Healthy alternatives to butter?

Wanderer2010

Taking stock of my diet of late and I realise I eat way too much butter. Every sandwich is laced with the stuff and I really enjoy the taste of it but im trying to get suggestions on spreads or anything which would still make a sandwich taste nice but without all the heavy calories of butter? I read peanut butter but surely that would be even worse than butter on sandwiches.

Mars Bar

I find that mayonaisse is easier to control because it spreads better. You can get the light version too.

Lackadaisical

The main thing is buy nicer bread. If you're having a sandwich in good quality sourdough or something like that you'll probably not notice that it's not slathered in butter.

Also use tomatoes and other vegetables that have high moisture content to make your sandwiches more interesting.

If your making sandwiches for a lunch box just place the ingredients between a layer of lettuce to prevent the bread from absorbing all the moisture and going soggy.

jaykhunter

Yo! Recommend laughing cow (purple variety) each triangle is 20 calories and would just about spread over two slices.

Alternatively Hellmann's Lighter Than Light Mayonnaise is 3% fat. I'm really impressed at how good this low calorie stuff tastes!

Just to throw it out there, in dunnes and restaurants you can get 7g pats of butter which perfectly ration out real butter usage. Heat it near the pan/on the toaster to get it melty and is coats pretty far!

silverharp

jaykhunter wrote: »

Yo! Recommend laughing cow (purple variety) each triangle is 20 calories and would just about spread over two slices.

Alternatively Hellmann's Lighter Than Light Mayonnaise is 3% fat. I'm really impressed at how good this low calorie stuff tastes!

Just to throw it out there, in dunnes and restaurants you can get 7g pats of butter which perfectly ration out real butter usage. Heat it near the pan/on the toaster to get it melty and is coats pretty far!

your portion control idea is a good suggestion , mayo wouldnt pass my "healthy" altenative test :pac:

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=264365313

Water, spirit vinegar, modified corn starch, sugar, pasteurised free range EGG & EGG yolk (4%), rapeseed oil, salt, cream powder (contains MILK), citrus fibre, colours (titanium dioxide, carotenes), thickener (xanthan gum), flavourings (contain MILK), preservative (potassium sorbate), lemon juice concentrate, antioxidant (calcium disodium EDTA)

dudara

Butter is delicious, but rather than cut it out, I’d cut it back. Watch the amount you use and keep it for occasions when you’ll enjoy it.

Much as I love butter, I’ve largely cut it out at home, but if I’m in a restaurant with good sourdough and good butter, then yes, I am going to treat myself.

Alf Veedersane

I think part of it is addressing the number of sandwiches that the butter goes on. Not because bread is bad or sandwiches are bad but if you're having so many the quantity of butter you're consuming is too high, then you probably also need to look at how much of what you're having the butter on.

iguana

Butter is delicious and super healthy. It's a natural source of of many vitamins and minerals including selenium and vitamin K2, which aren't the highest in most people's diets. It's going to be way better for you than most butter substitutes. Just cut back a bit and enjoy it in moderation. You could always switch to over-ripe avocado for having with eggs and salad sandwiches and use butter when it suits better.

Tar.Aldarion

I'd look at changing what you eat, that's too many sandwiches, what are you missing out on because you are eating bread and butter and whatever filling?

OsZa

I use Connacht Gold half fat butter. Tastes very good and 100g has only 384 kcal.

brick tamland

Butter isn't unhealthy........

If your trying to cut back on calories use less (butter 1 side ect) or just ho without. I wouldn't use any of the spreads tbh. Dont taste nice and dont like the ingredients.

I quite like yellow mustard as if not using butter but can depend what you have in your sammich I suppose :-)

Wanderer2010

Thanks for the suggestions people. Yes, I know I probably eat too much bread. Its become just the obvious choice for lunches and often dinners. A few sandwiches with ham and cheese in it. I am trying to cut back though a bit at a time because its just sooo easy to lace it over the bread instead of just barely spreading it.

The only spread I ever really took to was Benecol but then like a lot of things, the health claims on such products are probably greatly exaggerated.

antix80

Op, all fats have the same amount of calories so it doesn't make sense to say the "heavy calories of butter". You just have to use less of it.
Keep it at room temp so it spreads thinner.
Or you could use some sort of calorie-free sauce, but that sounds disgusting as a substitute for butter. Soy sauce sandwiches anyone?

