Alternatives to Butter - Healthy Ways to Lavish Eating
If you're searching for a way to keep your heart healthy by lowering cholesterol, you should look into alternatives for butter or high trans fat margarine. Heart disease is a leading cause of death in America, but the risk of heart disease can be prevented by a healthy, nutritious diet that is low in fat and cholesterol. Heart disease is caused by high levels of cholesterol, which we absorb from eating a variety of foods, but most notably from butter, which is high in saturated fat.
However, it is not necessary to give up butter alternatives completely. When looking for alternatives in cooking, baking, or to use as a spread, check the nutrition facts on the back of the products at the grocery store. Because foods high in saturated fat or high in trans fat are the culprits of high cholesterol, look for products that are low in these ingredients and substitute plant sterols for regular cholesterol.
Plant sterols are the plant version of cholesterol, which is the kind of sterols that comes from meat. The body requires sterols for good health, but too much can result in clogged arteries and increased health risks. Ingesting plant sterols fulfils the human body's quota for cholesterol and keeps "bad" cholesterol from being absorbed. Over time, "bad cholesterol" already in the body will begin to decrease. Plant sterols have been shown to lower cholesterol levels in people with high cholesterol by 10% or more.
However, eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and nuts alone will not give the average person enough plant sterols to create this effect. Therefore, people with high cholesterol looking for a substitute for butter should look into products infused with high amounts of plant sterols, such as zero trans margarine with plant sterols. Those looking for more nutritional spreads that are not necessarily like butter may find products made from natural oils more attractive. These can include buttery spreads made from olives, canola, walnuts, or fish oil, such as zero trans fat shortening products like those produced by Crisco
For more information about health and cholesterol review the article adjacent to this page. For more information on products low in saturated fat and trans fat but high in taste, refinery and health, view the product information released by Smart Balance, Unilever, Crisco, Canola, and the Walnut Company.
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