A small amount of dietary fat is important for your health. Healthy fats like polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are found naturally in foods like avocados, nuts and seeds. Oils made from these plants, like olive oil, canola oil or flaxseed oil, contain healthy fat and are liquid at room temperature.
According to Parker, these fats can improve your cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Another source of dietary fat is saturated fat, which is found in red meat and dairy products like butter. It is also found in tropical oils like coconut oil and palm oil.
This type of fat is solid at room temperature. Saturated fat can add up quickly in your diet, especially in butter. The AHA recommends no more than about 13g of saturated fat a day, so at about 8g of saturated fat per serving, two tablespoons of butter would put you over the limit. The good news is that, per the Food and Drug Administration FDA , food manufacturers can no longer include trans fats in foods as of January 1, !
They are usually much lower in saturated fat than dairy butter, and nutrition labels make it easy to see if the product contains harmful partially hydrogenated oils or trans fat. It can be hard to cut out butter and margarine entirely, so your own health needs can help you decide what kind of spread to use.
For people who are otherwise healthy, unsalted butter can be used sparingly and it is the least processed. When comparing spreads, be sure to read the Nutrition Facts panel and check the grams of saturated fat and trans fat. Limit the amount you use to limit the calories. Katherine Zeratsky, R. There is a problem with information submitted for this request.
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Use it just like you would regular butter, Younkin adds, because it's a one-to-one swap. Full disclosure: Younkin consults for Benecol. This spread is dairy-, gluten-, partially hydrogenated oils-, and trans-fats-free.
But don't think you're buying an empty tub. Smart Balance lands a final spot as a healthy butter substitute because the brand loaded their spread with heart-healthy oils, omega-3s, and vitamins, so it tastes yummy and is good for you, too. If you're in the market for a diet butter, you've got 10 great options to choose from.
But not all diet butter brands are worth the investment. Avoid these three the next time you're at the supermarket. Don't fall for the myth here that anything labeled "light" must be healthy for you. This spread misses the mark on several of the nutritionists' guidelines, particularly when it comes to its ingredient list: it contains soybean oil, a ton of preservatives, and artificial flavors. You're better off with full fat butter, honestly.
Butter you can spray onto your favorite foods sounds like a good idea for portion control, but Palinski-Wade says that's actually the biggest problem with spray butter.
Some aspects of this spread which is made with yogurt instead of creamed butter are good. Consider the fact that it cuts the fat and calories by half compared with regular butter. However, there are a lot of ingredients in this spread, like soybean and palm oil, plus preservatives, so it's not exactly minimalist. Yes, butter.
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