Worztron

Flora spreads.

Markcheese

First off I'm a butter fan.. I'd have bread with my butter...
But if you're cutting back a bit on the good stuff, a little bit of good olive oil drizzled on is a good start, someone above said about using decent bread, that makes a huge difference...
Cut a tomato and rub that onto good toast, add a tiny sprinkle of salt if you fancy, (and a small bit of olive oil if you like)
Use hummus in your sambos, it's not fat free but it's not full of rubbish like light spreads...

Kind of depends what youre trying to achieve, personally I think butter is healthy, but it is almost pure fat, and we tend to slather it on everything... So I can see the logic of using less

silverharp

Worztron wrote: »

Flora spreads.

dodgy processed seed oils , noooope

deandean

Instead of butter, I spread extra virgin olive oil on the bread using a pastry brush. Lovely, and healthy

Tar.Aldarion

silverharp wrote: »

dodgy processed seed oils , noooope

What's the reasoning for them being unhealthy?

Mooooo

If you use real butter as opposed to the other "butters", just leave a certain amount out of the fridge so it's more spreadable. It has more flavour so a smaller amount required. A lot of the deli counters would use the other spreads which aren't the same and too much deli counter sambos, even aside from the butter, prob wouldn't be great depending on what your putting in, esp for the pocket

SozBbz

Have you thought of using relish in sambos instead of butter? I like ballymaloe or aldi do a nice one also.

I also like avocado as a sandwich filler and you don't need butter/oils wtih that.

Finally, I can totally accept that sandwiches are handy for lunch, but to have them for lunch and dinner sounds a bit unimaginative. I think you've to take responsibility for making a bit more effort with your meals. Most of us do not have sandwiches for dinner.

silverharp

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

What's the reasoning for them being unhealthy?

They are very highly processed. Compare them say to olive oil which is basically a squeezed fruit, canola/rapeseed oil has to be heated to high temperatures and chemicals and solvents added to extract the oils. its not like people's health has improves with less butter and more margarine.

wakka12

SozBbz wrote: »

Have you thought of using relish in sambos instead of butter? I like ballymaloe or aldi do a nice one also.

I also like avocado as a sandwich filler and you don't need butter/oils wtih that.

Finally, I can totally accept that sandwiches are handy for lunch, but to have them for lunch and dinner sounds a bit unimaginative. I think you've to take responsibility for making a bit more effort with your meals. Most of us do not have sandwiches for dinner.

If he likes sandwiches for dinner then thats all that matters, doesnt have to change because most other people dont do it

Macy0161

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions people. Yes, I know I probably eat too much bread. Its become just the obvious choice for lunches and often dinners. A few sandwiches with ham and cheese in it. I am trying to cut back though a bit at a time because its just sooo easy to lace it over the bread instead of just barely spreading it.

I'd consider batch cooking something, if the sambo's are purely convenience.

Otherwise, just leave a knob of butter out of the fridge. Or ham and cheese on toast, and just skip the butter.

fwiw I tend to use Flora Light. Just purely for convenience, and it's not my own self control that's the issue with real butter in my household! I prefer it to the other spreadable options.

Alf Veedersane

wakka12 wrote: »

If he likes sandwiches for dinner then thats all that matters, doesnt have to change because most other people dont do it

He should change not because other people don't do it (though there's probably something in the fact others don't do it) but because of the absence of nutritional value in having bread plus filling as the major part of your food intake.

As Macy says, there are ways to have more nutritious options that are as convenient.

manbitesdog

A drizzle of olive oil, or a small amount of crushed avocado.

wakka12

Social Medium wrote: »

Continue to eat real butter, we are blessed in Ireland to have such nutritionally rich butter from grass fed cows. Avoid those spreads, they are pure garbage.

