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.