Better with Butter! Healthy Kitchen Reform #1

Are you ready to modify your kitchen for better health? Follow simple tips for a Healthy Kitchen Reform, one step at a time! How bad does something have to be before you are willing to give it up? What if there is an alternative that is not only better for you, but more enjoyable? That makes it all the easier to make a switch!

In your crusade toward better health, make a resolution to give up margarine. Strive to only eat real food. Switch to real butter. Butter offers a healthy source of fat and should be eaten daily. Eat it on bread, hot cereals, and vegetables to help your body assimilate the minerals found in those foods.

Margarine used to be considered a health food, but recent discoveries about trans fats reveal otherwise. Trans fats should be eliminated from your diet, and replacing margarine with butter is an easy step to take.

Unsalted butter should be your first choice, because it is the highest quality you can buy. Yet, salted butter is an adequate choice. Be sure to read the ingredients on the package before you make your choice. It is important to select butter that is truly, exclusively butter, made from cream or milk.

Raw butter cannot be sold in many states, but it holds the most nutritive properties. Buy that if you can. Organic butter is desirable but considerably more expensive; buy the best you can afford. If Tillamook butter is available in your area, it is a good option because it primarily comes from grass fed cows, but it is not organic.

Nourishing Traditions, a cookbook by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, tells of an experiment that could be performed in your kitchen. Let bugs and bacteria determine which is more nutritious, butter or margarine. Set a stick (or a pad if you hate to waste the whole stick) of butter and stick of margarine out at room temperature, perhaps in a window sill. Watch to see which attracts the bugs and bacteria; the margarine only attracts dust. Eventually, the butter will mold. The margarine will not even mold. (Similar to the fast food French fries under your car seat that never mold or decay!).

Toss your margarine today! Stock up on butter. It has a lengthy shelf life when refrigerated and can be frozen for several months. Be sure to buy the best quality butter you can afford and enjoy eating real food.