Not that I use a whole lot of it, but occassionally for a toasted bagel or something, what’s the healthiest alternative. This is what I use right now.
LAND O LAKES® Fresh Buttery Taste™ Spread - Soft
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 tbsp (14g)
Servings Per Container: About 32 
Amount Per Serving Calories 70 Calories from Fat 70 % Daily Value* Total Fat 8 g 12% Saturated Fat 2 g 10% 
Trans Fat 0 g Cholesterol 0 mg 0% Sodium 80 mg 3% Total Carbohydrate 0 g 0% Dietary Fiber 0 g 0% Sugars 0 g Protein 0 g 0% Vitamin A 10 % Calcium 0 % Vitamin C 0 % Iron 0 % * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
INGREDIENTS: Liquid Soybean Oil, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Buttermilk*, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Cream*, Contains Less Than 2% of Salt, Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Distilled Monoglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Lactic Acid, Artificial Flavor, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta Carotene (Color). CONTAINS: MILK AND SOY
I prefer real butter because that stuff that you use has the word “hydrogenated” too many times in the ingredients list for me. Actually, I prefer that “hydrogenated” doesn’t appear in the ingredient list at all. Yes, I know it’s difficult to do, but at least I try.
I use the Simply Smart alternative. I think there’s two or three models. I use the one I assume is best for me. It’s in a green container.
I generally agree. That’s not the complete nutrition info, on the container it shows that most of the fat is monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, so not bad fats, which made me think it wasn’t too bad. I picked this up because I read a recommendation for it in some magazine or something for decent alternatives to butter or whatever.
If the nutritional label lists the trans fat amount as 0g, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any trans fat in that food. It clearly lists “hydrogenated” stuff in the ingredients list so it must have some trans fat in it. Now, here is the catch. The FDA has a requirement that if it measures fat in food and it isn’t above 0.5g, then the company can list it is as 0g of trans fat. The reason/excuse for this is that they claim that amounts below 0.5g aren’t accurate enough to be measured. I call this BS. If we have tests that are sophisticated enough to detect many different kinds of blood doping methods, why can’t we have a test accurate enough to test the amount of trans fat in a food? Ok, I just went tangential there. Ok, back to the 0.5g versus 0g argument. Now, if your serving size is 1 tablespoon is usually 14g and it measures in at 0g of trans fat. However, that could still have 0.49g of trans fat but since it’s below 0.5g, it’s rounded down to 0g. If you use 2tbspn on your morning bagel, you are getting nearly a full gram of trans fat and that isn’t 0.
throw that stuff out and get some real butter, or whipped cream cheese, or use olive oil.
that tub of preservatives isn’t going to do anything for you–it’s fake food.
I use real butter and either olive oil or canola oil for all my cooking. It’s not like I sit down and eat butter by the stick. A pound will last me several months, and **nothing **tastes like it. I am skeptical that overly-engineered foods are really any better for you than the “real thing” that they suposedly replace. As long as your overall diet is correct, why not use natural stuff. just mho
If you have to stick with “butter”, use peanut’s one. Nutella is also very good (and tasty) but doesn’t “feel” like butter. More like a candy.
i’m lucky in that i actually like dry bread quite a bit. but put a little dish of olive oil in front of me with the bread, and i have trouble stopping. esp. w/a little salt. sometimes i even keep some olive oil around the house w/thyme or rosemary in it. mmmm…
another thing that works great is squeezing a bit of lemon juice on a frozen (halved) bagel before you put it in the toaster. the sides still get crispy but the juiced parts are really moist.
-charles
From a cardiologist: Butter is OK if used sparingly but the new kinds of margarines without transfat like Smart Balance are probably better.
Yes. That’s what I use. Smart Balance rather than Simply Smart ( that’s an oxymoron, no?). It takes a little getting used to. It seems the better it is for you the more you have to get used to it. I don’t mind that.
Go with real butter. If you’re concerned about calories don’t use so much (sounds easy). If you’re concerned about high fat content and health (man, big topic lately), I think the most recent, largest study shows no health gains (ie, decreased heart disease, weigth, etc) from a low fat diet.
I’m with kittycat, stick to real food.
To make it even worse - the companies are now making their “servings” smaller so you can claim “no trans-fat” and still have .4999 per serving. They’ll make a small bag of cookies 2 servings so they can double the trans-fat in it!!!
On a side/picky note: hydrogenated oils are completely saturated hence can’t be trans-fat. Partially hydrogenated fats are trans-fat. I’d stay away from both but I think the hyrogenated oils did o.k. in the testing way back when (I’d have to check with my dad to confirm that)…unfortunately they extrapolated the data to partially hydrogenated oils (which are much cheaper) and poisoned everyone for about 20 years…
Dave
Are you referring to the same cardiologists that for 20 years claimed that margarine was much better for you than butter? Then another 5 years saying that they were equally bad? Now finally the truth is well-accepted - what do they say about that??? How many people did they hasten along to their death? I wouldn’t put much faith in them if I were you.
I vote with the real food people - butter is best (and tastes really really good).
Dave
I agree that real food is better. Butter and sugar are much, much better than margarine and high fructose corn syrup and aspartame.
… but occassionally for a toasted bagel or something, what’s the healthiest alternative.
For bagels and toast, I've started spreading on a mashed banana.
I stand corrected about the hydrogenated versus partially hydrogenated fats.
calm down or it won’t matter what you eat.
High quality olive oil and avocados trump all.