Always Butter...NEVER EVER Margarine!

There is nothing better than a slice of homemade bread still warm out of the over with BUTTER on it.  Notice butter is in caps?  That is because margarine will never pass by these lips!

The myth of butter being harmful to your health is just that.  A myth! It is a natural product that people have been eating for centuries without damaging their health.   Now I am not saying over consumption is ok.  No matter how good something is for you, over eating anything is a bad thing.  So why would you swap something that is healthy and good for you with something that is the color of dish water grey in its natural state and has to be altered to make it look like something real.  Margarine has to be chemically altered to make it palatable and is made with low grade oils that are highly refined. 

The 2 Prickly Pears come from a farming family.  We have a long history of living off the land and eating what is natural.  Synthetic “anything” never had a place at our grandparents table.   Though sadly the 2 Prickly Pears did move away from our healthy eating and believed the hype those were saying about butter, cheese, milk… and many other things. Luckily we came to our senses and found our way back on your path of eating like we were brought up.

We have been told for many moons how great margarine is for you.   The fact is it is more damaging to your health then butter can ever be.  We have been told to cut back on animal fats and replace it with safflower oil margarine.   Studies have shown those who consume margarine are twice as more likely to have health issue which includes heart disease. 

Let’s start with butter.  Butter contains beneficial saturated fats that have been identified as key components of cell membranes, essential for the production of certain hormones and play an important role in the transport and absorption of certain vitamins and minerals. Butter also contains vitamins and the type of cholesterol that aids the brain and nervous system development.  Within butter there are natural compounds with anti-fungal, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties.  To top it off there was never any real evidence that saturated fats in butter block the coronary arteries and cause heart disease.

Margarine on the other had is not so good!  In fact it seems like it was developed to make people sick! (But that is an entirely different subject!)    When margarine was first developed in the lab, it was made with hydrogenated fats that are known to block your coronary arteries. When the manufactures were confronted with the harmful effects of the hydrogenated fats they reformulated their recipes.  This time they made it with interesterified vegetable oils.  This type of oil under goes high temperature and pressure, using enzymes or acids as catalysts, to rearrange the molecules in the fat. As a side note, hydrogenated fats are now banded in the US. Maybe they should band the interesterfied vegetable oils also!  

Margarine is high in trans fatty acids which triples the risk of heart disease.  Increases the LDL (bad cholesterol) and decreases HDL (good cholesterol).  AND if that isn't enough then it is important to remember margarine is one molecule from being plastic.    

When a fly won’t land on something you know that is bad.  No margarine...only butter!