How is it nutritionally rich? One tablespoon of butter has over 100 calories, and gives just 12% of your daily vitamin A, 2% of your vitamin E, and literally nothing else other than saturated fat. Its empty calories, absolutely and you shouldn't eat it other than a bit for taste, I dont necessarily think the saturated fat is a problem but eating anything other than a bit of butter to make other things taste better is a huge waste of calories because youre not getting any nutrition out of it

While in another thread you said whole wheat was not nutritionally rich, and yet 100 calories of whole wheat pasta gives you 40% of your daily manganese, 46% of your daily selenium, 18% of your daily copper, 15% of iron, 12% of vitamin A,15% of your B3, 10% of your B1, 10% magnesium, 10% zinc and at least 5% of the RDI of 5 other vitamins and minerals

What are you even on about? Or are you just not aware of what nutritionally dense means??

igCorcaigh

Thanks for that SM.
Can you please cite your sources though?

I didn't know much about K2.

Personally I do eat a lot of oily fish, although I'm still a bit unsure about how much fats our bodies need.

wakka12

Social Medium wrote: »

Ever hear of vitamin K2, a very important vitamin if you want strong bones and not to die of a heart attack or stroke. It ensures calcium goes where it's supposed to go, to teeth and bones and appears to reduce and prevent arterial plaque.

Yes and butter is not a good source of it. Eat some natto or liver. Or even eat some cheese instead, at least you get some other nutrients. Butter is really quite a bad suggestion, even it was just for the sole purpose of getting vitamin k2

Avocado is a good alternative fatty spread because its actually nutritionally rich

igCorcaigh

I don't think I could ever bring myself to eat natto or liver...

Is milk a decent source? I drink enough of that.

igCorcaigh

Got a little jar of Happy Butter ghee recently, and it's a great base for a curry. Or fried potatoes.

I generally use EVOO for cooking though, not too high temperature.

igCorcaigh

In relevance to the OP though, I think avocado or hummous might make decent alternatives to butter for spreading.

The calorie count might be less, not too sure. As always though, portion control.

Alf Veedersane

Social Medium wrote: »

Wall of text

For everyone's sake, just link the page you copied and pasted all that from.

igCorcaigh

Social Medium wrote: »

I generally follow the advice of Mark Sisson and Chris Kesser when it comes to nutrition. They reference studies when discussing the health properties of foods. I first learned about the health benefits of grass fed butter from Tim Ferris, when he discussed the work of Weston A Price.

Yeah, I know some of the names.
And the emphasis on grass fed seems to be an American thing. We're lucky here to have livestock eating grass, at least during the summer months.

AllForIt

I gave up buttered bread a few months ago (cause low starchy carb diet) but I put butter on my veg every day for dinner. I can't think of a better way to make any farmhouse vegetable taste better more economically, more easily, more healthily, than a good knob of full fat butter. I often wonder especially when it comes to teenagers how anyone can say they don't like vegetables. Any vegetables. Except chips of course which is a vegetable with added fat. I can understand if they are presented with them plain but with added butter I find them all totally delicious. I think adding butter is a fantastic way to accustomed one's pallet to the taste of vegetables where in time you get to like the pure taste of the vegetable on on it's own with a minimum of butter on them.

igCorcaigh

Very true, although I prefer olive oil and a bit of vinegar to balance the earthiness of some veg.

emaherx

igCorcaigh wrote: »

We're lucky here to have livestock eating grass, at least during the summer months.

And Spring and Autumn and even in Winter in the form of hay/silage, so pretty much all year round.

igCorcaigh

emaherx wrote: »

And Spring and Autumn and even in Winter in the form of hay/silage, so pretty much all year round.

The Europeans here love our butter.
All the rain has its benefits!

Tar.Aldarion

AllForIt wrote: »

I gave up buttered bread a few months ago (cause low starchy carb diet) but I put butter on my veg every day for dinner. I can't think of a better way to make any farmhouse vegetable taste better more economically, more easily, more healthily, than a good knob of full fat butter. I often wonder especially when it comes to teenagers how anyone can say they don't like vegetables. Any vegetables. Except chips of course which is a vegetable with added fat. I can understand if they are presented with them plain but with added butter I find them all totally delicious. I think adding butter is a fantastic way to accustomed one's pallet to the taste of vegetables where in time you get to like the pure taste of the vegetable on on it's own with a minimum of butter on them.

There are evolutionary/physical reasons that younger people don't like vegetables. They avoid bitter foods (associated with poison) and have more taste receptors - they taste things more strongly. Also vegetables in Ireland tend to be cooked terribly, on average. Spices are a better option than adding butter to every single vegetable you eat, spices are very healthy and well, taste good. If somebody doesn't just like the plain old veg, that will help immensely. I've had a lot of people tell me they hate cauliflower, brought them to a restaurant where a roast cauliflower was the dish they had and they were amazed.

