Butter substitute

I like having an English muffin with my coffee with melted butter, so yummy.  But now that I'm losing weight, I still would love that butter, but the thought of eating a dry muffin or one with loads of sugary jelly just didn't appeal to me.  So I had an idea.

What I love about butter is the dairy flavor and the saltiness.  So I took a tablespoon or so of fat-free cottage cheese and mixed it with a little dab of soy sauce.  I smashed it down with a fork and spread it over my muffin.  The curds looked a little weird, but when I tasted it, it tasted suprisingly like butter.  It still had the dairy I was craving and a little saltiness, and it was yummy.  Best of all, it only added 23 calories to the muffin, instead of 120 calories for two pats of butter.  It satisfied my crave, and I didn't feel deprived eating it.

When I come up with other calorie tricks, I'll let you know about them.

Probably not the healthiest alternative to butter, but I just found the I can't believe it's not butter spray for the same reason. I love butter! I use it here and there and the best part, it is zero calories!

Original Post by januaryfire78:

Probably not the healthiest alternative to butter, but I just found the I can't believe it's not butter spray for the same reason. I love butter! I use it here and there and the best part, it is zero calories!

just so you know its not actually zero... its about 5 per spray but legally they can report within an error margin and say it is zero.   

Thanks I didn't know that. How did you find that out? I'm new at all this calorie counting stuff.

Brummel & Brown!  It's actually real butter and yogurt. It tastes slightly sweeter than butter but I actually like it better than butter now! No scary artificial fats or other scariness, just deliciousness.

Original Post by januaryfire78:

Thanks I didn't know that. How did you find that out? I'm new at all this calorie counting stuff.

I partly know it from law school (legal rules for advertising) and partly from just reading a lot about dieting.

Basically when they report calories, it is never an exact science, it may vary slightly from container to container.  They are allowed legally to have a certain error margin, and this allows products with very few calories (2-5) to actually be labeled as zero.  Its definitely still a small amount but just good to know.  Same with diet sodas, pam cooking spray, gum.. all stuff.  

I switched to Land O Lakes "Buttery Spread". Closest thing to real butter in texture and taste that I ever found.

1 Tbsp = 8g fat  only 1.5g of saturated fat.

Not the healthiest but good.

Original Post by kymodoke:

Brummel & Brown!  It's actually real butter and yogurt. It tastes slightly sweeter than butter but I actually like it better than butter now! No scary artificial fats or other scariness, just deliciousness.

I like the sound of this product.  I usually keep unflavored yogurt around for tuna salad and salad dressings.  I bet I could make something like this in about 1 minute.  I really don't like the thought of margarines containing partially hydrogenated fats, and I like to stick to "real" foods.  So thanks for this suggestion.

I switched to Smart Balance Heart Right light butter. It's only 45 calories per tablespoon.

Original Post by morganbclaw:

Original Post by januaryfire78:

Probably not the healthiest alternative to butter, but I just found the I can't believe it's not butter spray for the same reason. I love butter! I use it here and there and the best part, it is zero calories!

just so you know its not actually zero... its about 5 per spray but legally they can report within an error margin and say it is zero.   

I just did a google search and it lead me right back to Calorie Count.  It's more like one calorie per 20 sprays.  I'm not using it to saute with, only a couple of sprays on my toast.

I just found a really interesting article in I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray. I will definately be looking for Smart Squeeze.

http://www.thatsfit.com/2007/06/01/i-cant-bel ieve-its-not-butter-spray-is-full-of-fat-buye r-be/

So I did a bit of research on someproducts mentioned, including I can't believe it's not butter. It does in fact have calories thanks for that info. I understand it also has artificial ingredients. It did not list hydrogentated fats although apparently we the consumer can easily be mislead by deceiving marketing. I found Brummel and Brown at Haggens and it has partially hydrogenated soybean oil, I also found Smart Balance and it had TBHQ, when I looked up that it said it is a chemical which causes cancer in lab rats but only at high levels, which is why the FDA approves it in our food. 

Before my diet I would have never put any of these things in my body, however now counting calories I want to get the best bang for my buck without clogging my arteries or giving myself cancer. Being new at all this it sounds like I'm just better not eating any of it or just carefully portioning my real butter consumption.

Original Post by januaryfire78:

So I did a bit of research on someproducts mentioned, including I can't believe it's not butter. It does in fact have calories thanks for that info. I understand it also has artificial ingredients. It did not list hydrogentated fats although apparently we the consumer can easily be mislead by deceiving marketing. I found Brummel and Brown at Haggens and it has partially hydrogenated soybean oil, I also found Smart Balance and it had TBHQ, when I looked up that it said it is a chemical which causes cancer in lab rats but only at high levels, which is why the FDA approves it in our food. 

Before my diet I would have never put any of these things in my body, however now counting calories I want to get the best bang for my buck without clogging my arteries or giving myself cancer. Being new at all this it sounds like I'm just better not eating any of it or just carefully portioning my real butter consumption.

Ack! That's what I get for believing everything my mother tells me. I think of myself as someone who reads labels and is very conscientious about what I put in my body and yet I completely missed the partially hydrogenated oils in Brummel & Brown! Thanks for letting me know. Maybe I will try mixing my own butter and yogurt spread.

Original Post by januaryfire78:

So I did a bit of research on someproducts mentioned, including I can't believe it's not butter. It does in fact have calories thanks for that info. I understand it also has artificial ingredients. It did not list hydrogentated fats although apparently we the consumer can easily be mislead by deceiving marketing. I found Brummel and Brown at Haggens and it has partially hydrogenated soybean oil, I also found Smart Balance and it had TBHQ, when I looked up that it said it is a chemical which causes cancer in lab rats but only at high levels, which is why the FDA approves it in our food. 

Before my diet I would have never put any of these things in my body, however now counting calories I want to get the best bang for my buck without clogging my arteries or giving myself cancer. Being new at all this it sounds like I'm just better not eating any of it or just carefully portioning my real butter consumption.

TBHQ is actually a relatively safe preservative, and it works on the same chemical principle as Vitamin C (which you can sprinkle on fruit to keep it fresh longer).  And you can get cancer from high doses of selenium, but you need a tiny amount to be healthy.  I won't get into the biochemical details of why that is.

But I really do have to take issue with all those partially hydrogenated fats, which have been shown to cause nothing but problems and weight gain.  They aren't natural, and your body is clueless about how to break them down.  (Natural lipases don't work)  There's a good reason that even bacteria won't touch them and you can store them at room temperature - because it AIN'T FOOD! lol

Thanks but I think I'll stay away from TBHQ in any dose. I don't want to ingest anything that causes cancer in lab rats, regardless of the dosage.