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ebuddy · Nov 3, 2006, 07:28 AM

Okay, so I'm lurking around the grocery store for some odds and ends. Having just had my gall bladder removed recently, I thought I'd start trying to cut out extra fat when I could. I looked at alternatives to my fav; Country Crock butter.

I see I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and I'm just kind of comparing the contents between it and regular Country Crock.

Fat
Country Crock; 7g of fat/tblspn
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter; 8g!!!

Polyunsaturated fat
Country Crock; 2.5g of fat/tblspn
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter; 3g!!!

So... what's so much better about I Can't Believe It's Not Butter? It may as well be butter as far as I'm concerned. I mean, after all it's more fattening!!!

Paco500 · Nov 3, 2006, 07:40 AM

But it's NOT BUTTER. Can't you read?

Eriamjh · Nov 3, 2006, 08:11 AM

fat grams is not the only thing you should look at. You have to look at the type of fat.

Besides, County Crock does not taste like butter. I don't know about ICBINB.

ebuddy · Nov 3, 2006, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

fat grams is not the only thing you should look at. You have to look at the type of fat.

Besides, County Crock does not taste like butter. I don't know about ICBINB.

Both have 0 transfat. I honestly could not find a difference. Country Crock is butter isn't it? I thought it was just whipped.

voodoo · Nov 3, 2006, 08:54 AM

Weight per volume? WTF does that tell you.. unless they mean the weight of a tablespoon.

How much that weighs is anyone's guess.

Regardless, butter is 80%+ saturated fats. The low-fat varieties are usually a mix of mono and poly-unsaturated fats making up a product with about 60% fat content.

The actual quantity of fat is impossible to tell from grams per tablespoon.

Bottom line is that it can't be called butter if it has less than 80% fat contents. Obviously this fat has to be from milk. A block of some random fat is not butter, regardless of its fat contents.

V

Dakar² · Nov 3, 2006, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by ebuddy

So... what's so much better about I Can't Believe It's Not Butter? It may as well be butter as far as I'm concerned. I mean, after all it's more fattening!!!

Fabio.

chabig · Nov 3, 2006, 09:09 AM

I'm confused. Are you comparing ICBINB to butter or to Country Crock?

starman · Nov 3, 2006, 09:16 AM

I can't believe this thread even exists.

residentEvil · Nov 3, 2006, 09:20 AM

yah, country crock and icbinb are not butter. country crock makes a stick though that is pretty darn close. but neither are butter. and both are gross

stick with the real thing; specially for baking.

SeSawaya · Nov 3, 2006, 10:07 AM

it's all one big crock

euchomai · Nov 3, 2006, 10:09 AM

Just to clarify...
Country Crock IS NOT BUTTER, you have been fooled. A crock if you will.

rickey939 · Nov 3, 2006, 10:17 AM

Crocodiles are cool.

jokell82 · Nov 3, 2006, 10:31 AM

Just an fyi, butter has 11.5 grams of fat per tablespoon.

starman · Nov 3, 2006, 10:37 AM

Parkaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Dakar² · Nov 3, 2006, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by starman

Parkaaaaaaaaaaaay!

osiris · Nov 3, 2006, 10:39 AM

Let's not forget the cholesterol levels of butter compared to the plastic spreads out there...

I stopped using spreadables years ago, with the exception of the holiday season where anything goes (and then use I the real thing)

But yeah, crocodiles are cool.

anonymac · Nov 3, 2006, 10:43 AM

Why not just eat a little bit of real butter? Things like country crock and i can't believe it's not butter are not healthier as they contain man-made fats that have been proven to be bad for you.

On another thought, why even eat butter or dairy products at all? People don't need to drink cow-milk or its derivatives, and they are quite unhealthy to humans who do much better on a vegetable, fruit, nut, and grain diet. Think about this: you'll have more money, be thinner, and will be much healthier without eating dairy products. Who wouldn't want that?

osiris · Nov 3, 2006, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by anonymac

..
On another thought, why even eat butter or dairy products at all? People don't need to drink cow-milk or its derivatives, and they are quite unhealthy to humans who do much better on a vegetable, fruit, nut, and grain diet. Think about this: you'll have more money, be thinner, and will be much healthier without eating dairy products. Who wouldn't want that?

The American Dairy Association?

Monique · Nov 3, 2006, 11:11 AM

Not everyone has problems with their cholesterol. Do not need to penalize everyone here. And you should use butter, it tastes better, is not that bad for your health. You do not have to spread it thick and it is not that bad for your health. Prefer that to artificial taste.

smacintush · Nov 3, 2006, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by anonymac

On another thought, why even eat butter or dairy products at all? People don't need to drink cow-milk or its derivatives, and they are quite unhealthy to humans who do much better on a vegetable, fruit, nut, and grain diet.

The jury's still out on the effects of cow's milk, but you're welcome to believe PETA if you'd like.

Think about this: you'll have more money, be thinner, and will be much healthier without eating dairy products. Who wouldn't want that?

Me for one. Dairy is helpful for people like me who are eating 3000 calories a day with 300 grams of protein in order to support heavy weight lifting. It contains the NECESSARY protein, carbs and fat to continue to gain. Even if I WANTED to avoid eating dairy, (which I don't) the majority of protein supplements are made from dairy, (because they are better) and when you are trying to ingest 300 g's of protein per day, protein supplements are a godsend.

