Butter goes with just about everything as Garfield highlights.
BUT it’s much more than an accessory.
Are you at all concerned about avoiding or treating heart disease? Cancer? Arthritis? Osteoporosis? Diabetes? Asthma? Infertility? Thyroid and other hormonal issues? …?
Have you considered butter as a means of doing so?
Seriously. Have you?
What’s so great about butter?
How can it help you? …and your kids and grandkids?
This is a fun and inspiring read that answers those questions.
I know. We were preached to for decades that we need to avoid butter and saturated fat.
But what we weren’t told is that butter is VERY NUTRIENT DENSE.
It’s rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients needed to protect against:
heart disease, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, and asthma.
And needed to support good endocrine health, good digestion, fertility and proper growth and development.
Here’s how.
Heart Disease: Butter contains many nutrients that protect against heart disease, including ALL four fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K2, lecithin, iodine and selenium.[1] What other food has all these in one?
A Medical Research Council survey revealed that men eating butter ran half the risk of developing heart disease compared to those using margarine.[2]
Cancer. Butter contains short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids which have STRONG anti-tumor effects. And the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) found in the butter of grassfed cows further provides excellent protection against cancer.[3]
Note also. CLA helps the body build muscle rather than store fat. The CLA and short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids in butter can help control weight gain. That’s correct, fat does not make us fat.
Arthritis. Butter contains what’s called the Wulzen Factor.
The Wulzen Factor (or anti-stiffness factor) is a hormone-like substance that prevents arthritis and joint stiffness. It ensures that calcium in the body gets put into the bones rather than the joints and other tissues. It is present in raw milk butter and cream; it is DESTROYED by pasteurization.
The Wulzen Factor in raw butter and the Vitamin K2 in grassfed butter protect against calcification of the joints and hardening of the arteries, cataracts and calcification of the pineal gland.[4]
Osteoporosis. Vitamins A, D and K2, found together in butter, are essential for the proper absorption of calcium and phosphorus and hence NECESSARY for strong bones and teeth.
Vitamins A and D act like hormones; they give the instructions. Vitamin K is the messenger that carries out the instructions to get the calcium and phosphorus in the right place – the bones and teeth. And keeps it from depositing in the joints and arteries where it doesn’t belong.[5]
Asthma. The saturated fats in butter are critical to lung function and protect against asthma.[6]
Thyroid Health. Your thyroid’s main job is to control the speed of your metabolism (the process of how your body transforms the food you consume into energy).[7]
It’s part of our endocrine system. Our endocrine system is one system. If one organ suffers, they all suffer. Iodine is a key nutrient needed for good thyroid health. Butter is an amazing source of iodine, in a highly absorbable form.
Butter consumption prevents goiter in mountainous areas where seafood is not available.[8]
And as already mentioned, butter is an excellent source of Vitamin A (perhaps one of the richest), which is also essential for proper functioning of the thyroid gland.
Digestion. Glycosphingolipids (a special category of fatty acids) found in butterfat protect against gastro-intestinal infection, especially in the very young and the elderly. And arachidonic acid found in butter helps build a healthy gut wall.[9]
Growth and Development. Many factors in butter ensure optimal growth of children, especially iodine and Vitamins A, D, and K2.[10]
Arachidonic acid cooperates with vitamins A and D to promote mental health by regulating the adrenal hormone cortisol and the neurotransmitter dopamine.[11]
Who doesn’t want their children and grandchildren to obtain optimal mental and physical health?
Low fat diets have been linked to failure to thrive in children. Yet low fat diets are often recommended for children.[12]
Give those children a stick of butter.
Fertility. Many of the nutrients mentioned thus far are needed for fertility and normal reproduction, Vitamin A being a big player.[13]
Skin. Arachidonic acid along with Vitamins A and D help maintain healthy skin.[14]
In addition to all the nutrients already mentioned, butter is rich in important trace minerals, including manganese, chromium, zinc, copper and selenium (a powerful antioxidant).[15]
And as already mentioned, butter has Vitamins A and D, which are needed for mineral metabolism.
What wonderful news in this day and age in which our food is extremely deplete of minerals compared to a century ago.
You can be eating mineral rich foods BUT if you’re not getting these fat-soluble vitamins along with the mineral rich foods, your body can’t do anything with them. You’ll starve without these special activators.[16]
Butter provides substantial amounts of short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids.
These fatty acids support immune function, boost metabolism, and have antimicrobial properties. That is, they fight against pathogenic microorganisms in the intestinal tract.
Butter also provides the perfect balance of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids.
* * * * * * *
All I can say after reading this article is:
“Thank you, God, for this beautiful gift.”
Not only is butter medicinal as I just explained, but it makes food taste good.
A little butter adds flavor to everything.
And it’s an excellent flavor carrier. Spike it with garlic and herbs or with orange and honey, and it will deliver those flavors to everything it touches.
Can you pause with me, right now, take a deep breath, and give thanks?
* * * * * * *
What you can put butter on or in is infinite.
