In mid-December a 40 pound block of butter was delivered to my home on the back of a motorcycle driven by a soft-spoken, burly man named Ren. This butter was no grocery store butter. It came from Petaluma Creamery and Spring Hill Jersey Cheese in Northern California where the cream is carefully crafted into cultured butter, made exclusively from Jersey cows raised on grassy pastures.
Now most folks can admit that butter makes everything taste better, but this butter is divine. It could easily pass for a mild cheese with its rich, yet simple flavor. My youngest can often be discovered sticking her finger in the butter dish and eating it straight. This butter is the bomb.
40 pounds in three months?
A few weeks ago, when I told my husband that we had made our way through 40 pounds of this delectable butter, he looked at me with shock and a touch of horror.
“Forty pounds of butter? Certainly that will clog our arteries, no?”
Despite sharing the same dietary principles, the sheer volume we consumed had him feeling doubtful.
So I did some math:
40 pounds of butter = 160 sticks of butter.
We got the butter in mid-December, and finished it by mid-March – approximately 90 days. My family consists of me, my husband, a five year old, and a one year old (both with healthy appetites).
So on average we ate 1 3/4 sticks of butter per day – slightly less than half a stick per person.
Cooking eggs and spreading on toast in the morning… Melted generously over our farm box veggies… In muffins, crackers, soups… Generally and liberally added at every meal. Yep. That sounded about right.
What about cholesterol?
Well, I'm glad you asked. I've been living in a bubble where my Real food friends celebrate butter, lard, coconut oil, and the like, so sometimes I forget. But out there in the rest of the world, there is still a war raging against cholesterol, and between Lipitor and low fat diets, the opposition is taking this very seriously.
If you are one of those folks still concerned about maintaining low levels of cholesterol, I would like to introduce to you this concept: You've been duped.
The problem with modern health is NOT saturated fat found in traditional foods like butter, eggs, and cream. This issue lies with the JUNK that we are buying and consuming: high fructose corn syrups, franken-oils such as canola (the ‘heart-healthy' darling) and soybean oils disguised in fake health foods such as Smart Balance and Earth Balance ‘spreads', and low fat dairy products which are far more damaging than their natural, full fat counterparts.
In a recent Norwegian study, it was concluded that the role of cholesterol in cardiovascular disease has been grossly overestimated, and, in fact, women with high cholesterol live longer and suffer from less heart disease.
So you may be thinking, what about all the studies that show that saturated fat is a direct line to clogged arteries and death. Here's the thing, lots of folks really like to hear about the studies. They tout the conclusions of such studies as facts. Personally, I think the dependence on studies to form our opinions is hogwash.
The FACT is that all studies (regardless of how scientifically based) contain the element of human opinion, and it is absolutely impossible to completely omit the human element from a study. So, as it stands you can find a study to prove just about any theory you would like to support.
Try this on for size instead: Humans have been consuming saturated fat in the form of animal products since the beginning of time. We need saturated fat to absorb the nutrients of our food – especially essential fat soluble vitamins A, D, K2, and E. That means saturated fat is essential for brain function, hormone production, immune health, strong bones and teeth, and – get this – cardiovascular health.
My family eats real food, and practically no packaged good or modern fake foods. We try to keep our lives simple and our stress low. So, no. I am not worried about my family's cholesterol or heart health – butter, bacon, cream, and all.
But is there such thing as too much butter?
Sure. Just like your body would tell you if you had too much citrus (loose stools) or too many potatoes (bloating and constipation). Your body is likely to let you know if you have reached a threshold with too much butter or fat – probably with an aversion to fatty foods or a craving for lighter foods.
Unlike cravings for sugar or alcohol (non-nutritive substances which create deficiencies and addiction cycles in the body), the human body is designed to self-regulate consumption of real food. Try it out. Grab a few sticks of butter and a spoon. Or sit down with a pound of raw carrots. Either way, I bet you won't get very far.
Won't all that butter make you fat?
