At the Fancy Food Show, I heard someone say that the better a food tastes the worse it is for you. “What’s an example?” I asked. “Butter,” he said. “It goes straight to your arteries.”
What a choice. I have three pounds of very expensive butter in my freezer, purchased from an Amish farmer who raises grass-fed cows. I eat it as often as possible. I believe butter may have fat-soluble nutrients we need to be healthy, nutrients that are found in high concentration in growing plants (such as grass) but not in ordinary animal feed. In the Swiss Alps, in the 1930s, Weston Price found small communities that produced almost all the food they ate. Because of the altitude, they couldn’t produce much. They did have grass-fed cows and prized the butter from those cows. They were in much better health, especially dental health, than their neighbors who ate mostly industrial food.
There was a time, long ago, when exactly the opposite of the overheard statement was true: The better a food tasted the better it was for you. Now it is complicated.
It seems to me the person you spoke with is not to be trusted in this matter. It seems that the complication is that the medical establishment has been pushing bogus ideas for the past 40 years or so. I use as much butter as I can. So there.
“It goes straight to your arteries.”
Boy, I hope so. I’m thrilled to have all those beneficial fatty acids and essential vitamins flowing through my arteries.
Stephan at WholeHealthSource had a great post last month describing the correlation between the rise in margarine consumption (and reduction in butter consumption) and a corresponding rise in coronary heart disease.
https://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/12/butter-margarine-and-heart-disease.html
Correlation is not causation, of course. But this isn’t the only evidence that links a reduction in natural fats and an increase in industrial fats to negative health outcomes.
Taubes demolished the butter-is-bad-for-you corollary to the low-fat-is-good-for-you misinformation cascade.
The more butter and saturated fat I eat, the thinner I get.
Isn’t the Fancy Food show awesome? I LOVE that event…of course, I eat way too much while there. Thankfully it’s only every 2 years in the Bay Area.
Looking at the pile of candy and inferior tea I brought home, I too am starting to be glad it’s only every 2 years in the Bay Area. Until recently it was every year. On the other hand the last show was incredibly helpful to me, it changed my thinking about probiotics and fermented foods, as I will describe in later posts.
Hi Seth, butter is usually considered unhealthy for our body in general. However, we must know that there are various forms of butter, and among these forms only the refined or synthetic ones are the most harmful. Natural butter than you derive from milk directly is a rich soruce of vitamin A, and less harmful to blood vessels. On the other hand, synthetic butter usually contains additional trans-fats making it harmful for blood vessels.
Just clearing the air.;-)