I have many clients claim that they made my recipes even healthier and lighter in calories by using butter substitutes. First of all, YUCK! That stuff tastes terrible! Second of all, you get the same amount of fat and calories if you use the same serving size. Let's dissect "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter"... It says "fat-free" all over it. BUT, when you look at the ingredients it is Hydrogenated oil. That's fat...all fat...and REALLY HARMFUL fat. Our "helpful" FDA lets these claims fool us.
Ingredients: Vegetable Oil Blend (Liquid Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Liquid Canola Oil), Water, Natural Sweet Cream Buttermilk^, Salt, Natural Soy Lecithin, Vegetable Mono And Diglycerides, (Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Disodium EDTA) Used To Protect Quality, Citric Acid, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Vitamin A (Palmitate), Beta Carotene
TRANS-FATS AND HOW THEY ARE MADE – YUCK!
Hydrogenation is the process that turns polyunsaturates, normally liquid at room temperature, into fats that are solid at room temperature; enter “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”…I can! To produce them, food producers begin with the cheapest oils-soy, corn (I won't even get into Mansanto's GMO ROUND UP filled Corn and Soybeans!!!), corn, safflower or canola, already rancid and full of free-radicals. Then they mix it with tiny metal particles-usually nickel oxide. The oil with its metal is then put into hydrogen gas in a high-temperature machine. Next, soap-like products and starch are added into the mixture to give it a better consistency; the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is cleaned by steaming. This removes its unpleasant odor. Margarine's natural color, an unappetizing grey, is removed by bleach. Dyes and strong flavors are then be added to make it look like butter. The finished product is then squashed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as a “cholesterol-lowering” health food. Yikes! I’m sticking with yummy butter.
Partially hydrogenated margarines are worse for you than the extremely refined vegetable oils which they come from because of chemical processes that occur during the hydrogenation process. The extremely high temperatures, and the nickel that causes the hydrogen atoms to change position makes these items very harmful to our heart, cells and waist line! Before hydrogenation, pairs of hydrogen atoms occur together on the chain; this pattern is commonly found in nature. After hydrogenation, one hydrogen atom of the pair is moved to the other side so that the molecule straightens. This is called the trans formation, and rarely found in nature. These factory-made trans fats are toxins to the body, but sadly our digestive system does not identify them as such. Instead of being eliminated, trans fats are included into cells as if they were natural fats and our cells become partially hydrogenated! Once our cells become hydrogenated, our metabolism is slowed, not to mention the scary connection to cancer, digestive disorders and other diseases. In the 1940's, studies found a powerful connection between trans-fats and cancer. Until lately saturated fats were usually lumped together with trans-fats in U.S. data bases that scientists use to connect dietary trends with diseases. And this is where a lot of misinformation comes in about natural saturated fats.
Altered partially hydrogenated fats actually block use of essential fatty acids, causing many harmful effects including cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, immune system dysfunction, birth defects, decreased visual acuity, sterility, low-birth-weight babies, and hardships with lactation. In 2000, scientific evidence emerged that the trans fats produced by hydrogenation affected fetal and infant growth. Yet, look at the false advertising, hydrogenated fats promote themselves as health foods. The attractiveness of partially hydrogenated margarine over butter represents a victory of advertising fraudulence over common sense. Your best defense is to eat things as close to nature as possible; the less the ingredients, the better.
Professor Walter Willett, the principal investigator in the Harvard called hydrogenation "the biggest food processing disaster in US history". In 2004 he told an interviewer that the advice to switch from butter to vegetable oils hydrogenated into margarine had turned out to be "a disastrous mistake".
These oils are also producing Omega 6 in our body. Recent research has revealed that too much omega-6 in the diet creates an imbalance that can cause inflammation. This problem can result in increased tendency to form blood clots, high blood pressure, and irritation of the digestive tract, depressed immune function, sterility, cancer and weight gain.
BENEFITS OF SATURATED FATS
Saturated fats are not the cause of our modern diseases. On the contrary, they play a lot of vital roles in our body chemistry:
1. Saturated fatty acids make up at least 50% of the cell membranes. They are what create our cells necessary stiffness and integrity.
2. They play a vital role in the health of our bones. For calcium to be effectively incorporated into the skeletal structure, at least 50% of the dietary fats should be saturated.
3. They guard the liver from alcohol and other toxins, such as Tylenol.
4. They improve the immune system.
5. Saturated fats have antimicrobial properties, which protect us against harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract.
BENEFITS OF CHOLESTEROL
Our blood vessels become damaged in a number of ways-through irritations caused by free radicals, or because they are structurally weak-and when this happens, the body's natural healing substance steps in to repair the damage; causing us to make more cholesterol. Cholesterol is manufactured in the liver and in our cells. Like saturated fats, the cholesterol we make and consume plays many vital roles:
1. Cholesterol, along with saturated fats, give our cells required stiffness and stability. When the diet contains an excess of polyunsaturated fats (vegetable oils or omega-6), instead of saturated fats in the cell membrane, the cell walls become flabby. If this happens, cholesterol from the blood drives into the tissues to give them structural integrity. This is why serum cholesterol levels may go down temporarily when we replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats in the diet.
2. Cholesterol is vital for production and function of serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is the body's "feel-good" chemical. Low cholesterol levels have been linked to depression and aggression. Anti-depressants often don’t work for patients that are on vegetarian diets.
3. Mother's milk is VERY high in cholesterol and has an important enzyme that assists the baby in using this nutrient. Babies and children need foods high in cholesterol to guarantee proper development of the brain and nervous system (BUT we also need these as adults!!!)
4. Cholesterol acts as a precursor to important hormones that help us deal with stress and protect the body against cancer and heart disease. It is also important to our sex hormones like androgen, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. Which is why women trying to get pregnant have more success on a high saturated fat diet!
5. Cholesterol is necessary for us to use vitamin D; which is an essential fat-soluble vitamin needed for healthy bones and nervous system, insulin production, reproduction and immune system function, proper growth, mineral metabolism, and muscle tone. So why do they fortify SKIM MILK with Vitamin D??? What a waste of money!
6. Bile is vital for digestion and assimilation of fats in the diet; which is made from cholesterol that we eat.
7. Current studies are now showing that cholesterol performs as an antioxidant; which is why cholesterol levels go up with age. As an antioxidant, it protects us against free radical damage that leads to heart disease and cancer.
8. Dietary cholesterol helps maintain the health of the intestinal wall. People on low-cholesterol vegetarian diets often develop leaky gut syndrome and other intestinal disorders.
Cholesterol can become damaged by exposure to heat and oxygen. This oxidized cholesterol tends to promote damage to the arterial cells and cause buildup of plaque in the arteries. Damaged cholesterol is found in powdered milk; which is added to reduced-fat milks to give them body. That is why I NEVER suggest drinking skim milk! It is also found in powdered eggs and in meats that have been heated to high temperatures in frying and other high-temperature processes. So fast food items come into play here.
Hypothyroidism can result in high cholesterol levels. When thyroid function is poor, usually due to a diet low in usable iodine, fat-soluble vitamins and high in sugar, the blood gets filled with cholesterol as a protective mechanism, providing a large amount of minerals needed to heal tissues. Hypothyroid individuals are particularly susceptible to infections, heart disease and cancer.
To read more, check out my book: Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism.