I happily feed my family nearly two sticks of butter (not to mention coconut oil, lard, and pasture-raised eggs and meats) without the fear of obesity.
Why?
I don't believe fat makes you fat. Sure, genetics may play a role – my husband could sit on his bum eating Twinkies all day long and never develop chub, and my five year old has inherited his body type as well. But the tendency towards obesity runs in my family, and I have been able to gently bounce back from two pregnancies without dieting or going over the deep end with exercise.
Here's some things you should worry about making you fat: too much sugar, too much processed foods, not enough sleep, stress.
I also will point out that often times we pair fat with carbohydrates – butter on bread or potatoes, cream and sugar, cupcakes and cookies, fettucini alfredo, mac ‘n' cheese. So if you're concerned about fat making you fat, try reducing the amount of starchy (calorie-dense) foods that you're pairing with your healthy fats.
Why should we care that the cows that made the cream ate grass?
Butter, milk and cream from grass fed cows are far superior products to those made from milk of conventional (or organic!) grain-fed cows.
Many people say they would rather not know about where there food comes from, but I urge you to vote with your dollar by avoiding products from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) – which are horrific for the environment, inhumane to the animals, and produce dairy, meat, poultry, and eggs that are nutritionally inferior and toxic. The best way to do this is to get out of the grocery store and find your local farmers!
Butter and other products from grass-fed, pasture-raised animals promotes health for the human, the animal, and the planet. Both nutrients and toxins are stored in fat, so the cream of healthy cows will be both free of toxins and rich in nutrients. You can read all about the differences between grass-fed and conventional beef and dairy in this article.
Is cultured butter better?
When it comes to butter, the best choice would be local, raw, butter made from cream of pasture-raised cows. That said, raw butter – especially to the tune of nearly two sticks per day – can be prohibitively expensive. We buy cultured butter because it has the added benefits of beneficial bacteria through the culturing process, without the added price tag. To be honest, since we often cook with this butter or freeze it, I'm not sure how much beneficial bacteria makes it to our guts. But I still sleep soundly and satiated knowing my forty pounds has come from local cows happily grazing on grass.
I'm curious… How much butter does your family eat?
I love this and totally agree! We are unashamed “buttertns” here. I used to live in Sonoma County and ate a lot of Spri g Hill Cheeses. Tell me, how did you procure that block of butter because I want some?! I am still n the Bay Area and am willing to travel!
We went through 60 pounds of butter in 4 1/2 months. I have a family of five, including 3 growing boys. We are also on tge GAPS diet, so need those healing fats!
Hi Emily. I’m just curious how much is your food budget each month. I’m interested in eating like this but not sure I can do all of it because of cost concerns. We have definitely cut down on processed foods but grass fed and raw are A LOT more expensive.
Hi Mary – Yes, grass fed and raw are A LOT more expensive, but worth working creatively into the budget. I have found that some of the best ways to stretch the budget are to buy in bulk when things are on sale, eat lots of soup made with bone broth, include lots of organ meat, avoid expensive cuts of meat, and buy raw milk but save $ by buying cheeses and butter that are pasteurized but always from grass fed cows.
Have you compared prices for food? I don’t understand how the healthy food is that much more expensive. Filling yourself with carbs like white bread, pasta, chips, etc may be cheaper, but is not real food. Even at Whole Foods I can buy good food for less than people pay for their name-brand cereals, snacks, processed cold cuts, etc. I don’t buy steaks and lobster, just hormone-free roasts at $5/lb for beef and $4 for pork, and packs of organic veggies for another $2.50 each. An entire pound block of butter is $6. Let’s say I eat an entire pound of meat, and a eight pound of butter and an entire pack of veggies each day. That’s a good amount of food. That’s still only $9 for the day. Throw in some extras (mineral water, one small treat, some cheese, a potato, or whatever) and I’d be still at under $12 for the entire day. Compare that to crappy fast-food at the same cost for two, or even just one meal. Regular cuts of crappy meat at any other store are just as expensive. I think it’s cheaper to eat healthy than name-brands. Find some reasonable farmers or buy in bulk. If you choose to eat cheaper “food” then you will eventually get sick and pay medical bills instead, or lose job productivity which still hurts your pocket-book.
