BUTTER really is better!
Butter- it’s been demonised, ostracised, burned at the stake……on high heat!!
We feel guilty eating butter….
For the last 30 years we have been consistently told by journalists, doctors and dieticians that butter is evil. It’s the worst food you can eat. Why? Because the fat in it is saturated. And everybody knows that saturated fat will put you straight in the grave from heart disease. In a nutshell.
We’ve been scared away from butter as if it is the plague and what have we been told to eat instead? Margarine! A manufactured and (usually) hydrogenated concoction of vegetable oils put in a tub and made spreadable, so it can go nicely on the equally highly processed piece of toast. And what is this wonderful concoction supposed to do? Reduce your intake of the evil saturated fats and lower your cholesterol! And who is it endorsed by? The heart foundations and dietary guidelines in every western country.
Here is the list of ingredients of a leading brand of margarine: vegetable oils, water, phytosterol esters (8% plant sterols), salt, milk solids, emulsifiers (soy lecithin, 471), preservative (202), food acid (lactic acid), flavours, vitamins (A, D), colour (B carotene).
Does this sound appetising to you?
Why our ancestors thrived on saturated fats
When Dr. Weston A Price visited isolated Swiss villages in the 1930s he noted their splendid health. Free from cavities, diabetes, heart disease, etc – these people consumed large quantities of……..butter! Not just any butter, but butter from cows that grazed on rapidly growing green grass. The butter they produced was deep yellow in colour and when Dr Price took it back to his lab and analysed it, he found it was exceptionally high in vital fat-soluble vitamins.
While not all traditional societies relied on butter as their fat source, they all- without exception- sought foods high in fat-soluble vitamins: fish, organ meats, fat from animals and insects. Especially, these foods were sought for fertility and children’s growth.
Saturated fats are vital for many body functions:
• They are a key component of our cell membranes (the ‘walls’ of the cell), allowing the cell to absorb essential nutrients
• They allow proper utilisation of calcium by the body
• They help the liver in detoxification
• They have antimicrobial properties and enhance the immune system’s function among many other roles.
Traditional societies didn’t need labs to tell them this, they knew it by instinct and through wise traditions.
Why we NEED saturated fats: butter has vitamins??!!
I said this to a good friend a few weeks ago. She almost fell over from surprise! Butter and vitamins usually are not two things people think of together. However, it’s true. The only caveat is that just like the Swiss people Weston Price studied, we need to get our butter from grass fed animals.
• Butter from grass fed animals is rich in carotenoids. The more orange in colour, the higher the carotenoid content.
• Butter is rich in vitamins A, D, E and K. All fat soluble vitamins necessary for the utilisation of minerals in our diet. That’s why my grandmother always put butter on my grated carrots!
• Butter contains CLA (conjugated linoleic acid)- only present in grass fed cow butter, it is an anti-carcinogen
• Butter has cholesterol!! Vital for the formation of every hormone in the human body
• Butter is satiating and prevents sugar dis-regulation- it’s so satisfying that you eat less
• Butter is (together with beef tallow, pork lard and coconut oil) the best fat for cooking at higher temperatures as it is not easily oxidised (destroyed) by heat
This is why butter is featured in the True Foods Nutrition House in the doorway- the Essentials section.
But what about cholesterol?
Cholesterol has become the demon and we’ve become obsessed with measuring it. The low fat diet paradigm only took hold in the 1970s/80s: this is when the food pyramids became grounded in carbohydrates and fat and cholesterol were seen as detrimental. In his comprehensive book “Good Calories, Bad Calories”, US science journalist Gary Taubes interviews over 600 doctors and researchers to demonstrate just how much we’ve been misled in regards to cholesterol. If this is an area of interest for you, I highly recommend this book.
For today, suffice to say that the low fat diets have only landed us in more disease: more diabetes, more obesity, more heart disease. The short answer is: It is not cholesterol that leads to heart disease but processed foods and refined carbohydrates which get easily oxidised and deposited in arteries. Fat is not the enemy, and saturated fats are essential for human development and growth.
So go ahead, don’t be scared and ‘have some veggies with your butter!’*
*quote from Sally Fallon Morell, “Nourishing Traditions”
*Quality matters: make sure your fats are from grass fed animals.
*Important Note: if you are allergic to dairy proteins avoidance is best. If you are lactose intolerant, I recommend ghee instead of butter. If you suffer from hereditary hypercholesterolemia consume saturated fats only on advice from your medical practitioner.
References:
- Gary Taubes, ‘Good Calories, Bad Calories’
- Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD, ‘Nourishing Traditions’
Tell us why you love butter?
Share
