There’s an old Swedish saying that says “Food tastes better made with butter and love.” Well, not only does food taste better, it’s better for you. We’d all benefit from eating more of it, especially those with blood sugar issues. Yeh, I know, that statement is contrary to all we’ve heard over the years about the villain, butter. But it’s time the truth was told: All that anti-butter stuff? It was part of a pro-margarine, corn oil campaign.
Here’s the scoop on butter, gleaned from lots of research on the web. One site, www.bodyecology.com, had one of the best explanations on the benefits of butter I’ve ever found, as shared by Donna Gates, author and nutritional consultant:
The origins of butter go back thousands of years to when our ancestors first started domesticating animals. For millennia, people around the globe have prized butter for its health benefits.
So how did butter become a villain in the quest for good health? At the turn of our century, heart disease in America was rare. But by 1960, it was our number one killer. Yet during the same time period,
butter consumption had decreased - from eighteen pounds per person per year, to four.
A researcher named Ancel Keys was the first to propose that saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet were to blame for coronary heart disease (CAD). Numerous subsequent studies costing hundreds of millions of dollars, have failed to back up this claim, however.
Yet the notion that a healthy diet is one with minimal fat, particularly saturated fat, has persisted. While Americans drastically reduced their intake of natural animal fats like butter and meat, the processed food industry, particularly the low-fat food industry, proliferated. It’s all in the marketing, you know—never mind that diabetes, heart disease and cancers continued to proliferate as well.
When the baby boomers were children, concerned mothers began to replace butter with margarine. The margarine manufacturers told them it was the healthier alternative and mothers swallowed this bologne. In those days no one asked, "Where is the science to prove it? After all, humans have been eating butter for thousands of years! I want proof before I give this man-made, plasticized stuff to my children."
As a result, since the early 1970's, Americans' average saturated fat intake has dropped considerably, while rates of obesity, diabetes, and consequently, heart disease, have surged. The fact is, reducing
healthy sources of dietary fat has contributed to a serious decline in our well-being. The trend is changing, one little butter pat at a time — the truth is leaking out!
So let’s be clear: It’s a tragic myth that margarine is better than butter! Butter is a completely natural food essential to our health - especially when we eat organic, high quality raw butter. Just look at what nutritional research says are the 20 benefits to eating REAL butter (hallelujah! I love butter!):
1.
Butter is rich in the most easily absorbable form of Vitamin A necessary for thyroid and adrenal health.
2.
Contains lauric acid, important in treating fungal infections and candida.
3.
Contains lecithin, essential for cholesterol metabolism.
4.
Contains anti-oxidants that protect against free radical damage.
5.
Has anti-oxidants that protect against weakening arteries.
6.
Is a great source of Vitamins E and K.
7.
Is a very rich source of the vital mineral selenium.
8.
Saturated fats in butter have strong anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.
9.
Butter contains conjugated linoleic acid, which is a potent anti-cancer agent, muscle builder, and immunity booster
10.
Vitamin D found in butter is essential to absorption of calcium.
11.
Protects against tooth decay.
12.
Is your only source of an anti-stiffness factor, which protects against calcification of the joints.
13.
Anti-stiffness factor in butter also prevents hardening of the arteries, cataracts, and calcification of the pineal gland.
14.
Is a source of Activator X, which helps your body absorb minerals.
15.
Is a source of iodine in highly absorbable form.
16.
May promote fertility in women.9
17.
Is a source of quick energy, and is not stored in our bodies adipose tissue.
18.
Cholesterol found in butterfat is essential to children's brain and nervous system development.
19.
Contains Arachidonic Acid (AA) which plays a role in brain function and is a vital component of cell membranes.
20.
Protects against gastrointestinal infections in the very young or the elderly.
