Butter Vs Margarine and the truth about fats

Who’s seen that add about how we’re all killing our children by pouring tones of butter through their arteries every year? The one where that cardiologist chastises us for negligent parenting? Isn’t it a great add? Don’t you feel ashamed and want to immediately haul all the butter into the bin and fly out to buy some Meadowlea?

Well be not afraid. Here is the truth about butter.

Butter has been made by man in certain parts of the world for eons. I’m a big advocate of the theory that our bodies adapt to a diet over millennia, which means we should eat what our ancestors ate if we want to be healthy. For caucasians and some other groups, this means a little organic butter is not such a huge issue. But it’s true that it contains saturated fats, so how can it be good?

There is no evidence that has ever suggested that naturally occurring fats cause heart disease. There’s plenty of evidence, however, that man made fats, like the hydrogenated oils which become margarines and Crisco oils, are the real culprits. And in fact the heart attack, common as it is now, was a medical rarity until 90 odd years ago, which coincides with the advent of human interference with fats. Which means that humans ate their butter for all those eons without ever having a single heart attack (and no, it wasn’t because they died younger, that average stat actually hasn’t changed much if you adjust for lower infant mortality and antibiotics).

So here’s the lowdown on fats. Getting our fats right is absolutely integral to good health. Fats should make up 15-20% of a healthy diet. There are many different types of fats, but the ones that belong in the human diet fall into 2 main groups.

Saturated fat
This comes mainly from animals, but there are some plant sources such as coconut oil and peanut oil. These fats are more stable to heat. This means that when you cook with them they don’t lose their integrity and become an oxidized or “bad” fat. So in practical terms, if you’re making asian food, use the oil they’d use traditionally, which is often peanut oil or sometimes coconut oil. If you’re making European or Indian food, butter or ghee is ideal. I would strongly recommend that you use organic butter. This is cleaner, free from chemicals, and higher in omega oils because the cows ate grass and did exercise, instead of subsisting on corn feed and standing all day in a pen, as is the lot of a factory farmed animal.

Saturated fats should make up about 5 percent of our diet. Yes, we eat way more than that in the west due to the cheapness of factory farmed meat, but animal fat is not inherently evil.

Omega oils
These are the essential fatty acid group, and you would have heard much about omega 3, how important it is for heart health and so on. Food industry think they can throw some omegas into bread and dupe us that it’s suddenly a health food. It’s important to know the natural sources of omegas, so we won’t be tricked into thinking bread is a good source. Omega oils come from plants. When we eat plants,including vegies and nuts and seeds, we eat omega oils. They are also extracted from nuts, seeds, avocados, olives and so on. Fish are high in omega 3 oil because of the plankton they eat. The important thing to know about omega oils is that they destabalise easily, i.e. they become bad fats when they’re exposed to heat and light. This means if you buy an oil in a clear glass (or worse, plastic) bottle, it has been hydrogentated (meaning superheated and treated with chemicals) in order to extend its shelf life. This is now a bad fat. Anyone who produces quality cold pressed oil will sell it to you in a dark glass bottle. If you do buy these lovely, quality oils, then you cook with them, you’ll unfortunately make a bad fat of it right there in your kitchen. I get around the issue of Mediterranean cuisine by using butter for the cooking part, then drizzling organic olive oil on the plate as I serve. Omega oils should make up about 10 - 15% of your diet.

Margerines all fall into the category of omega oils that have been hydrogenated and turned into bad fats. Then they’re treated with emulsifiers, chemicals which give the margarine a smooth texture, dyed a pleasant yellow colour and marketed to us by slandering the opposition. Sound like what we should be giving our kids? Sound like something that deserves a heart foundation tick?

How about this for an alternative solution; if you have a doubt about both butter and margarine, skip both and use avocado as a spread. No one can argue against a good ole’ avo.

Here's an interesting study
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Publications/Food-Beverage-Nutrition/FoodNavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Saturated-fats-not-linked-to-heart-disease-Meta-analysis/?c=mvNDRfNEiPdQ7CH%2BRsBzxQ%3D%3D&utm_source=Newsletter_Subject&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BSubject