Rumor · Nov 3, 2006, 12:25 PM

Country Crock is a vegetable oil spread, IIRC.

Millennium · Nov 3, 2006, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by residentEvil

yah, country crock and icbinb are not butter. country crock makes a stick though that is pretty darn close. but neither are butter. and both are gross

stick with the real thing; specially for baking.

Agreed in most cases, but ICBINB spray is surprisingly good on popcorn.

andi*pandi · Nov 3, 2006, 12:57 PM

country crock is not butter. it has more butter flavoring in it than most.

Weezer · Nov 3, 2006, 01:08 PM

This has a lot to do with the general publics belief that all fats are bad for you. However, this is a gross oversimplificaion and infact not true. The fact that "I can't believe" has more polyunsaturated fats is a good thing, because they are good for you! They help to lower your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and raise your HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol).

Weezer · Nov 3, 2006, 01:20 PM

Also, keep in mind that the body does not only make adipose tissue (fat) from dietary intake of fat. Your body will convert excess macronutrients to fat, including carbs and protein. For example, when you eat a lot of carbs, your body breaks it down into glucose. From there, glycolysis breaks down the glucose into a compound called pyruvate, which goes through a metabolic pathway called the citric acid cycle to yield energy. Additionally, some of that glucose gets converted to the storage form glycogen. However, once you have used enough carbs for energy, the body starts to divert towards fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis, which results in creation of adipose tissue. Same goes for protein.

Thus, it is important to pay attention to your fat intake (particularly saturated and trans fats) but also your total caloric intake. If your energy intake is greater than your energy expenditure, you will be packing those extra calories on as fat, regardless of the source.

HackManDan · Nov 3, 2006, 07:46 PM

Screw fake butter. Get REAL butter, made the European way. Plugra, for instance, is a very fine butter. It has a higher butterfat content than regular butter so its tastes and smells much better. The trick is, just don’t eat too much of it.

You can get Plugra from Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or most high end grocers.

Keller's Creamery - Plugra

anonymac · Nov 4, 2006, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by smacintush

The jury's still out on the effects of cow's milk, but you're welcome to believe PETA if you'd like.

Me for one. Dairy is helpful for people like me who are eating 3000 calories a day with 300 grams of protein in order to support heavy weight lifting. It contains the NECESSARY protein, carbs and fat to continue to gain. Even if I WANTED to avoid eating dairy, (which I don't) the majority of protein supplements are made from dairy, (because they are better) and when you are trying to ingest 300 g's of protein per day, protein supplements are a godsend.

The jury isn't out on cow-milk. It has never been necessary for humans to drink cow's milk. Nor is it necessary for cows to drink human milk. The fact is that milk is species-oriented. The reason why cow-milk has large amounts of protein is because cows need large amounts of protein, not humans. Human milk actually has small amounts of protein, because humans don't require large amounts of protein for optimum health.

Don't ask me why you are using another specie's baby food to support your weight lifting, but for sure it isn't what your body needs.

SpaceMonkey · Nov 4, 2006, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by anonymac

Don't ask me why you are using another specie's baby food to support your weight lifting, but for sure it isn't what your body needs.

If we only ate what our body "needs," life would be very boring.

smacintush · Nov 4, 2006, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by anonymac

The jury isn't out on cow-milk. It has never been necessary for humans to drink cow's milk. Nor is it necessary for cows to drink human milk. The fact is that milk is species-oriented. The reason why cow-milk has large amounts of protein is because cows need large amounts of protein, not humans. Human milk actually has small amounts of protein, because humans don't require large amounts of protein for optimum health.

Don't ask me why you are using another specie's baby food to support your weight lifting, but for sure it isn't what your body needs.

It's not a matter of whether we NEED it. Of course the milk of a COW is not necessary to humans. It's a matter of whether there is any benefit to it and if there are detriments. Just because milk is made for one purpose doesn't mean it has no use for another.

Yes, the jury is indeed OUT still.

The last time I checked, the needs of human babies are different from the needs of human adults. As a lazy couch potato adult, I don't need a lot of protein. For heavy weight lifting I need a lot more than the average person. Dairy helps. I could go without it, but it helps. I'd like to see you try and eat 300 g's of protein in a day. It's tough to get that much, for me at least. Dairy does help. That much really isn't in dispute. You're the one who chooses not to believe it.

http://time.blogs.com/daily_rx/2005/...alth_bene.html
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/19/suppl_2/147S
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritio...e/calcium.html
http://mediresource.sympatico.ca/hea...9&news_id=2348
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/...7143-0,00.html

Yeah, I've read the opposing arguments too. Like I said, the jury is out. It seems to me that the arguments against dairy are moral arguments.

anonymac · Nov 4, 2006, 04:37 PM

The arguments are not just moral. They are common-sense and logical. The links you listed are just a bunch of recycled garbage that has been around for decades. While I enjoy the topic, if you are going to come up with links that are really just advertisments for consuming dairy because it is convienient despite the obvious incompatibility with the human body, then there is hardly any argument. Your belief that you need so much protein (which is entirely false) and fad-dieting is the trouble with you, not the decision to avoid consuming a foreign specie's milk for their babies. That is just common-sense.