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Following on from the obesity thread, I consider myself pretty clued up on healthy and non healthy food (although my diet still needs improving).
One area I am still confused over is which is the best thing to use for spreading on bread in a sandwich?
I'd followed the trend to light margarine (flora) or light mayonnaise but now there are different studies suggesting lighter options are worse than normal ones and potentially butter is the best after all?
Anybody have any expert knowledge?
Butter is healthier, more so if grass fed butter such as kerrygold rather than grain fed butter, obviously, margarine is ultra processed shite and light mayonnaise is not far behind
Butter, purely for the taste, no idea whether it would be considered the healthier option or not.
Or bacon grease. If you don't have any bacon grease handy, fry some salt in lard then spread that on your bread.
TBH I don't use spread if I'm adding a sauce/mayo/salad cream, or pickle. You can't taste it so whats the point.
Butter for bread on its own or toast though, every day of the week!
^^^ what he said. Healthy is good, but if you don't enjoy your food...
Nothing expert but you can't really buy margarine in UK supermarkets, things like flora are classed as spreads you won't see the word margarine on the packaging - go to your fridge and look if you don't believe me! I suppose it's a bit like calling a vacuum cleaner a Hoover, except margarine isn't a brand name more a specific product.
Spreads can vary greatly in content so some might be better for you some much much worse.
Hmm I am not an expert but...
...of those options I'd consider Butter as best - it's potentially the least processed hence better. But it's not healthy due to the large amount of saturated fat and hence high calorie content.
A life without butter, is no life at all
A good rule of thumb, look on the ingredient list, the more ingredients it's got, or the more ingredients that you don't recognise then the less healthy it is.
Ok, but say if you wanted Dairy/Animal product free? what would you go for?
I've been using Vitalite dairy free, it does have some additions that would need googling
Mayonnaise, home made, is delicious, amazing, life-enhancing stuff. Put it on boiled new potatoes, or steak, or if you don't mind incurring the wrath of Suella, tofu (*).
And it's basically just olive oil (or whatever oil you choose to make it from). So it must be amazingly healthy.
Not sure about factory mayo - it's probably wildly unhealthy.
(*) I've never actually tried this last combination.
Ok, but say if you wanted Dairy/Animal product free? what would you go for?
You normally use egg white as the emulsifier for making mayonnaise, but garlic also works. You just need a *lot* more of it. But it's then just oil, garlic, mustard (also an emulsifier), a bit of vinegar, salt, pepper.
sorry @oldnpastit i meant specifically instead of butter
I do use the heinz vegan mayo and just looked up the ingredients, basically mayo without egg, also last time i bought it in store, it was cheaper..
but being as its 3/4 vegetable oil might still not be that great for you, probably no worse than any other plant based spread i guess
This is a "depends" answer. Choose your poison. Pros and cons to each of them
Real butter, you don't need much. Or a drizzle of virgin olive oil?
Or if the sammich contents are self lubricating, like bacon fat, or im using a mustard or sauce or something, then nothing.
For me it's more about not having the bread too dry, so if the sammich ingredients achieve that without butter then I don't use it.
Margarine is horrible stuff, it shouldn't be allowed to be classed as food.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/butter-vs-margarine
One area I am still confused over is which is the best thing to use for spreading on bread in a sandwich?
I think the right time to consider each of those options is when the rest of your diet is so perfect that no further improvements can be made and you're onto making the teeny edge case changes to your diet. I put mayo*on my sandwich, I've yet to be convinced that [hand wavey] teaspoon[/hand wavey] or so I consume daily is going to significantly affect my health either way.
*I'm pretty sure that's equally true of butter or marg.
Butter. But I'll also add butter when I'm adding mayo too such as in a cheese pickle ham and mayo sarnie.
I'm also someone who has butter then clotted cream then jam on a cream tea scone 😋
As for spears or 'light' versions I'd rather just used less if the real stuff if I felt I had to.
Personally, I usually have real butter, buttery spread and a cholesterol lowering spread all on the go at the same time.
Hedging my bets I suppose, but I also think it's a sensible approach.
Butter. But I'll also add butter when I'm adding mayo too such as in a cheese pickle ham and mayo sarnie.
I'm also someone who has butter then clotted cream then jam on a cream tea scone 😋
As for spreads or 'light' versions I'd rather just used less if the real stuff if I felt I had to.
Ok, but say if you wanted Dairy/Animal product free?
Then you are most likely into a world of UPF so not healthy by default.
Butter would be 'purest', Mayo can be good if you choose the right one, i.e. Hunter & Gather or make your own, margarine type products probably should not be legal to sell...
Waiting for my baguette to be made at the refectory in the college I worked at, the lady always used to holler 'do you want spread?'
