On its website and in new commercials featuring a handsome, soulful-eyed, young chef kneading his artisanal bread at a farmers’ market, the margarine “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” is praised as now being made solely from “real, simple ingredients” and having “0% artificial preservatives.” “Now that’s something you can feel good about!” exclaims the margarine’s website.
But let’s stop right here.
The fact is, just because something is “real” does not necessarily make it good for you.
The “real” ingredients that “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” is touting are oils and salt.
Oil | Nutrition Facts
For a nation, America, in which two-thirds of our population is overweight or obese, the last thing we need is more of the most calorie-dense food on the planet – oil.
Salt | Nutrition Facts
For a nation in which 1 in 3 adults has hypertension, the #1 risk factor for stroke, the last thing we need is more of the largest dietary contributor to hypertension – salt.
Oil and salt are real foods, to be sure. Real fattening. And real harmful to our already stiffening arteries.
I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter Nutrition Facts
For its Original Spread, the margarine’s marketers praise it for having “70% less saturated fat than butter.” That’s true, but each 1-tablespoon serving of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” still contains 2 grams of artery-damaging saturated fat.
Saturated Fat
Now, 2 grams of saturated fat may not sound like much, “but it is,” warns Registered Dieticians at Pritikin. “In terms of saturated fat, that 1 tablespoon of margarine is the equivalent of eating two-thirds of a fast food hamburger. For our hearts, we’d never think that eating a hamburger is a good idea. We should feel the same way about foods, like margarines, that contain saturated fat – and nothing else in the way of ingredients that are truly good for us.”
Fish such as salmon, for example, has a little saturated fat, but it is also an excellent source of omega-3-fatty acids, which are very beneficial for cardiovascular health, and, as a result, largely negate any concerns about its small saturated fat content. Indeed, the Pritikin Eating Plan and many other healthy diet plans, like DASH, recommend that Americans eat more omega-3-rich fish.
Let’s get back to “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.” Keep in mind that when we’re talking about its 2 grams of saturated fat, we’re talking about what’s in just 1 tablespoon of the margarine. One tablespoon is for many of us a schmear on half a bagel.
Be creative, as we teach our guests at Pritikin. For example, instead of margarine on your baked potato, try fresh salsa. Or nonfat, plain Greek yogurt spiced up with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.
For a sandwich spread, enjoy no-salt-added mustards. Or a schmear of nonfat ricotta cheese, or your own healthy, homemade hummus, like one of the many Pritikin hummus recipes taught in cooking classes at the Pritikin health resort.
I think one of the most important things we educators do at Pritikin is teach people that there are many great possibilities beyond decades-old staples like margarine or butter. Our guests discover, often to their surprise and delight, an amazing new variety of foods and flavors that are not only delicious, they truly are foods we can feel good about.
So a Pritikin vacation isn’t about denying yourself things; it’s about discovering brand new pleasures in life, and pleasures, most importantly, that work for us, not against us.
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The fact is, just because something is “real” does not necessarily make it good for you. The “real” ingredients that “I Can't Believe It's Not Butter” is touting are oils and salt. The ingredient list of “I Can't Believe It's Not Butter” reveals unhealthy ingredients like tropical oils and salt.
"However, we need to step back and decide if there's something even better." Nut and seed butters, such as almond or sunflower, are naturally rich in heart-healthy fats and also contain fiber and protein, which are not found in butter substitutes. You can also try mashed avocado, hummus, or extra virgin olive oil.
spreads, Spray, and Baking Sticks may remind you of butter, but it's in fact not butter. Whereas dairy butter is made almost exclusively from cream, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! uses a blend of plant-based oils, water and other simple ingredients to deliver a deliciously buttery taste.
Nutritionally, grass-fed butter contains less saturated fats, more PUFAs, and more of the heart-healthy omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) fatty acids than regular butter.
In order to cut down the fat content, products like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is made with unhealthy oils such as soybean. Soybean oil is high in omega-6 fatty acids, making it a highly inflammatory oil.
As it turns out, some of the saturated fat in butter is made up of a unique saturated fat that doesn't seem to influence a person's chances of developing heart disease at all. What's more, butter isn't only made of fat. It also contains other nutrients that may offset its cholesterol-raising action.
Is Country Crock® better for me than dairy butter? Country Crock® products are all made of plant-based oils – a source of good fats. Because we use plant-based oils, all our Country Crock® products contain less saturated fat than dairy butter, as well as zero cholesterol.
A good phrase to remember is that not all substitutes are created equal. While keeping that in mind, some of the most commonly used substitutes include coconut oil, coconut butter, olive oil, safflower oil, nut butter, applesauce, yogurt, and dairy free butter.
There are a variety of Smart Balance options - ranging from Original, to Light, to Whipped, to Olive Oil, to "Heart Right". All contain less saturated fat (1.5-2.5 grams) than whipped butter does (3.5-4.5 grams), but about the same number of calories per tablespoon. This is a perfectly fine choice for spreads.
Both Parkay and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter make it. In fact it's entirely replaced butter spread in our home. Of course we still use regular butter cubes for baking. The zero calorie spray butter can be used on anything, but my favorite is popcorn.
CONSUMER goods giant Unilever has decided to rename I Can't Believe It's Not Butter because it wants customers to realise its multi-use potential. Shops are now stocking the new style tubs with the new name of I Can't Believe it's so Good for Everything.
Margarine often tops butter when it comes to heart health. Margarine is a blend of oils that are mostly unsaturated fat. Butter is made from cream or milk. The type of fat found in animal products, such as cream, is mostly saturated fat.
Answer From Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, M.D. Chicken eggs are an affordable source of protein and other nutrients. They're also naturally high in cholesterol. But the cholesterol in eggs doesn't seem to raise cholesterol levels the way some other foods, such as those high in trans fats and saturated fats, do.
Unfiltered and French press coffee may raise cholesterol levels, while instant and filter coffee are less likely to affect them. The risk of heightened serum cholesterol levels also depends on how much coffee a person drinks and how sensitive they are to caffeine.
None of the ingredients in I Can't Believe It's Not Butter are unhealthy, per se, but the palm oil industry has been found to contribute to deforestation, animal cruelty, and indigenous rights abuses (among other issues) in the countries in which it's produced.
Meyenberg Goat Milk Butter is a healthy butter option that is made from pasteurized goat milk cream and salt—that's it! Goat milk butter has a low melting point that makes it easy to spread and it is free from any preservatives or growth hormones.
Saturated fats, which are in foods like butter and red meat, are linked with inflammation. Limit those and get your fats from healthier choices, like nuts and avocados. Instead of butter, try olive oil, which may lower pain and inflammation.
Margarine is the worst of all butters and spreads, as it is highly processed and loaded with pro-inflammatory Omega-6 fats and trans fats, which is considered the worst type of fat you can eat.” Gioffre says, “Trans fats raise your 'bad' cholesterol but also lowers your 'good' cholesterol, ultimately stressing your ...
"Margarine has the better nutrient profile in terms of being lower in saturated fat than butter, and both should be considered in the context of the whole diet," she says. "But emerging evidence suggests that there's an association between poor health and ultra-processed diets above and beyond nutrients."
When it comes to healthy margarine, Smart Balance may come to mind. With no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, Smart Balance may be one of the best cholesterol-reducing margarine brands on the market. Additionally, it contains zero trans fat.
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