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I Can't Believe You Don't Eat Butter!

June 14, 2011   49 Comments

Snack Girl doesn't watch much television because she hates commercials. She does watch The Daily Show online for her nightly laughter meditation.

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter vs Whipped Butter

BUT, a certain commercial has caught my eye. It stars Kim Cattrall who played Samantha in "Sex and the City".

Kim takes a piece of lobster and dips it in "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" while oohing and aaahing. What are you doing?!!!

Could "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" be so good that you don't notice the difference? Is it really worth substituting for butter when eating a food as expensive as lobster?

You have to watch this (a mere 17 seconds):

This advertisement is aimed directly at me - 41 year old female with kids who wants it ALL! And, no, I will not admit to wanting the 25 year old hunky male in this commercial. (my husband reads this blog)

So, I went out and bought myself a container of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Light" to sample and, alas, found that it doesn't taste like butter :(

It is easy to determine why it misses - see the ingredients:

water, vegetable oil blend (soybean oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, canola oil), sweet cream buttermilk, salt, gelatin, mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, (potassium sorbate, calcium disodium EDTA, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavor (milk), vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color).

Nutrition Facts:

For one tablespoon = 45 calories, 5.0 g fat, 0 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 0 g fiber, 85 mg sodium, 1 Points+

I like the idea of using less calorific buttermilk to mimic butter, but all I can taste is salty vegetable oil with a slight butter flavor. I would never confuse this product with butter.

Yes, "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" reduced the amount of saturated fat and calories - but increased the amount of chemicals in the product. Butter is just cream churned to a hard consistency.

Is there a spread out there that will do the trick?

How about "Unsalted Whipped Butter"? See below:

whippedbutter

Ingredients:

pasteurized sweet cream, natural flavor.

Nutrition Facts:

For one tablespoon = 50 calories, 6.0 g fat, 0 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 0 g fiber, 0 mg sodium, 2 Points+

Okay, we added a gram of fat, but the taste! They left out an ingredient in their list - AIR. I guess they don't have to put that in there - whipped butter is simply butter with added air.

Whipped butter is easier to spread than regular butter, but you will have to leave it out of the fridge for 20 minutes for it to get really spreadable. I like the stuff, myself. It is luxurious and melts great on top of toast, pancakes, or corn on the cob.

Have you replaced butter? What have you used to replace it?


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First 20 Comments: ( See all 49 )

we use the LoL light spreadable butter with canola oil. I really like it.

I have been using Land o Lakes Light salted sticks. The task is pretty good and I've cut down on the amount I use.

We use real butter in our house. We're not fans of the chemicals in other products and synthetic look-a-likes. Yes, there is more fat and calories in butter, but I'd rather ingest those than chemicals.

Thank you for shedding light on the bogus fake butter crapola. To quote Joan Gussow, "I trust cows more than chemists!"

That being said, I would invest in Organic butter, preferably from grass fed cows.

Conventional butter no doubt has pesticide and GMO bovine somatic growth hormones that I wouldn't want to poison my family with.

As for hating TV ads--we got TiVo when it first made its debut. It changed our lives. We now have season's passes to our favorite shows and watch less TV because we do not watch commercials. I can't even imagine watching a Red Sox game without it. :)

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Thanks for posting about fake butter. They only offer the fake stuff at my workplace so I tend to avoid it entirely. I've seen plenty of folks live very healthy lives well into their 90s cooking with real butter. :)

P.S. On a recent episode of 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' the kids all thought butter came from corn! :(

We use real, organic butter. Sweet cream is the only ingredient. Even the "natural flavor" in that Land 'O Lakes makes me wonder. Shouldn't butter already taste like butter?

Real butter is all the rage these days. A lot of studies are showing that the saturated fats in meats and dairy aren't nearly as bad as the processed chemicals and additives in most foods. They may actually be the culprit for obesity, not saturated fats.

I switched back to plain old regular salted butter about a year ago. While I'm not one of those so natural people that avoids all processed foods, I had heard enough bad things about this imitation spreads to freak me out and go back to the real thing, but in moderation!

I'm with Julie. LoL light spreadable butter with canola oil!

We use only real butter in our house. Sometimes I will use coconut oil for myself. I got a bagel once and they had used fake butter. I felt like my tongue was coated with petroleum. ugh!

Butter.

Real butter.

I would love to get organic butter, but the CSAs I'm a member of don't offer it.

It tastes much better than all the substitutes.

We also have the spreadable butter that's mixed with canola oil, but only DH uses it, and then only when the real stuff hasn't been sitting long enough to get soft.

I had my cholesterol checked recently, and DH had his done too..and we're both a healthy number for all the different components. So I see no need to replace real butter with mystery stuff.

Ditto on the real butter. Using it for years in our house due to the same concerns everyone's voicing about additives in the fake stuff. And guess what? My cholesterol levels are LOWER than they were in my 20s when I used margarine and more processed food.

It's not easy to find real unsalted butter; I just get whatever I can find at the grocery store which is usually Land o Lakes. UNsalted, that is. There's no point in fake butter; yes I know, CALORIES... but margerine is disgusting, yellow plastic.

As a new Vegan I bought vegan *butter*. It doesn't taste like butter but it has the texture and it isn't bad. I actually like it. Def worth a try. but remember, butter is soooo yummy because it is so bad for your body.

Totally agree on the LOL whipped butter. Pay attention to the labels, though. LOL makes one version that has all the chemical crap in it. I think one tub is green and one is red? One is natural and one is chemical crap and they look similar.

Also agree with the TiVo comments above. Get a TiVo or get a DVR from your cable company. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Seriously. I record any sports event and start watching it 30-40 minutes in. By the time I get to the end of the game, I've watched the whole thing with no commercials at all.

I use Brummel and Brown's spread in place of **gasp** butter, let alone SALTED BUTTER, with phenomenal results in baking, cooking, everything. butter?? meh!! Totally agree with femmefatal. Get healthy rather than fat.

I'm another butter fan... I'm convinced that it's processed grains and chemicals that cause health problems, not moderate use of butter.

With that said, I will occasionally use Earth Balance (made by the same people as smart balance, but without weird chemicals) if I'm making something like vegetarian gravy - because I don't like to use more than a couple tablespoons of butter at a time because of the calories.

I too use Brummel & Brown - Natural Yogurt Spread. It taste like butter, melts and is much healthier!!! I will not use anything else.

Im quite interested in your article about I can't believe it's not butter because I am on Weight Watchers and I use the Sprayable one which is no points. Ive never minded the taste its only added occasionally however I am curious to know if you don't mind the taste of it, is it a bad choice?

Mostly real, organic butter. I'd rather have whole foods than frankenfoods.

See all 49 Comments


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