Better Than Butter or Margarine
There are some delicious and healthier alternatives to both butter and margarine. Here are some tips:- Use olive oil, grape seed oil or canola oil in place of butter when you cook. Both of these oils have been shown to be good for your health and they stand up to high temperatures quite well. Neither of these oils contains saturated fats or trans fats.
- Instead of using butter or margarine on your white bread, try dipping some deliciously crusty whole grain bread into a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Top your baked potato with low calorie, anti-oxidant rich salsa. Don't replace butter with sour cream. Sour cream contains saturated fats too.
- Replace the butter or margarine on your cooked green vegetables with olive oil, lemon juice and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
- Make your cinnamon toast better by using walnut oil instead of butter or margarine.
- Serve your banana nut bread with a dipping oil like walnut oil with a dash or two of cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Our Low Fat Cooking guide has many recipes and resources for reducing the amount of fat and saturated fat in your diet without losing any of the flavor in your cooking.
- Look for specially formulated spreads in your grocery store such as Benecol, which has just a trace of trans fats and has plant sterols shown to lower cholesterol.
- Not all margarine contains trans fats. Look for soft margarine that is "trans fat free" such as Fleischmanns.
Sources: Nestel P, Cehun M, Pomeroy S, Abbey M, Weldon G. "Cholesterol-lowering effects of plant sterol esters and non-esterified stanols in margarine, butter and low-fat foods." Eur J Clin Nutr. 2001 Dec;55(12):1084-90.
Tonstad S, Strom EC, Bergei CS, Ose L, Christophersen B. "Serum cholesterol response to replacing butter with a new trans-free margarine in hypercholesterolemic subjects." Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2001 Oct;11(5):320-6.
Han SN, Leka LS, Lichtenstein AH, Ausman LM, Schaefer EJ, Meydani SN. Effect of hydrogenated and saturated, relative to polyunsaturated, fat on immune and inflammatory responses of adults with moderate hypercholesterolemia. J Lipid Res. 2002 Mar;43(3):445-52.
Lichtenstein AH, Erkkila AT, Lamarche B, Schwab US, Jalbert SM, Ausman LM. "Influence of hydrogenated fat and butter on CVD risk factors: remnant-like particles, glucose and insulin, blood pressure and C-reactive protein." Atherosclerosis. 2003 Nov;171(1):97-107.
Lichtenstein AH, Ausman LM, Jalbert SM, Schaefer EJ. "Effects of different forms of dietary hydrogenated fats on serum lipoprotein cholesterol levels." N Engl J Med. 1999 Jun 24;340(25):1933-40.
Bolte G, Winkler G, Holscher B, Thefeld W, Weiland SK, Heinrich J. "Margarine consumption, asthma, and allergy in young adults: results of the German National Health Survey 1998." Ann Epidemiol. 2005 Mar;15(3):207-13.
Kim JL, Elfman L, Mi Y, Johansson M, Smedje G, Norback D. "Current asthma and respiratory symptoms among pupils in relation to dietary factors and allergens in the school environment." Indoor Air. 2005 Jun;15(3):170-82.
Khosla P, Fungwe TV. "Conjugated linoleic acid: effects on plasma lipids and cardiovascular function." Curr Opin Lipidol. 2001 Feb;12(1):31-24.