Slather it on fresh sourdough bread, bagels, or pizza.
Smother your potatoes and vegetables with it.
Use it to pop popcorn.
Make an endless array of sauces using butter.
Add it to your morning coffee.
Create flavored butters. Click here for suggestions and instructions. Flavored Butters
Leave some out on the counter to nibble on when you get hungry or are feeling nervous. [Yes, that’s my go to when I am a little nervous.}
And be sure to give each of your kids or grandkids their own stick of butter. You don’t have to feel bad about them eating butter. On the contrary, you are doing them a tremendous service.
They won’t get fat. Likely, they will be calmer and better behaved. No more (or far less) meltdowns because of all the good fat. They will build muscle and strong bones, and they’ll develop good cognitive thinking.
* * * * * * *
For those with dairy allergies or sensitivities, who don’t tolerate butter, I have two suggestions:
- Try clarified butter (aka ghee).
- Do the GAPS protocol to heal and seal your gut so you can tolerate butter or ghee.
For those who don’t care for butter, I weep for you. ☹ Perhaps try fresh butter from a local farm and notice the difference.
Good butter not only tastes better but it’s better for you.
When shopping for butter, the best is raw milk butter from the farm itself where the cows are grassfed so you’re getting the most nutrient dense product.
So you’re getting the CLA, the fat-soluble vitamins mentioned through this article, the proper balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, arachidonic acid, etc.
The next best is pasteurized butter from grassfed cows.
And still good is regular pasteurized butter from the supermarket. Just do your best.
* * * * * * *
You may say butter is expensive.
I remember my friend Kathleen commented to me that her granddaughter loved butter. But she was concerned because it’s expensive.
My comments back were:
Isn’t your granddaughter’s health worth it? Look at all the nutrients she’s getting and the success you’re setting her up to have in life.
Could you be saving in the long run? Think about what you won’t be having to buy – other snacks that will take much more to satiate her.
And most likely you are going to save on health care and health-related costs further down the road.
* * * * * * *
Now that I have written this blog, I am inspired to try making my own butter using my homemade kefir cream.
And then I want to try Jennifer McLagan’s Browned Butter Ice Cream recipe. But I want to adapt it so I don’t have to boil the milk and cream, which would destroy all the good enzymes and the probiotics in the cream.
Stay tuned for the recipe in a future post.
If you’re NOT already on my email list, be sure to sign up below. That way you will get notifications of future posts.
And post a comment. What has this article inspired you to do?
Be well and enjoy some butter.
Peace and grace,
Karen
P.S. Are you still worried about the cholesterol in butter?
Despite all of the misinformation that you may have heard, cholesterol is needed to maintain intestinal health and for brain and nervous system development in the young.
If you are like me, you believe that God created the world and that it was good and that He doesn’t make mistakes.
And if He doesn’t make mistakes, then it seems only logical to think that He did not make a mistake when he created full fat butter and whole milk, and eggs rich in cholesterol.
And people have been eating butter for millennials without heart issues or other health issues.
Why in the 1900’s did it suddenly become a threat to our health?
I can make a lot of assumptions about people’s motives in preaching to us that butter was bad for us. But I can’t say for sure what those motives were.
I just know they were wrong. God didn’t mess up. And we can enjoy this luscious gift He has given us.
If you are interested in some history of butter read on:
Sumerian temple friezes from 2500 B.C. depict scenes of butter churning, so it has generally been accepted that butter is at least 4,500 years old. However, science has recently proved that butter is even older. Traces of butterfat found on pottery fragments have been dated to 4000 B.C., proving humans have been making butter for at least 6,000 years.[17]
[1] Butter is Better [Brochure], by The Weston A. Price Foundation, Copyright 2010 by The Weston A. Price Foundation.
[2] Nutrition Weed 3/22/91 21:12
[3] Butter is Better [Brochure], by The Weston A. Price Foundation, Copyright 2010 by The Weston A. Price Foundation.
[4] Ibid
[5] https://www.westonaprice.org/podcast/30-nutrient-density-principle-3/#gsc.tab=0
[6] Thorax, Jul 2003, 587(7):567-72)
[7] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23188-thyroid
[8] Butter is Better [Brochure], by The Weston A. Price Foundation, Copyright 2010 by The Weston A. Price Foundation.
[9] Ibid
[10] Ibid
[11] https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/the-pursuit-of-happiness/#gsc.tab=0
[12] Butter is Better [Brochure], by The Weston A. Price Foundation, Copyright 2010 by The Weston A. Price Foundation.
[13] https://www.westonaprice.org/podcast/improve-fertility-with-vitamin-a/#gsc.tab=0
[14] Butter is Better [Brochure], by The Weston A. Price Foundation, Copyright 2010 by The Weston A. Price Foundation.
[15] Ibid
[16] https://www.westonaprice.org/podcast/30-nutrient-density-principle-3/#gsc.tab=0
[17] McLagan, Jennifer 2008. Fat. Ten Speed Press
