It's like buttah

Like many people trying to lower cholesterol I try to avoid butter.  Unfortunately that raises the persistent dilemma of whether I want to ingest more chemically processed foods or natural foods with higher levels of less healthy things.


To try to make it a win/win I do what any cardiologist would recommend … moderation.

I have used Smart Balance as a substitute for butter for several years after having tried most every brand out there.  I like the taste, I like the consistency, I like the way it works when cooking with it, and the price is reasonable.

It’s not “healthy” just lower in some things that are unhealthy, while actually equal to or higher in a few things that are swing the other way, such as sodium. 

So I put this chart together to compare the two.  Note a couple of things.  The end column of Daily Values is a little different than what you will find on package labels.  They state the value in percentages and they are show for their particular product.  I’ve shown them in total daily amounts for the “average” person.  The actual values can vary a lot depending on your age, weight and numerous other conditions.  To get the full scoop on Daily Values visit the Office of Dietary Supplements.

Quantity: 1 tbs 14 grams	Smart Balance	Butter	Daily Value
Calories	80	102	2000
Total fat	9	12g	65g
Saturated fat	2.5	7g	20g
Trans fat	0g	0.5g	*
Polyunsaturated fat	3.5g	0.4g	*
Monounsaturated	3g	3g	*
Cholesterol	0mg	31mg	300mg
Sodium	90mg	2 mg	2400mg
Carbs: 0 grams	0g	0g	300g
* no specific level, avoid trans fats

Note that the widest differences are shown in red.  So what will it be, more fat or more salt?  That has to be something you and your medical advisor decide for yourself.

SMART BALANCE REINVENTS THE BUTTER TUB:

A seemingly simple packaging improvement by Smart Balance is a welcome change to us with increasingly less room in our refrigerators.  They made the tubs square.  While they look smaller, they actually contain exactly just as much product but less waste in packaging and are much more space efficient (I can fit 4 similar containers in the same space as 3 round tubs on my refrigerator’s butter shelf).
 

Another improvement is that they now have an inner seal like you find on yogurt, sour cream and certain other dairy products.  I was disappointed when Best Foods (Hellman’s on the East Coast) dropped the inner seal on their mayonnaise recently and was even more disappointed with their “who cares” attitude in response to my inquiry.  It doesn’t take much for someone to slightly lift the lid on these kinds of products and break the plastic seal and let contaminants in.  I would much rather have the confidence of an inner seal.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

"A healthy outside starts from the inside"

- Robert Urich

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