Hey Yawl!
This Halloween I got to dress up for the second time in about 30 years. We had a party at work, and it was tough deciding what to be, since I had to still work while still in costume. I decided that I would be the Queen of Butter, Paula Deen. The party was fun, but carrying around my butter all day made me think about the way she really cooks. I’ve watched her show for many years, but when she bit into a stick of butter one day, I thought, this is just wrong!
In doing some research, I find that there are two sides to the butter controversy. Some naturalists say that butter can be good for you, while others say it’s a cork in liquid form for your arteries. Butter is not precisely a natural food, if you go back to what the cow is fed, and how the butter is processed. If the cow is being fed steroids, and eating ‘enriched’ grain, then your butter is going to have these components in it as well.
Butter is essentially animal fat which contains cholesterol and saturated fats. Dietitians say that you should limit yourself to less than 20 grams of saturated fat a day, and just one tablespoon of butter has EIGHT grams of saturated fat in it! Have you started rethinking that whole buttered popcorn thing yet?
On the pro side of butter, it does contain lots of nutrients, and very absorptive antioxidants and vitamins. It contains Vitamin A (which helps in the absorption of beta carotene), vitamin E, and selenium. If it just didn’t have that darned fat content.
Paula is right, butter does make some foods taste better and richer, but more healthy alternatives are available, and I’ve found that once you get used to eating those, you get accustomed to them, and don’t even miss ‘real’ butter.