Butter versus margarine

I have recently visited a friend who remarked that i too should replace butter with the "slimming " margarine., but I dislike margarine and would rather have my toast dry. I prefer butter even while trying to lose weight because margarine is more often than not made with various emulsified and/or hydrogenated oils, now these oils still pack a fair amount of calories but they have been chemically altered, this chemical alteration is to remove the health damaging trans fats.

Why are these oils being emulsified?
It is so that those oils can be blended and will spread easily, just as you would butter. In order to achieve this a chemical catalyst is used, that chemical is also know to be carcinogenic. Many people who suffer from high cholesterol have been advised to replace butter with margarine, but when it come to high cholesterol butter is not the only culprit and replacing it with margarine will not make a difference.

Why go through all this trouble to have fake butter?
I would suggest to eat less butter, simply scrape the excess butter of your toast and do not use it in cooking, instead add some cold pressed olive at the end of cooking if you wish to add flavor.

Some great butter replacements that are natural and healthy as well:

• Low fat cottage cheese, great with sweet or savory
• Low fat cream cheese
• Cold pressed olive oil, try it with sliced tomatoes, salt and pepper, for that bit extra rub some garlic on your toast first.
• Nut butters, raw macadamia is my favorite.

Whenever possible eat food that is unadulterated, if you like butter that is fine,just have less of it.

Here are some facts on butter:

• It is a milk product made from churning the milk fat [cream] until it separates into butter and whey.

• One tablespoon of butter (14 grams) contains 100 calories, of which 7 grams are saturated fat.
• It has a shelf life of about 2 weeks when unsalted
• It is high in cholesterol [not so good for your heart]
• Becomes a carcinogenic when overheated and burned

All in all, it is best to have butter in moderation, replace it whenever possible with a good cold pressed oil [olive, sunflower, safflower], this works fine in most cakes and pastries.

Acid/ alkaline diet

Our modern diet is mainly acid and this can lead to a lot of health problems, high acidity can cause premature aging, allergies, heart and muscles problems and obesity and fatigue.
Food is categorized as acid or alkaline depending on their residue left in the body after they have been metabolized. Our diet should reflect the PH of our blood which is between 7.35 and 7.45 in order to maintain optimum health.
The ideal balanced diet is 75% alkaline and 25% acid. The best way to look at this is if you divide your dinner plate into 12 sections just like a clock, you would have from 12 to 3 acid foods and the rest from 3 to 12 would be alkaline.
By boosting the intake of alkaline food you will not only raise your energy levels but you will also lose weight in the process.
Now the key to a good diet is balance, you will need some acid food but only a much smaller part then the alkaline component.
The best rule of thumb if is to cut out all processed foodstuff as it is mostly acid and eat a lot more green vegetables.
Some research conflicts as to whether some food items are acid or alkaline such as brown rice, almonds, soybeans and honey, however to complicate matters there is a scale that goes from very acid to very alkaline with some food being neutral.
Unless you are very keen on studying the subject I would suggest that an easier way is to cut out most unecessary acid foods and increase the alkaline food intake.

Here is a very brief list of acid food

Sugar
Dairy
Most animal products [meat]
Nuts [some are more acid then others]
Oils
Processed food
Preserves in vinegar
Coffee
Chocolate
White flour products [pasta, bread, cakes, cookies]
Soft drinks
Potatoes
Most grains
Alcohol
Tobacco [not a food , I know but it still is processed in the body and forms acid]

Alkaline food

Green vegetables, the highest on this list is broccoli.
Figs [dried also]
Dates [very alkaline]
Carrots
Cabbage
Mushrooms
Sweet potato
Celery
Eggplant
Cantalope
Blackberries
Turnips
Oranges
grapefruit
Lemons [even though lemons are acid in their normal state they become alkaline once metabolized in the body]

Eating a more alkaline diet helps the body to expell excess acid which otherwise can cause so many health problems, another way to assist this process is to get enough sleep and reduce stress where possible.The Acid-Alkaline Food Guide: A Quick Reference to Foods & Their Effect on pH Levels