Howdy All!

I'm on DAY 55! Yippee - stepped on the scale this morning and... 120 for viv!

Question: I'm visiting the folks & they only have smart balance butter - I've looked at the ingredients & I don't see any carbs or sugars etc... It has 9 gms fat. Do you all think it will be o.k. for 6 days?

Also - we need to avoid glycerin, right? My mom has some fishoil tabs but they have glycerin on the ingredients - Can I take them or not?

Thank you all! viv

Hi Viv

Sorry I don't know about Smart Balance, never heard of it in my area, can you not bring your own butter just to be sure, it's not like you would be bringing all your own food or anything insulting like that - just a little butter- or would that upset your parents?

Viv, I eat Smart Balance all the time. It is technically a margarine, but doesn't contain trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated oils, which is the reason you should stay away from margarines. But to me, using Smart Balance is just like using oil. Supposed to be good for increasing good cholesterol while decreasing the bad. Plus, I think it's quite tasty. Eat up!

As to glycerin, I don't think it's an issue. It should not affect blood sugar. Many low carb products contain it. Though I've read of some people reacting to it, most of us do fine with it.

Hope that helps!

Thank you KoKo & Skamito!

My 75yr. old papa is one of those New England conservative intellectuals - trust me... you can't rock his boat in his house... no butter allowed (weird ugh? especially since olive oil is o.k.) but i've finally learned which battles i can fight & this just isn't worth it.

Glad to hear about the glycerin - i think it's in the coating of the fish oil tabs... i really need the fish oil tabs to keep me regular.

thanks - viv

Hi Viv

I totally understand about your Dad, my late Father-In-Law was like that, I loved that man to bits, but he was totally stubborn about some things

Hi Angela and Viv:

If the issue is "trans-fats", it would be OK to eat Smart Balance cold, but not to cook with it. Once you heat it, you've changed its "cis" configuration to a "trans" configuration, sorry to say. Saturated or monounsaturated oils are always your best options for cooking.

HTH,
Wanda

I'm interested Wanda. Had no idea this was the case. Can you link me to something that explains this? I was under the impression that since this product was made of oil and contained no trans-fatty acids, it was fine for baking. I can't find any info that states otherwise.

Hi Angela:

I'll try and find something for you. I read it in "Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill", as well as The Schwarzbein Principle". Probably Mary Enig's book, Know Your Fats talks about it, but I haven't yet read it.

I guess the easiest way to think of it is that Smart Balance is a polyunsaturated fat, right? If you take any vegetable oil and heat it at high temperatures, you damage the fat, which makes it harmful. You change the molecular structure from a healthy fat ("cis") to a damaged fat ("trans").

Let me do a search and see what I can come up with for you. It can all get a little confusing, huh?

Wanda

Thanks Wanda. I did a search and at least sort of understand was "cis" is but I just wonder why the makers of the product push that you can cook and bake with it if it's not the case. Of course, I'm not saying they're not ALL LIARS ( ) but it's quite confusing. I'm not opposed to using real butter even a little, but enjoy the taste of Smart Balance.

And what's a low carber gonna put butter on that's cold!

Anyway, I'd appreciate a tidbit of this info when you get a chance. It's interesting to note. I thought I was doing a body good with my trans-fat free spread!

Hi Angela:




Maybe I'm totally wrong and misunderstood that quote from my book. I'm searching through my book as we speak b/c a preliminary search on the net didn't locate anything. Stay tuned and I'll type out the quote if I ever find it. It's a 450 page book so bear with me....

Wanda

Hi Angela:
GRRRR, I can't find that quote. I'm about 95% certain I read it, but I can't find it. Maybe it was another book, but I'm pretty sure it was FTH,FTK. So ignore what I said until such a time as I can bring you the proof. Sorry, I should have known better than to quote something off the top of my head without having the data sitting in front of me.

But I went onto SmartBalance's site and copied a couple of suspicious quotes:


Note the word "designed" and the absence of "healthy". This refers to the physical qualities of baking with SmartBalance, not whether it is healthy to cook with it. Anyone can cook with any kinds of oils. Whether it's healthy for you is a different matter.


This concerns me. A margarine with balanced fat profiles, yet it's safe to cook with. I find that really hard to believe. But that could just be the skeptic in me. I have an inherent mistrust of processed food. I don't even think LC processed foods are healthy, so I have a definate bias.

I couldn't find a list of its ingredients. Does it say on the container what it's made of? I'm curious.

Bottomline is that they are selling a product that is trans-fat-free when you pick it up from the grocery store. They aren't responsible for how you use it. I think you should e-mail the company and ask them if their margarine creates trans-fats in the process of frying (ie. are the fats in their margarine damaged from heating). It would be interesting to see their response (if they reply).

I'll still continue looking in my book, but I checked all the index pages for margarine with no luck. Maybe I didn't highlight that quote so I keep missing it.

Wanda
PS, is it really that good-tasting? I find margarines unbearable to eat. I'm almost tempted to bring butter to my In-Laws when I go for dinner.

There's some disagreement out there as to whether high temperature alone can change a fat into a trans-fat. Schwartzbein says yes, but the Eades, quoting studies by Dr. Mary G. Enig of the University of Maryland, say that the process also requires a chemical catalyst.

Unfortunately, it seems that heating unstable oils (like polyunsaturates) to the kind of high temperatures generally used for frying does turn them into lipid peroxides -- fats that have been damaged by free radicals and can themselves react with other substances (like the iron in your system) to produce the hydroxyl radical - the most dangerous of the free radicals. [PPLP pgs 115, 123-24] So it's probably best not to cook with your Smartbalance, but it's fine to put it on your veggies because you won't be exposing it to enough heat to damage it that way.

--Ruth

Ruth, very interesting information. I have Mary Enig's book, but haven't read it yet. All this fat info can get a bit mind boggling, huh? I try to simplify it all by only cooking with butter, coconut oil or olive oil. Probably the only thing in my life I've ever simplified.

Wanda

I agree, it's enough to make your eyes cross. I stick to butter and olive oil too. (I'm still looking for coconut -- I'd love to try it.) And I avoid polyunsaturates whenever possible because of the Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio thing.

--Ruth

This is a very interesting conversation. I almost feel guilty being a margarine eater, but I always thought it was good for cholesterol and I like it so what's the harm, right? I also have real butter in the fridge, don't worry.

I don't have a tub with the ingredients on it, but I'm pretty sure they are palm, soy, canola, and olive oil, as well as water and salt. Anyway, I'll take your word for it that it's not the best thing to use. Hmm... guess I'll just have to eat real butter. Damn!