Why was butter, being so unhealthy (in comparison with other oils, namely olive), used so extensively throughout British (and possibly other countries) history as a basic food staple, if it is so unhealthy? (For instance, a line out of a English novel I'm reading says "The wee child had taken ill but to my surprise the next morning devoured a loaf of bread and almost all the butter in the house.") (As if it's a typical breakfast..). Any thoughts?
2007-01-22 15:51:45 · 7 answers · asked by Angelwings 2 in Food & Drink ➔ Other - Food & Drink
I think Butter gets a bad rap. Yes it is an animal fat and yes, it can contribute to raising your "bad" cholesterol ( HDL), BUT even if you use a large amount of butter for cooking purposes (it always makes food taste better) you end up getting very little in each portion. If you exercise properly I believe you can eat just about anything you want. In the past people worked harder than we do today. I also believe that as long as your "good" cholesterol" (LDL) is over 50, your HDL doesn't make that much difference anyways. And your LDL has more to do with heredity than any other factors. I have read that you can only lower your HDL by no more than 3% by changing your diet, if that's true, then I'll keep taking my statin and enjoy a little butter now and then.
2007-01-27 00:18:05 · answer #1 · answered by Les c 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You have to consider three things:
1) up until several decades ago people didn't really worry about what was healthy or good for your arteries or whatever, they just wanted to survive
2) Butter tastes good to many people and has a lot of energy, so it was a good thing for surviving (when food was scarce, etc)
3) In Northern Europe butter was probably more widely available than vegetable oils, that are more common in warmer climates.
2007-01-30 03:04:57 · answer #2 · answered by AH 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Possibly because butter was much more available in Northern European countries than olive oil. Olive oil originated in the Mediterranean and would have needed to be imported to be available. Back in the day, those countries had access to cows from which to make butter and cheeses.
2007-01-29 07:47:03 · answer #3 · answered by sunybuni 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Julia Childs lived a very long happy life eating and cooking with butter. I think butter is delicious and the secret to many recipes.
Extra virgin olive oil is what I cook with when I'm concerned about health.
2007-01-27 16:06:57 · answer #4 · answered by kindness 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, now they say that real butter is actually BETTER for you than margarine, which is hydrogenated vegetable oil and they say that this ingredient is not bad for your arteries and therefore, all natural butter is best for you. I have been using the real thing and it tastes soooo much better and I believe that it's probably better...just like I believe real sugar is better for you rather than artificial sweetners, including "Splenda". Don't you think the real thing should be better ? Maybe white sugar is worse than the brown/raw sugar. It's good too...give it a try.
2007-01-28 13:27:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Margarine is literally plastic! I guess that somewhere in the dairy industry and the medical family, they thought they needed to get us off butter? Butter rules!
2007-01-29 04:41:11 · answer #6 · answered by Rocko Barbella 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One reason is that it adds incomparable richness and flavor to many foods and in spite of its recent bad reputation it's better for you than most margarines. The French use butter and cream in much larger per capita quantities than we in the U.S. yet their rates of heart disease are much much lower.
It was also readily available to everyone and its potentially harmful aspects were not widely known until fairly recently.
2007-01-22 16:02:36 · answer #7 · answered by the cynical chef 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