won;t buy margerine, to many chemicals.

Butter is NOT evil. Gorgeous but never evil:-)

Try mixing it with olive oil. Both good fats in moderation. At least they're not full of evil additives

Cook your rice in a flavored water instead of plain.....add some salsa or some pasta sauce or chicken stock, even some fresh herbs added after the rice is cooked. There are alot of flavors out there to be discovered so play around a bit!

If you put 100 calories worth of butter on your rice, you used a full tablespoon of butter.  That's not a "tiny" slice.  Maybe you're miscalculating?  Or perhaps you might need to redefine "tiny" for yourself :)

Seriously though, there is a place for butter in a healthy diet, but learn to use it to enhance the flavor instead of relying on it to be the main flavor.

I love butter too.  My wife grew up on a dairy. I find I can use the "I can't believe it's not butter" spray.  I was surprised at how little of the spray it took to give the hint of butter I was looking for. It works great on all vegetables. I use Mrs Dash a lot.  I bet I have every blend they sell! Spices and herbs are the answer to most diet programs.

Butter is pure fat.  But, man, it's one tasty fat. I just prefer to spend my calories where I get more bang-for-the-buck.

lemon & spices maybe

No salt added cajun seasoning and parmesan cheese!  Works wonders :-)

Thank you for all the suggestions. I wasn't sure how to measure out my butter so I just figured it was about a tablespoon. Maybe that's wrong...  And what does EVOO stand for? Extra virgin olive oil?

Butter? Evil? More like delicious!

I don't know many butter substitutes other than butter itself, unfortunately. Nothing can quite substitute for the light yellow goodness that is butter.

jd, was it a stick of butter you were using, or did you dip a knife into a tub of butter?  The sticks of butter have little marks on them that premeasure the butter for you.  They're marked off in 1 tablespoon increments and you get 8 tablespoons to the stick.

If that helps you with a mental picture...

Cooking rice with chicken or vegetable broth makes it very tasty.

Butter isn't as bad as margarine; although butter is higher in calories, it does not contain those dreaded trans fats....margarine does.

Like many of the other posters said, 1 tbsp is a lot of butter for one serving and you could probably get the same flavor with a little less butter.

Oh, and EVOO is extra virgin olive oil.

Chicken or vegtable stock for part of the water when cooking it is great!!! Also there is something called butter buds that is a dry powder stuff not sure what exactly it is but my mom is also trying to lose weight and she swears by it....personally I like the I can't believe it's not butter stuff and think that even if it has some bad things in it I am not useing a ton of it just a few squirts......

• Herbamare is a vegan seasoning salt which is absolutely delicious on vegetables.
• For butter substitute I use Promise Activ. It is only 45 cals per tablespoon and is actually decent.
• The chicken stock idea is genius above, who needs oil when you can cook/stir fry with chicken stock!

For an awesome tasting butter substitute try Olivio. It's made from an olive oil base...so good. It's still 80 calories per tablespoon, but a tablespoon is a big helping. I've tried every margarine and butter substitute known to man and this stuff is awesome. (it's not butter, but it's super close)

salt and pepper is good...it doesn't take a lot of it to give plain rice a pretty good flavor.   if you like sweet things, you can add a few raisins to the rice while its cooking...it actually tastes really good with meals like chicken.  you can add chicken or vegetable broth instead of water to cook it in...i heart rice...:)

Cook your rice and vegetables in chicken broth.  It adds flavor and moisture.  I agree that butter is ok in moderation.  A teaspoon of butter is 26 calories and adds lots of flavor - a little goes a long way. 

Subsituting olive oil is good because it's a better quality fat, but calorie wise it's even higher than butter - a teaspoon is 40 calories.  However, olive oil adds wonderful flavor and can be infused with herbs or garlic to add even more. 

Final tip - You could have avoided the shock of seeing those unexpected calories in your log if you had looked it up before you ate it. 

Fake butter. Less than 20 sprays of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray has 0 calories and lots of flavor. 25 calories if you use more than 20... not sure how many sprays, I just know less than 20 and it's 0.

Or Smart Balance Butter 50/50 blend of the vegan one in the tub... Look at all your other buttery options and see which one will work best for you.

I also love the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" SPRAY. but i never understood why it jumps from 0 cals to 25 cals ??? weird. if you know why, please explain it to me!