AllForIt

I don't think the reason why kids don't like veg is particularly relevant. We know/agree they don't like them. Some adults don't like veg either. One sure fire way to prevent kids from ever liking veg is never to feed them to them at all. I love lettuce but even as an adult I find it to be bitter if completely plain. Adding a small bit of mayo i.e. fat completely transforms them. I don't see how spices are better rather just another good alternative. I'd use both in fact. Worcester sauce I discovered recently is delicious on them. Roasting cauliflower is just the same thing - putting fat on veg. I agree though, add fat to the veg to make them delicious. Use oil or butter or both - what difference does it make. The amount of butter I'd put on my daily veg wouldn't be much more one would but on a single sandwich so calorie wise it's negligible and the benefits of eating all that veg is significant.

Macy0161

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

There are evolutionary/physical reasons that younger people don't like vegetables. They avoid bitter foods (associated with poison) and have more taste receptors - they taste things more strongly. Also vegetables in Ireland tend to be cooked terribly, on average.

I can't decide whether it means my children are evolutionary outliers, or me and the missus are great cooks, but we've never had an issue with ours eating veg!

They weren't really given much choice, as they were just presented as the norm from the get go. I guess we did give them homemade stuff from a young age - just blitzed up veg that we were eating. One of ours will eat raw carrot sticks or raw mangetout over a piece of fruit. Texture is more an issue with fruit, which I totally get personally!

Taste evolves. I think there is evidence that repeated tastings grows a taste for stuff, in children and adults. I used to need a sauce/ dressing and cheese with salads, but I normally just go meat and leaves at this stage!

wakka12

I dont think veg tastes 'bad' just a lot worse than most processed foods we and most children today are presented with as alternatives. Children dont care about their health,calories,the cost, or how easy it is to prepare so why would they choose vegetables when they know how much better other things taste and if taste is the only characteristic of food taken into consideration when choosing what to eat

You can grow to like nearly anything. Im sure most of us are regular drinkers of wine and coffee and beer but hated the taste at first

iguana

Macy0161 wrote: »

I can't decide whether it means my children are evolutionary outliers, or me and the missus are great cooks, but we've never had an issue with ours eating veg!

Yeah, the conversation has taken a weird turn for me too. My nearly 7 year old lives for vegetables. They are his favourite food by far. I have videos of him as a baby of 8-9 months going wild at a table full of lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. He was sick for a lot of the school term so far and his teacher sent him home a red pepper from the school garden as a treat and he was ecstatic. He came home last night looked at his trick-or-treating haul and asked if he could have a salad first. He's so excited now that Christmas is coming as the sprouts are nearly ready. Recently we stopped at a motorway service station and he looked past the Burger King and the Subway and asked if I could order him a big plate of vegetables.

He's not a total weirdo, and has a sweet tooth but he self-limits on treats to the point that I have 6 untouched Easter eggs on the kitchen counter and had to throw out some of last years Halloween stuff recently. I don't think kids have any sort of evolutionary aversion to vegetables. Yes, babies are hardwired to enjoy sweet and breastmilk is naturally very sugary. But breastmilk is actually full of highly complex flavours and has a darkness and bitterness to it too. Kind of like sprouts.

Macy0161

Ours wouldn't be quite like that, and they'd happily skip the veg (no way they'd walk past BK!), but once it's on the plate they'll eat it!

r93kaey5p2izun

I use it purely because I hate butter, and not sure if it could be considered healthy by the stringent standards of many posters here, but I find Philadelphia a good alternative for sandwiches, toast, potatoes and many other foods.

mathie

A lot of positivity for butter here so I'll shine a light on the other side

“There is good evidence that a high intake of saturated fat increases your risk of heart disease. We need to think about where the sources of saturated fat are and how we can reduce them. The largest contributions are dairy products, including butter, and meat and meat products.”

