As soon as you start thinking of dieting, and weight loss, you start thinking of reducing the amount of fat you consume. And that’s fine; but the body needs some fat – it carries out many roles, such as helping absorb some vitamins, providing energy and insulation.  It’s more about eating the right types of fat, and the combinations of fat with other foods – for example, one theory is that fats on their own or with proteins aren’t so bad, but fat with carbs – especially ones with a high GI (glycemic index) – are a big no no (I will write an article soon: Montignac diet – my interpretation). Well – that’s one theory anyway, as per most diets, they are debateable and there are plenty of conflicting opinions. But it seemed to work for me, and still falls within most peoples understanding of eating healthily, so I’m going to give it a thumbs up.

But back to fats. I’ve generally avoided using butter for many years, having been told that saturated fats are bad for your heart and cholesterol levels, and that unsaturated fats – particuality polyunsaturated fats – were much better, even ‘good’ for you. So since childhood, to my early thirties, I have pretty much avoided butter, and chose a ‘healthy’ margarine. More recently I’ve skipped both in an effort to reduce general fat intake, and found that sandwiches & wraps with tasty (and healthy) fillings tasted more or less the same with or without either butter or margarine, so scrapped them completely.

However, I still had it in my head that margarine was much healthier than butter.

Until I read this:

http://www.foodmatters.tv/articles-1/butter-vs-margarine

It’s a very interesting article, and makes many good points. But in my mind, it jumps to conclusions rather quickly. I quote: “When these fats are incorporated into skin cells, their mutation causes skin cancer”. What?? Where’s the evidence to support that? It’s a bit overkill.

I’d like to read more about this debate, but I do agree that margarine is very unnatural and one key aspect of eating healthily is to eat as naturally as possible. As soon as you start processing food then you’re stepping away from that. So butter is a better choice in that sense compared to margarine. Nonetheless, the fact remains that it IS high in saturated fats and has been proven (in numerous studies, although these are often debatable) to lead to high heart and general health problems.

So which do you choose?

I’d say: neither.

I eat plenty of fish, nuts and olives, and can’t resist the lure of cheese (similar to butter in terms of it’s fats), so I get plenty of the required fats from those foods, along with the meats I eat and the olive oil I use in cooking, so there’s no need for either. I generally avoid bread too (another article coming up soon about how bad bread can be for you) and even if I do opt for sandwich or a (slightly) healthier wrap/pita, I just fill it with enough tasty health food (a dash of yoghurt is great if it’s too dry) for me to quite happily avoid either.