Jenny,
You lose so much credibility when your writing is so biased. (To Chris, yeah its the New York Times. Jenny is some random blogger. Hey who knows, Jenny might write for the NYT? Highly doubtful but maybe. And maybe she had her piece fact checked 20 plus times like the articles in the NYT. Again, highly doubtful but maybe)
So Jenny, these are some things I think you wrongfully tried to portray:
-you can’t stand the idea of a food product being processed and no one should ever touch food that is processed,
-if a person was to not eat like our ancestors than it is wrong and there are no acceptions to this.
-Everything about butter is beneficial. There is nothing in butter that is not beneficial, and if I ate butter, I would be a super healthy person.
-Everything about margarine is harmful. There is nothing in margarine that is beneficial, and if I ate margarine, I would be a super unhealthy person.
-There are vitamins in butter that are vital to life. Without butter, we’d all die.
-Oh, and margarine causes cancer.

also you say you’ve read something. first off congrats, 2nd where again did you read this? (I don’t actually care where but I just want you to see that through your reading you found the “ideal ratio”……..according to who? this is what I think scott meant by you not having any reliable sources cited.

“I’ve read that the ideal ratio is 3:1 Omega-6 to Omega-3, but some research indicates that the ideal ratio might actually be closer to 1:1. Regardless of whether or not the ratio is 3:1 or 1:1, we’re not even close as most people eat far higher ratio of Omega-6 fatty acids to Omega-3s. Excessive consumption of these oils is actually linked to cancer, heart disease, damage to bodily organs, impaired growth and obesity.”

(btw coleen)
really!? haha
i don’t disagree with you or agree, I just think you’re funny, in like a reality tv kind of way.

As a note to everyone else: calling butter OR margerine “better” is like calling cake better than ice cream… solid fats are bad for you if you have more than a few teaspoons 2 – 3 times a week. This goes for ALL solidified fats, so don’t kid yourselves. It is horribly unhealthy to eat them everyday. Stick to olive oil, sunflower oil, etc (the non-hyrorogenated kind. aka: natural liquid oils aka: the “best” fats)

Butter or Margerine Alternatives:

try putting some ricotta cheese on your toast in the morning instead of oils. Ricotta is high in protein and VERY low in fat (they sell nonfat also) plus it also goes great with jam if you are a jam eater, and spices if you like more flavor. I love mixing ricotta cheese with lemon and oregano. Makes a great spread. You can also put ricotta on waffles, english muffins, etc.

try grilling, baking or steaming your food instead of sauteing or frying. I stopped buying large containers of oil so I didn’t have enough to fry with, and this has forced me to switch to using only minimal amounts. It was easier than I thought it would be to cook differently. And I am from the South – grew up cooking southern food.

Stay away from high fat baked goods in general. Protein + vegetables + rice or polenta is much better for you than breads, muffins, cookies and crackers.

all this hostility on a friendly debate

Do you have any references to scientific research to proof this?

You’re kidding, right??

Those of us who eat low-fat have made everyone else around them fat and sick??

Where do you get your ideas?

Scott is correct-and not all margarines are created equal. How anyone could recommend eating butter as part
of their diet is headed for the CCU-Coronary Care Unit. Good Luck with your butter.

When science left the belief in a Creator God the scientists were free to believe they could make things…better. They have not.

Five thousand years ago grass fed beef was good for our bodies, as was butter from grass fed cows. As was “organic” fruits and veges. Today…nothing has changed. It is still exactly right for our bodies. We are not evolving, we are not changing…except in a downward spiral because of man’s sin and selfishness. (That is exactly what these big corporations are dabbling in when they subject God’s creation (farm animals) to the torture and pain of factory farming. AND…might I add, that is exactly what the ‘real’ scientists (evolutionist) are dabbling in when they claim to be better than God by claiming margarine is better than butter.

Proverbs 12:10 The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.

Acts 10:15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (this was God telling Peter to not call any animal unclean…..it was good to eat.)

In regards to Acts 10….we now call God’s provision (butter, grassfed beef) UNCLEAN and man’s provision (margarine, grainfed cows) CLEAN. How arrogant….and damaging to our bodies.

For me the best evidence is that margarine and other products that rely on industrially-produced simply have never been eaten prior to about 100 years ago, but butter’s been eaten for several thousand years.  One nursed and nourished human evolution, the other didn’t.  I source most of my information from pubmed.gov.  This is a particularly old post, and I note the sources on my newer posts.  You might find the outcome of this recent study  (http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/6/10/2626/pdf) interesting.  In an extensive study, researchers found that while eating fruits and vegetables reduced risk of coronary disease, it only did so for men with a high intake of dairy fat.  Check it out.

- Jenny

We need to look at information in order to form opinions, not to find evidence that backs up the opinions we’ve already formed in ignorance. There is information everywhere nowadays. You can always find evidence that supports what you want to support. We’ve got to stop doing this. It’s unfair to the people who want information. Can’t we admit that there are pros and cons to both sides? Do we have to over simplify everything in order to satisfy how convenient it is when there are good guys and bad guys?

As far as butter vs. margarine goes I think there is validity to the idea that our bodies have evolved (oh God, there’s another debate) based on working with natural foods. Clearly we as a species have often made huge mistakes when in our hubris we have thought we can improve upon and overcome the natural way of things. Just look at the Army Corps of Engineers flood management projects. However, if one extends that logic then you have to say that anything synthetic is not as healthy as something natural. I, for one, am not looking to live in a world without any “unnatural” medicines. I also don’t think the medical community, which generally recommends margarine, is in the pocket of the margarine industry. It’s good to question the often entrenched opinions of experts, but we also have to be willing to learn from them. I’m still looking for information, and I know that I will automatically have greater faith in someone who admits there valid points to both sides of the argument.