My family of five lives off of $13 dollars a day for the whole family. My family could eat everything you just described in one sitting. What some people have gotten used to may be reasonable for them, but may be no where near another persons budget. We avoid processed food and fast food but like stated in this post one of the best things you can do to eat healthy and save money is buy in bulk when you have the money available.
We eat a WAPF diet and it is worth the $ for sure, but it truly DOES cost more in most places around the country. We chose to begin GAPS intro while visiting Denver for several weeks and it cost a fortune shopping at both Whole Foods, Sprouts and Natural Grocer’s! Some items are an investment in the beginning like a 5 gallon bucket of grass-fed tallow and some are simply monthly expenses. Depending on your access to certain foods it can be expensive. Up here in MT we pay extra for many things but get a huge discount on grass-fed meat..we HUNT ours. That said, you can’t put a price on your health! Like Joel Salatin states: Have you priced cancer lately?
We are total butter lovers at our house. (In fact, I just happened to write a post about butter today, too.) We get organic, cultured. It’s so delicious and yummy.
Ditto on Mary’s comment. I saw $$$$$$ when I read the headline.
Where can I get this in ohio? And how do you store 40 lbs of butter?
Yum! Your body thanks you!! I would love to know how much we go through…I guess at least 10-12lbs per month, but probably more.
Real dairy butter is $10 a pound and we have to drive over into SC from GA to buy ‘real and unadulterated’ whole mild butter. So we don’t get it as often as I’d love to have it, but when we do get it we feel rich and our taste buds are sooooo happy to partake of the sweet and creamy butter.
Ok, inquiring minds want to know… How did you store that giant stick of butter? Did you cut it down into smaller qtys and freeze it?
Kathy – Yes. My hubby got a French cheese wire and he sliced into into 1-2 pound blocks, wrapped it in plastic, and stored it in our extra freezer (which I tenderly refer to as my ‘apocalyse freezer’ 😉
does that extra freezer require a lot more electricity each month?
Most freezers supposedly only cost an extra 30-40$ a year of electricity.
I’ve tried to call raw farmers and dairies to see if they can put a brick of butter in a flat rate box and I cant hardly to get them to even talk to me. I guess when the govt is having swat teams bust down dairy farmers doors and cuff everyone, they might be a little suspicious of someone on the phone trying to get them to mail raw products. Sad. Just sad. I could get weed easier than healthy dairy. I dont use weed but Alaska regularly makes it legal. What is up with our govt?!?!
Allen – I agree whole-heartedly. The state of food-freedom affairs in the US is sad and frightening. In southern California I am blessed with legal raw milk (for now) and access to amazing pastured meat and organic produce year round. If I lived elsewhere, I do think I’d take up farming. Though I’d probably need to do it in secret – to avoid being shut down!
Hi everyone 🙂
I live in Alberta Canada & tried to purchase raw milk for health reasons, (family member can not have pasteurized dairy) & was told by local dairy farmers that is is against the law & they would be fined if any one found out.
I signed a form to legalize the sale of raw milk, but in the meantime what does a person do? Buy a cow & keep in backyard? Oh ya the bylaw officer will ticket me.
Have a fabulous day 🙂
How much is 40lbs of butter and how do I order in LA?
I bought my 40 pounds of butter from Spring Hill Jersey Cheese in Petaluma, CA. I have a wholesale account with them, so I am not sure whether or not the butter is available to the public in a 40 pound block. On their website, they sell 8oz packages for $6.49. If you are in CA, I highly recommend contacting them for more details. They are a lovely bunch.
http://springhillcheese.com/
Look for them at Farmer’s Markets, that’s where I get mine. They should tell you where their products are sold. And Their products are amazing, pricier than “normal”, but amazing!
