Received this via email... > Quite a surprise! The difference between margarine and butter? > Both have the same amount of calories. > Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams > compared to 5 grams. > Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by > 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to > a recent Harvard Medical Study. > Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients > in other foods. > Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few > only because they are added! > Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance > the flavors of other foods. > Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been > around for less than 100 years. > ===================== > And now, for Margarine... > ===================== > Very high in trans fatty acids... > Triple risk of coronary heart disease.. > Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) > Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) .... > Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold... > Lowers quality of breast milk ... > Decreases immune response... > Decreases insulin response. > And here is the most disturbing fact.... > HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! > Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC... > This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for > life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen > is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance). > YOU can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave > it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will > note a couple of things: no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies > will go near it (that should tell you something) ... it does not rot > or smell differently..because it has no nutritional value, nothing > will grow on it...even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not > a find a home to grow. > Why? Because it is nearly plastic. > Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?
DES, I've also heard butter is better for you than margarine. I'm not sure I'd compare it to eating plastic but it seems butter is better for you (although they've flipped back and forth with eggs too). I know it's thought that trans fats may cause medical problems but I haven't seen anything definitive (maybe someone here has?). Anyway, if you're trying to stay away from the trans, it'll be pretty tough. Lots of food has them (peanut butter, chips ahoy cookies, oreos, all the good stuff ). They're put into food to help extend shelf life so it doesn't go bad. You can check the package to see if it has them. Look for either partially hydrogentated... I believe that's what most packages call them.
Butter is betta' for u. BK, I try to stay away from trans as much as I can, but you know... I love Peanut Butter Twix ice cream with peanut butter Twix bars in it so much I'll probably always have some sort of trans intake... that and I also love Oreos.
DES, you should definitely use butter rather than substitutes. I realized how little of it I actually use now, especially since I grew up in a "butter house". No lie, I used to think that the "B" in PBJ stood for "butter". That's how my mom made them.
Fanatic, Darth, Oppie - LMAO... Gilles, i actually don't eat margarine - anything that's supposed to be exactly like something else only healthier is complete crap (in my opinion, of course)... Margarine, nutra sweet, diet anything - i don't put that crap in my body... However, this email came on a little strong when comparing margarine to plastic, so i just wanted to know just how bad this nasty stuff really is... i'm glad i don't eat it... i DO, however, eat oreos and that other stufff...
Jordan, the day I learned that the "butter" was mated to the "peanut", and not a stand-alone "butter" reference, well, you can imagine how that rendered my childhood meaningless!