Butter! Butter! Butter!

Butter! When I think of butter, I think of that golden yellow substance one puts on their corn, Paula Deen, and Kramer from Seinfeld.


Paula Deen is a butter fanatic she puts that BUTTER in everything, and doubles the amount. She is all about BUTTER! BUTTER! BUTTER!


Kramer makes me laugh at the thought of butter. This is because of an episode on Seinfeld where Kramer decides it’s a great idea to use butter as lotion. It makes his skin extra soft and but when he falls asleep outside he becomes toasted, a rich deep brown because the butter makes his skin tan too quickly. He soon realizes butter probably isn't the best lotion choice.


But, what is actually in the BUTTER?
Butter is created by churning fresh cream or milk. It is most commonly made from cow milk but could be created from a large array of animals.
It is a good source of Vitamin A, but I wouldn’t exactly use this fact to count it as healthy because butter consists of 63% saturated fat and contains some cholesterol. For these reasons butter is considered by some to be a contributor to health problems, especially heart disease, because saturated fats are known to elevate your bad cholesterol levels. Margarine was recommended as a substitute, since it is higher in unsaturated fat and contains little or no cholesterol, but in recent years, it has been shown that the Trans fats contained in partially hydrogenated oils used in typical margarine's are worse than the saturated fats in the butter they were replacing.

So, to keep a healthy diet, it is good to moderate your butter intake. The “I can’t believe it’s not butter“ products can be a good substitute for butter. These products are made with vegetable oils such as soybean and canola, which allows them to create butter with No Trans Fats, 70% less saturated fat, and fewer calories. I am not marketing for the product, but currently it seems to be one of the best alternatives on the market. Their butter sprays are great. They contain 0g fat, 0g Trans fat, and 0 calories. This is because the portion size is so small. With just a few sprays you can get the satisfying butter taste on your foods without all the bad butter brings.

Which butter may not seem significant but if you are craving a a baked potato the butter spray will allow you to get enough butter to add flavor without adding any points, while if you choose to put one serving of “I can’t believe it’s not butter“ spread it would be 2 points, which doesn't seem like a lot but it is the difference between having butter and sour cream or butter and cheese.

One of my favorite semi quick healthy lunches is a baked potato, a few sprays of butter, top your baked potato with steamed broccoli, a serving of cheese and if you have some leftover, 1oz of cooked chicken breast. This lunch is about 8pts depending on the size and type of your potato. Which may seem a little high on points, but the broccoli and potato are so filling after eating it I am full for several hours, which will even out because if I eat something that isn't filling, I begin to go hunting for snacks which will usually add the few points on anyway.

And FYI when I am full off a small-medium serving size..be AMAZED, because I eat like a pig.. I swear I can never get full and if I do I am hungry an hour later. I am almost always eating. Along with his great looks, I inherited my dad's appetite, unfortuantely I eat like a BOY which makes staying with in my points everyday a MISSION!!