'no thanks, I'm fine standing'... Is what I always used to reply in my head.
But yes, I indeed opted for 'spread' which is very non-specific. These days I have Olive spread and butter at weekends when I'm letting myself go 😊
If it's with marmite, butter's the only option.
Peanut butter though, at least the 'pure' variations, can work well with a bit of olive oil drizzled on toast.
Also home-baked bread / sourdough, etc - just some olive oil, maybe a bit of the chunkier sea salt sprinkled on. Yum
We use Naturli at home for the vegan contingent. Expensive and probably full of shit but it tastes as good as fake butter can and doesn't make the toast soggy.
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/naturli-organic-vegan-spreadable/469362-778168-778169
Edit: Not too bad actually but appreciate it's still processed.
Rapeseed Oil* (39%), Water, Coconut Oil* (22%), Shea Butter Oil* (13%), ALMOND* (2%), Salt, Emulsifier (Lecithin*), Carrot Juice*, Lemon Juice*, Natural Flavouring, *Organic
And once you’ve had Guernsey butter everything else becomes a compromise!
Flora is palm oil, which is reason enough to eat butter.
Flora is palm oil, which is reason enough to eat butter.
You might need to go and fact check yourself.
Nothing expert but you can’t really buy margarine in UK supermarkets
Correct.
You can, but what we refer to as 'margarine' generally isn't. Real margarine is nasty stuff.
the more ingredients that you don’t recognise then the less healthy it is.
Abject nonsense.
Proper margarine. You won’t like it and will use far less than if you’d bought some nice butter. The marge will therefore be less unhealthy and save money as it sits unused in the fridge.
Beef dripping clearly.
None. Seriously. Give it up and see how you get on. Have used it VERY sparingly but most bread and bun products are now consumed sans grease. Just jam on toast for breakfast. I do like peanut butter though.
Butter has the same caloric content as adipose tissue (7000 Kcal/kg).
Grass fed butter, or if you want veggie, Olive oil or houmous
Lurpack spreadable in our house. Butter, water, rapeseed oil.
Or bacon grease. If you don’t have any bacon grease handy, fry some salt in lard then spread that on your bread.
I have some particularly lovely pork dripping from last weekend's roast. Yum.
Anyway, butter, simply because it's natural and very, very tasty. I do like mayonnaise for salad sandwiches.
Ok, but say if you wanted Dairy/Animal product free?
Olive oil. Think classic Spanish Tostada..
Basically lightly toasted bread, olive oil, chopped tomato and a sprinkle of your choice of herbs.
https://andaluciainmypocket.com/how-to-make-spanish-tostada-the-typical-spanish-breakfast/
wildcard - coconut oil.
but generally nothing as TiRed. it's just lube. you don't even need it for marmite, in fact it waters down marmite.
From my recent understanding and without any citation:
butter - saturated fats aren’t as bad as we have been led to believe. Butter is full of fat soluble vitamins. Butter is good.
marg - vegetable oils are inflammatory and should not be consumed. Poly unsaturated fat, with the double, single hydrogen bonds break down easily and react within the body
low fat diets are a nonsense and we can’t absorb fat soluble vitamins without fat.
Sugar is evil
How so? Surely something made from one or two natural ingredients and minimal processing is better for you than something ultra processed and full of a dozen or more e numbers?
That's not what they said. They said "ingredients that you don’t recognise." Things don't suddenly become more unhealthy because you don't understand them.
This is the "chemicals" argument and it's woolly-headed. If we don't recognise what we're eating and we care sufficiently to be concerned then why not go look it up rather than promoting ignorance as a badge of honour. E300 is Vitamin C. I had something the other day that was full of something called "aqua," I'm almost certainly going to die.
Nutrition advice changes more often than my underpants and the bottom line is that a smear of butter/lard/margarine/buttery spread/semen/mayo/ on your toast isn't going to make a fig of difference in the grand scheme of things regardless of how many long words it has on the back of the pack. If you're eating it by the pound or are existing on a diet of crisps, cake and leaded coke whilst sitting on your arse all day on the other hand...
but generally nothing as TiRed. it’s just lube. you don’t even need it for marmite, in fact it waters down marmite.
Pervert. You're not using enough Marmite.
As for peanut butter, I like to go bread - butter - PB - more butter. And if the PB is the freshly squeezed stuff so not salted, then a sprinkling of salt on top as well. Tremendous.
Pervert. You’re not using enough Marmite
Well. I'm told I should not direct insults towards individuals, but to be perfectly frank Luke if your marmite needs to be increased because you prefer a lube to thin it's intensity I put it to you that your marmite is best consumed whilst wearing red trousers. You cockwomble. What say you to that?