Musings of the Chronologically Challenged™ Fourth Generation

 
Pass the Butter, Please
Several years ago it was my pleasure to work with a woman who authored scientific text books. We had lunch together frequently, and although she was truly rotund with extra pounds, she never missed butter with her meals. Butter was categorized as "killer food" in the 80s, and I, of course, obeyed my doctor! Vera, however, enjoyed butter in gigantic portions and poo-poo'ed my reluctance to consume it. She told me her scientific background convinced her that real butter had nutrients absent in margarine, and was an excellent source of Vitamin E. In fact, margarine was downright unhealthy! She could really yada, yada, yada on the blessings of butter. She's 88 now and still enjoying the gift from cows. When I received the following email, I thought "Vera, you are validated!!" (maybe) There was no citation, reference, or any hint of the origin of the "buttery" email, but if authentic, it would seem the pendulum has swung back. It's been my observation that a lot of medical holy writ seems to be reevaluated about every couple of decades. Consider:

DID YOU KNOW... in the matter of Butter v. Margarine:
* Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams for margarine.
* Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
* Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
* Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added.
* Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
* Butter has been around for centuries while margarine has been around for less then 100 years.

Now for Margarine...
* Very high in Trans Fatty Acids.
* Triple risk of Coronary Heart Disease.
* Increases total and LDL cholesterol (this is the bad cholesterol).
* Lowers HDL cholesterol and this is the good one.
* Increases the risk of cancer by up to five fold.
* Lowers quality of breast milk.
* Decreases immune response.
* Decreases insulin response.

And here is the most disturbing fact....
* Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE from being PLASTIC... (This fact alone was enough to have the author avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated, i.e., hydrogen is added changing the molecular structure of the food )

You can try this yourself: Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or a shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things, #1, no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies, will go near it (that should tell you something) and #2, it does not rot, or smell differently. Because it has no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it, even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic.

Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?


>^..^< PUSSYFOOTIN'
>^..^< From Woo-Woo Land, here's the world's weirdest clock.
>^..^< Remember the Merck Manual? Well, it's online now. Sort of.
>^..^< In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different. ~ Coco Chanel


posted by HCL at 9:31 PM