I love butter. It is by far my favorite condiment. I have childhood memories of butter which include watching my two-year-old sister consume most of a stick of butter that was softening on the counter to be added to cookie batter. I remember being shocked, and then I laughed, and then I promptly told on her.
Another very fond memory that to this day sparks food cravings for me, is when Mom used to give us a snack of saltine crackers spread with butter. I could have eaten dozens of those if I had been allowed! I have successfully found a gluten free saltine alternative, and yes I do indulge in a "saltines with butter" binge occasionally. If the crackers are in the house, dammit they are getting buttered.
As the 1980's rolled in, butter in our house was replaced by margarine. Mom was on a health kick and replaced everything with "low fat" alternatives. If only the correct nutritional information and long term effects of certain ingredients had been available then, we would have likely remained a butter home. Eventually the butter did return to the Christopher house, and I moved out into the world to be left to create my own dietary choices.
Over the years, I have become more nutritionally aware. I eat 7-10 servings of vegetables daily. I consciously avoid refined foods (except for those GF saltines and occasional rice pasta). I eat fresh, whole foods, cook healthful meals, and I am a gluten-free-lacto-ovo-pescetarian. Currently, however I am not consuming dairy, and most of my fats come from nuts, seeds, coconut oil and occasional olive oil. And then there is butter. The only dairy product I eat. Butter from grass-fed, pastured cows is loaded with nutritional benefits, plus it just tastes amazing.
I keep a half stick of butter on the counter at all times. If there is a cracker, you know it gets a swipe. If there is a pumpkin seed, it gets dunked into a soft corner. I plop it unabashedly onto steamed broccoli. If there is popcorn, well, I don't put butter on my popcorn, but I have been known to dip a piece of popped goodness into a stick of butter. Obviously, any food has potential to be a vehicle for butter consumption.
I enlarged the following picture so you can actually read it. All interesting info.
Ancel Keys was a cutting edge scientist who studied dietary fats and their health related effects.
He put the famous"Mediterranean Diet" together.
He hypothesized that butter was not good for us. At all.
As you can see, the consumption of butter is a good thing! Thank God, because, I just don't think I can shake this addiction. Also, as a woman training for a half marathon, eating specific fats helps keep the joints lubed and the heart pumping, but eating dairy is not optimal for athletic health or performance. Hence the restriction on cheese. I have also discovered that cheese makes my stomach unhappy, which makes me a sad runner. But my love affair with sweet, salty butter does not give me the same grief, so partake, I will.
I will whip this to a close, but I hope I have encouraged you to eat butter guilt free-as I do.
Spread it. Dip in it. Melt it. Enjoy it. Lick it off your finger tips!
I suppose I should leave you with a recipe or something...
THIS THIS
PLUS
= delicious snack-happiness
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