Butter Or Marergerine?

Which one is better for you?

Butter is probably safer, but neither one is particularly healthy.

I suggest spray butter. Fabulous on everything you would regularly put butter on. Sure there are a few cals when it says no cals but it makes for great portion control.

I gave up both for everyday use, and switched to spritzes of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, and no-oil cooking sprays.

=^..^= MOLLY

Butter of course, it more natural than margarine

There's something that's been bugging me about this as well. Butter is natural and our body knows how to handle it in moderations. Margarine, our body has no clue what to do with it, so it stays and clogs up our colons. But there is some margarines that is said to be safe and non hydrogenated, like Becel. The only thing is, I don't know if it's true or not. The ingredient list is huge.

I usually avoid both. If I want something spread over my toast, I use olive oil. It has a margarine taste. I don't like the feel and taste of butter, even if it's safer in moderation than margarine.  If anyone knows anything about Becel and how much of what's said is true on it, it'll be great.

Just avoid anything that has "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" in the ingredient list. That's the ingredient that makes margarine worse for your arteries than butter. I don't really know about Becel, which we don't have in the U.S., I don't think, but in general I think scientists know less than they think they do about what's good and what's bad (I'm one of them, and we spend a lot of time debating the things that get turned into 30 second news segments). I think we can be pretty confident that olive oil is best, but personally, when I really "need" butter to spread, I use a butter and canola oil combo (Land o' Lakes brand in the U.S.) that's soft like margarine but tastes like butter. Also, as long as you're burning more calories than you consume, whatever fat you eat is going to be used as energy rather than deposited in your arteries. On the other hand, you're more likely to eat too many calories if you eat a lot of butter!

I'm aware that moderation is the key on things. Just been worried with all said about margarine. Becel claims to be safe for the heart and be non hydrogenated.  The problem with our society, not everything that is claimed is true. There's some oils in it that I never even heard of. I got the sodium free becel for my family. We were out of margarine, so if I was going to get them one, I wanted to have less of what's already in it. I'll list the ingredients here for the becel I got.

Canola and sunflower oils 75%, water, modified palm and palm kernel oils 6%, whey protein concentrate 0.5%, soy lecithin 0.2%, vegetable monoglycerides, potassium sorbate, vegetable colour, artificial flavour, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, Vitamin D3, alpha-tocopherol acetate

It's quite a list if I do say so myself. It got the health check from the "Heart and Stroke foundation". It says it's a source of Omega.3, and has no trans fat. Non hydrogenated. Low in saturated fat.

Hope that information helps to identify how much is true or not. 

Certain margarines are better -- they fall under the category "margarine" simply because they're not butter though "buttery spreads" is a better term.  Tub margarine -- the kind that won't hold a firm shape at room temp, is better than regular margarine.

My mom uses butter sparingly because any kind of margarine gives her heartburn.  Real butter is best in baked things -- better flavor and texture.

I love Smart Balance (Lite).  Fewer calories per tbsp, no trans fats, fairly low in saturated fat, plus the light vesion can be spread right out of the fridge!

butter, margerines are all crud and artifical.

butter has been made for thousands of years, and has been a natural addition to humanitys diet for centuries.

I say, eat what your ancestors did.

Butter! It may have more calories but it's more natural. I think margarine is yucky. Just don't overdo it and I think it's fine.

Butter is better for you than most margarines, especially those made with trans fats (hydrogenated oils).  Butter contains saturated fat which has been dubbed "bad fat" but your body needs saturated fats, in moderation of course, to be healthy.  Try to get most of your fat from mono- or poly-unsaturated oils but Butter is a good choice for saturated fat.  And a diet totally void of saturated fats is not a good one.

not to get off the subject but if we eat what our ancestors ate we'd be worse off because we don't MOVE like our ancestors moved and chances are we eat more than our ancestors ate.

granted, our ancestors probably ate alot more, etc. They also probably had massive vitamin deficencys and malnutrition as well....

however, my crux of that statement was that we should eat more naturally, something closer to what our ancestors would have.

earth balance margarine. not hydrogenated and 0 trans fats. though i try not to add fats at all. fats are better for you when you eat them as a part of a whole food.

Butter, in moderation.  Every other spread on the market is full of unhealthy crap.

Original Post by trhawley:

Butter is better for you than most margarines, especially those made with trans fats (hydrogenated oils). Butter contains saturated fat which has been dubbed "bad fat" but your body needs saturated fats, in moderation of course, to be healthy. Try to get most of your fat from mono- or poly-unsaturated oils but Butter is a good choice for saturated fat. And a diet totally void of saturated fats is not a good one.

 saturated fats are better when you get them from plant sources. more particularly when they are not added fats. almonds. avocado. olives.