Margarine or butter?.... - High Cholesterol Message Board

JJ · 10-02-2005, 01:14 PM

For years I have used Land O Lakes butter and margarine, whatever is on sale I usually buy, whether it be the margarine or the butter. I was doing some searching on the web, and they say a soft margarine like Promise is better, as butter has too much saturated fats. A friend of mine told me her dr. told her 2 years ago to switch to Promise soft spread, as it is one of the few with no Trans fats, and she said since she has been using it, her HDL has gone from 56 to 78, and sometimes she gets up in the 80's.

Although her TC is about 235, her dr. pays no mind to it as her HDL is so high. I know they have those new things on the market like Benicol etc., but was wondering what the majority of folks are using these days. I am on my last thing of LOL margarine, and think I will switch to the Promise soft spread. She also listed the ingredients in it, and it has alot more vitamins then LOL has, it even has E.

Hope everyone is having a great sunday, it is like spring here, but we know it won't last, but it sure feels good for now.....

StenoLady1 · 10-02-2005, 01:48 PM

Hi, JJ

Happy Sunday to you, as well.

I have both Promise and Smart Balance Light in the fridge. I'm finding I use the new Smart Balance more. It has no t-fat, no cholesterol. It's give five grams total fat per tblspn, but 1.5 saturated

I like it because it's made with flax, olive & canola oils to achieve the nice 4:1 ratio of omega 6's to omega 3's.

Smart Balance Light isn't great for baking, however. I still go back to the Promise for that.

As for butter, between olive & canola oils, Promise & Smart Balance, I haven't really found a need for it. Kinda miss it on bread every now and then, but roasted garlic is nice.

I'm curious to see what others are using, too. Nice topic

Lysne

Tobias · 10-02-2005, 04:21 PM

Both my husband and I had elevated cholesterol. We used to always have both butter and tub margarine in the refrigerator. Now, whenever I want to spread something (which isn't very often) I use Take Control. I don't cook with it. I sometimes cook with a product that is a combo of butter and canola oil. I believe that it is a Land o Lakes product. With those two products I can satisfy most needs. Since I don't make many cookies or brownies any more, I don't have a lot of call for either butter or margarine.

JJ · 10-02-2005, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StenoLady1

Hi, JJ

Happy Sunday to you, as well.

I have both Promise and Smart Balance Light in the fridge. I'm finding I use the new Smart Balance more. It has no t-fat, no cholesterol. It's give five grams total fat per tblspn, but 1.5 saturated

I like it because it's made with flax, olive & canola oils to achieve the nice 4:1 ratio of omega 6's to omega 3's.

Smart Balance Light isn't great for baking, however. I still go back to the Promise for that.

As for butter, between olive & canola oils, Promise & Smart Balance, I haven't really found a need for it. Kinda miss it on bread every now and then, but roasted garlic is nice.

I'm curious to see what others are using, too. Nice topic

Lysne

Hi there StenoLady....Well I know a few months ago we had a discussion on here about margine vs. butter, and most thought the butter was better, most due to trans fats not being in it. This afternoon, while waiting for my kitchen floor to dry, I figured I would do some "snooping" on the web..

Most of the sites I saw, did prefer the margarine over the butter, due to high sat. fats in butter, but the only 2 reg. margarines I could find with no trans. were Promise soft tub, and Fleishmans. Seems the stick type is a different story as far as being recommended. I have used the Land O Lakes, Promise and the Fleishmans, depending what was on sale, as we don't use margarine or butter very often anyway, as there is just hubby and I now.

I found it very interesting that my friend had said her dr. told her about the Promise, and also the increase in her HDL, although she seems to been blessed with high HDL anyway, but she feels the Promise helped her even more. We were going to switch to the reg. butter, but now I am not so convinced it is a smart move, even though I have used it before. Hubby does like to have a couple of pieces of toast in the a.m., so am thinking of getting the Promise. Haven't tried any of the new things they have out, so can't make any comparison, and hubby is a definite creature of habit, so sometimes trying to get him to try something new isn't always that easy.

Many on here I know use Take Control, Smart Balance or the Benicol etc. etc., but just wanted some ideas from folks who use just reg. butter or margarine, as to what they use. Yup, we do have some nice discussions on here every so often, and it really gives one some good ideas.

I had never heard of using cinnamon do lower LDL, Trigs. and also for keeping blood sugar levels stable, but Frankie..heart44, had posted about it. 4 months ago I tried the 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. each morning with my oatmeal, sometimes I even just put it on a spoon and eat it, and I also started drinking green tea. Don't know if it was a fluke or what, but my TC went from 239 to 198 and my LDL went from 161 to 126. To say the least I was shocked, so I'm still wondering if they sent the wrong results to my dr. and some poor soul is wondering why their cholesterol is high....

Oh well, we will see what happens next time, but it got hubby to start taking it, as he has type 2 diabetes, so hopefully it will help. Oh the things we go thru just to keep these drs. off our backs about numbers huh? We have tried statins, and they didn't agree with either of us, so we do the best we can with diet, exercise and any other lil thing that might help.

Hope U have a great rest of the day, sun is going down here, but it still is like a nice summer day, with NO humidty, but I know soon enough we will be crabbing about the snow, ice and freezing temps. Take care, and TTYL..

JJ · 10-02-2005, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobias2

Both my husband and I had elevated cholesterol. We used to always have both butter and tub margarine in the refrigerator. Now, whenever I want to spread something (which isn't very often) I use Take Control. I don't cook with it. I sometimes cook with a product that is a combo of butter and canola oil. I believe that it is a Land o Lakes product. With those two products I can satisfy most needs. Since I don't make many cookies or brownies any more, I don't have a lot of call for either butter or margarine.

I'm not one for baking, so basically I am looking for what is best if used to spread on bread. Very seldom do I have any bread and butter, but hubby likes his toast in the a.m. I looked at the box of LOL I have in the freezer, and although it says nothing about Trans fats, when I went web snooping, it showed a box of stick LOL and it did list it as having trans fats...

Could be since they are making food companies list trans fats in the upcoming future, maybe LOL stick does have trans, as the soft didn't show any trans. I know they tell U to read labels, but seriously, if we had to read EVERY single label when we went shopping, we would never get out of the store.....

I will have to look into this Take Control, as both U and StenoLady use it, as does another friend of mine. Either way, even if I stay with the LOL, I am going with the soft tub stuff, as it seems that is what is mostly recommended.

Thanx for your input also, and TTYL..

Sorry, my mistake,Steno Lady uses Smart Balance. BTW ladies, are these also soft tub stuff or sticks, and when U do use the Promise, do U use the stick or soft tub? Thanx again.....