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/oct/30/butter-nonsense-the-rise-of-the-cholesterol-deniers

"Butter has a high amount of saturated fat and some trans fat. That raises LDL (bad) cholesterol and contributes to atherosclerosis. But many hard margarines have a high amount of trans fat as well as saturated fat. That’s still bad."

https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/about-cholesterol/common-misconceptions-about-cholesterol

"Moderate intake of butter resulted in increases in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol compared with the effects of olive oil intake and a habitual diet (run-in period). Furthermore, moderate butter intake was also followed by an increase in HDL cholesterol compared with the habitual diet. We conclude that hypercholesterolemic people should keep their consumption of butter to a minimum, whereas moderate butter intake may be considered part of the diet in the normocholesterolemic population. "

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/102/2/309/4564657

Didititian

mathie wrote: »

A lot of positivity for butter here so I'll shine a light on the other side

“There is good evidence that a high intake of saturated fat increases your risk of heart disease. We need to think about where the sources of saturated fat are and how we can reduce them. The largest contributions are dairy products, including butter, and meat and meat products.”



"Butter has a high amount of saturated fat and some trans fat. That raises LDL (bad) cholesterol and contributes to atherosclerosis. But many hard margarines have a high amount of trans fat as well as saturated fat. That’s still bad."



"Moderate intake of butter resulted in increases in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol compared with the effects of olive oil intake and a habitual diet (run-in period). Furthermore, moderate butter intake was also followed by an increase in HDL cholesterol compared with the habitual diet. We conclude that hypercholesterolemic people should keep their consumption of butter to a minimum, whereas moderate butter intake may be considered part of the diet in the normocholesterolemic population. "

I would strongly agree with this slant of light on butter. There is strong evidence to suggest that replacing saturated fat with mono/poly unsaturated fats in our diet can improve cardiovascular health.

So to put that into food-based context, some suitable options to replace butter on our bread (depending on the s'wich contents of course) with an unsaturated fat would be:
Hummus (often contains olive oil)
Tahini (sesame paste)
Nut butters such as peanut butter/almond butter etc
Small amount of olive oil (great if eating bread to accompany a hearty dish)
Mayonaise (often made with vegetable oil!)

However, the suggestions of choosing naturally moist s'wich fillers is a great way to reduce the need for a spread in the first place! This way you are able to reduce your kcal intake altogether!

Hope that helps,
Didi de Zwarte - Registered Dietitian

igCorcaigh

I'm so confused at this stage about which fats are healthy or not.

My way of settling on this issue is to use olive oil for most lowish heat cooking like sautéing onions etc to make a sauce. Or on salads, veg. It's my go to oil.

I avoid veg oil, the industrial process of extracting the oil is new and, well, industrial, so no. I just don't trust it. Cheap for a reason.

I rarely stir fry or use high heat, but when I do I use coconut oil or ghee.

I eat a good amount of oily fish to balance out the omega 6 in my diet which I get from nuts, seeds, tahini, peanut butter etc. Also. I love all these foods.

I do consume a fair bit of dairy in the form of milk daily and sometimes cheese. I've read that dairy fats are good for you, or at least a certain amount.

I don't worry about it though. I really think it's only a small part of a bigger picture. We'll all be dead soon.

wakka12

igCorcaigh wrote: »

I'm so confused at this stage about which fats are healthy or not.

My way of settling on this issue is to use olive oil for most lowish heat cooking like sautéing onions etc to make a sauce. Or on salads, veg. It's my go to oil.

I avoid veg oil, the industrial process of extracting the oil is new and, well, industrial, so no. I just don't trust it. Cheap for a reason.

I rarely stir fry or use high heat, but when I do I use coconut oil or ghee.

I eat a good amount of oily fish to balance out the omega 6 in my diet which I get from nuts, seeds, tahini, peanut butter etc. Also. I love all these foods.

I do consume a fair bit of dairy in the form of milk daily and sometimes cheese. I've read that dairy fats are good for you, or at least a certain amount.

I don't worry about it though. I really think it's only a small part of a bigger picture. We'll all be dead soon.

I think people way over think healthy eating. Eat plenty of veg and fruit, cooked and raw, some fish, some nuts and seeds daily, some legumes, and an otherwise rounded mixed diet with emphasis on nutrient rich with plenty of fibre and low in salt and sugar and youre well ahead of the pack. You and most of us probably dont eat enough oil/fatty spread that it has a huge impact so whether its a teaspoon of butter or olive oil on your daily sandwich probably doesnt matter too much