I play for team butter

Byrdie asked for my 2 cents on butter. The writer said, “I know you’re team butter” but will you answer these questions? “Team butter”, could there be a better team-ever? The full butter article can be found here but thought I’d add a few factoids Byrdie didn’t focus on.

So it’s outdated thinking that saturated fat in butter leads to heart disease.
The butter tide is turning or should I say “churning” (ha). There’s a hierarchy in every food group and hallelujah butter is a good guy. Please skip butter alternatives or alternatives/substitutes for any whole food. Do you want to see the understudy or the lead? I hadn’t even contemplated margarine in eons until I was asked about it.

But butter isn’t only better than “alternatives” it’s good for you. Grass fed butter contains omega 3’s but also a vitamin called K2 you might recall K2 from my brie post. K2 and vit D in butter make it a key pregnancy food too, should you be expecting. Grass-fed butter also contains CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). I will be honest some studies show CLA helps metabolism, some do not. Regardless, CLA has strong anti cancer properties. Grass fed butter is also higher in certain vitamins than basic butter. Grass-fed is key not just because grass feeding is good but corn and soy and GMO ingredients in conventional dairy are not so good. I can’t green light all butter; I have high standards. So organic/grass-fed butter and ghee are A+ choices, I adore Kerrygold which is grass-fed but not certified organic.

In terms of how much? The article said “everything in moderation” which isn’t a phrase I favor, what’s moderation? We work with 1 Tbs added fat per meal and suggest mix of butter, ghee (butter with lactose removed, OMGhee amazing brand, swoon) coconut oil and we’re also not in the anti olive oil camp.
Thankfully we’re distancing ourselves from calorie counting and looking at foods that leave us feeling satiated, whole foods that taste good. And even a little good-quality butter tastes so freakin’ good.


Are you on team butter? What butter do you use? Or are you still fat phobic? How can I recruit you to the other (better) side?

Cupcakes and Butter, Blake, Paula and Nora

You may think that the end of TomKat’s sham marriage was the biggest celebrity news on Friday, but in my world, it was the fact that Blake Lively eats cupcakes and doesn’t workout. A distraught client sent this link to me with the question "is she lying or am I doing something wrong?”

The answer is yes, she is at least semi-lying and yes, despite your Foodtraining, you are doing some things wrong. Blake may love cupcakes but I can assure you she’s not subsisting on an all- Crumbs diet. Who knows? She may eat a cupcake a week. Her trainer was quoted as sating she eats oatmeal, berries, fish and veggies and she has a trainer so that contradicts the couch potato part. As to what you are doing wrong, first you’re around my height, so that makes you 5’2” ish? not 5’10” like Blake. Second, you’re not 24. That headline is annoying. She comes from a long line of skinny actresses who love to discuss how much they eat. Even if they eat a lot, I’d prefer they keep it to themselves. You would never hear them say "I do so little work and get paid so much" even though it's true, so why is it ok when it comes to weight? I loved when Kim Cattrall went on the record talking about the work it takes to stay in shape. As for Blake, the girl is beautiful but it’s only fair that she porks up after 30 and gets pimples or a yeast infection, from all the sugar, in the mean time.

And then there’s Paula, if you’d like to know what most of us earthlings would look like on the cupcake diet, look no further than Paula Deen BC. BC= before criticism that came when she went public with her diabetes and her position (getting millions of dollars) as a spokesperson for a diabetes drug.  In January, Paula downplayed the connection between food, weight and diabetes and stood by her recipes. People went nuts. Paula or her PR people got the message and here is slimmer Paula. She’s doing things differently now. Does this mean she’s going to modify her recipes? Of course not. She’s gone from Paula Deen doughnut queen to Paula Deen diabetes drug lord and now she’s a weight loss expert telling People magazine her “slimming secrets”. I’ll tell Paula a secret, she better not lose too much or she’ll be off of her meds and out of a spokesperson position, stay tuned.

This week also brought shocking news of Nora Ephron’s passing. I loved Nora’s movies, her books and just her good sense. I never knew how I’d answer that hypothetical dinner party question, you know “if you could have 3 people living or dead over to dinner…” but I now know Nora would be on my list. Since we were talking butter, I thought this Nora Ephron quote was apropos

Everybody dies, there’s no avoiding it and I do not believe for one second that butter is the cause of anyone’s death. Overeating may be, but not butter, please. I just feel bad for people who make that mistake. By the way the same thing is true of olive oil. What difference could it possibly make if there’s a little olive oil in your salad dressing? It does not take one day off your life.

And one from yesterday's Times

I don't think any day is worth living without thinking about what you're going to eat next at all times.

What are your thoughts on Blake, Paula, Nora (or TomKat), cupcakes or butter?