So creamy and so smooth.
Melt in your mouth, melt in your belly.
Flavor bursts in any form.
Oh Butter, a chef’s best friend.
A butt’s worst enemy.
Okay, so obviously I’m not much of a poet, but you get the
point. Everybody LOVES butter, right? Well except me. Because I’m a hater. Don’t get me wrong, I love the way butter
tastes, I love the deliciousness it adds to food. The creamy goodness to any dish. The nice
crispness it adds to bread or croissants There is not denying it’s yummy…..
So why
do I hate butter, you may ask. Well it’s pointless. Butter serves no purpose in
your diet except for taste, and has an extraordinary amount of calories. Did
you know there are 100 calories per TABLESPOON of butter?! That’s 100 unnecessary
calories added to your dish. And that’s
if you are stopping at 1 TBLS, which let’s face it we usually don’t stop at one.
I really got to thinking about butter the other night as I was making Ramen
noodles (don’t judge, I know I have no room to talk on quality of food with
this, but I was in a moment of weakness). As I was making Ramen I got to
thinking about how I used to just scoop a GIANT glob of butter into my
noodles. Now that I think about it, this
amount was probably close to 3+TBLS. That means I was adding 300 unnecessary
calories to my Ramen.. YUCK… For no real reason.
Over the years I’ve tried really hard to focus
on what purpose my calories serve and to make sure I’m removing those extra unnecessary
calories. For the most part when a recipe calls for butter I half it, or
totally remove it. I’ll admit some recipes its necessary, but I bet you won’t
notice if you cut it in half. And many times if you remove it all together you
really won’t notice. Well you might, but
after a few months you won’t! Haha.
My
favorite substitute for butter is Coconut oil.
Yes it still has calories, a Tablespoon of Coconut oil has about 100
calories as well; however unlike butter they are quality calories. This is
where monitoring over counting is particularly important. We need calories, but
they key is to make sure you are consuming calories which are benefiting your
body. Coconut oil cooks fairly similar to butter and gives your food a nice
sweetness- I love using it for Grilled cheese or to fry up eggs. A little goes
a long way.
Why Coconut Oil?
- The fatty acids in Coconut oil (Medium-Chain Triglycerides- MCT’s) are digested differently than regular fatty acids, and can be a great source of quick energy and help you burn more fat (Gunnar, 2013). Butter isn’t going to get you energy or burn your fat!!!
- MCT’s are also digested in a way which is known to have therapeutic effects on brain disorders such as epilepsy or Alzheimer’s (Gunnars, 2013).
- It can fight off infections, viruses and fungi! I won’t go too in depth into this because it’s all science-y and I don’t totally understand it, but I know its fact. Basically it has been shown to kill bacteria and yeast infections!
- Coconut oil will actually help curb your appetite. Those who eat coconut oil actually consume less calories over the course of the day than those who do not (Gunnars, 2013). So you may consume 120 calories per TBLS but you’ll consume less unnecessary calories later- butter doesn’t do that.
- Did I mention it can help you lose fat?! Coconut oil is great in reducing abdominal fat. It has been prevent that coconut oil can significantly help reduce BMI in both men and women (Gunnars, 2013). Eat and lose weight? Sign me up!
Seriously, I could go on for days about coconut oil, but
that’s a different blog. This was an ode to butter not coconut oil! :P If I haven’t changed your mind yet, then I
probably never will. If you are serious about fighting flab, then doing this
one little switch from butter to Coconut oil will be a breeze, and it’s totally
worth it! I’m not asking you to eat Brussel sprouts or anything crazy. I’m
saying replace one yummy item with an equally yummy but much more beneficial
item!
Reference:
Gunnars, K. (2013, July 8). 10
Proven Health Benefits of Coconut Oil (No. 3 is Best). Retrieved December 21,
2015, from
http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/