I buy this butter and cheese on occasion. I switch between buying from them Saturday mornings in Santa Monica and Kerrygold at Trader Joe’s. It is a little pricier but it is such gooood butter. How do you get a wholesale account with them? Is it cheaper than their normal prices?
Hi AnnMarie – I would give them a call to inquire about their wholesale prices.
Great article! I agree with every word. And 40 pounds of butter is not excessive if you take into account the fact that us real foodies cook everything from scratch. It takes a lot of butter and other healthy ingredients to make that happen.
I pay $14.50 per pound for grass-fed cultured butter from a local farm.
How much did your big bulk order cost?
Thanks for writing such an informative post!
I’d say we’re about a pound a week…party of 2. During the time that my grand children were living with us we were about 1 1/2 pounds per week. I watch for sales on Organic Valley grass fed butter and buy it in bulk usually about $4 lb. But…I splurg in the spring and fall and get the rich yellow $5 1/2 lb cultured from my local organic dairy. NOTHING beats that flavor!
Hahaha @Allen Butner. I picture going to visit the Milk Man in an ally to get my raw dairy fix. I agree it is sad and crazy.
I would also love to know where you get this bulk butter. We don’t have a great source for butter, but we do get local and pastured, but it isn’t organic and I am sure they get some grain at some point which isn’t organic, but it is the best we can get affordably and we pay just under $10 for a pound and a half and we generally have to drive a ways to get it, but it is so good.
Would love to find a better quality/source.
Family of 6 on GAPS and we go through about 15 lbs a month.. I was feeling that was excessive…. But apparently we a good right?
I didn’t realize their butter was cultured–I just bought some Organic Pastures Raw Cultured butter at the store, not knowing I could buy it at the market! Why doesn’t it say pastured on the label? I’m the only butter-eater in the house (child anaphylactic) but I DO love my butter. And my ghee! Thanks for this post–I forwarded it to my friends at Tara Firma Farms (www.tarafirmafarms.com), also in Petaluma!
How on earth did you get the butter. I know about ordering bulk but i have never heard of a bulk 40 pound block of butter. Cases of 1 lb butter but now a huge block. Is it something they sell on a regular basis? I am eager to know how much it cost you, if you do not mind sharing.
What a great post- I am sharing on FB!! I am guessing we eat about 3/4 stick per day per person, some days more!! I currently buy Kerry Gold, but I would love to find a local supplier where we could get raw pastured butter.
We are a family of three adults, and we eat about 2 lbs of butter per week. Sometimes a little more. Rarely less.
Thank you for turning me on to the Irish butter! I just made some eggs for Alie and she loved them:)
Well said! I salute you and your lovely Spring Hill butter, which I remember buying from the Farmers Market in Oakland a long time ago. I make do with KerryGold and other pastured butters now.
We eat a lot of butter. I’ve never measured it, but it could easily be half a stick each per day. (There are just two of us, plus the animals.) We also cook with lard we rendered from the pastured pig we bought; saved bacon grease, ghee, and coconut oil. Mmmm. Thanks!
family of three (right now) eating less than a pound a week because we arent eating any wheat, and only small amounts of other grains. so im just starting to make cultured butter from local raw cream which ends up costing about 7-8$/pound. while this is low for freshly made, cultured, grass-fed, local, raw butter, its still a bit hefty. however, since we arent eating as much as we would if we were eating bread and other wheat based items, my total butter cost is staying about the same as buying commercial butter from local dairies.
great post. sadly, you may be preaching to the choir as a lot of people are still entrenched in the ‘butter-is-bad’ mindset!
I am guessing we go through 4-5 pounds a week. Thankfully I have found a source of raw, cultured butter from a local Amish farmer. So that would be 16-18 pounds a month for a family of 6. Yep, we love our butter here!
For me and my 10-year-old son, we use probably 5 pounds per month when we have access to lots of grass-fed cream. When we don’t have as much cream, then we probably use more like 6 – 8 pounds of butter per month. This is a vVERY rough guess, so now I’m curious. Maybe I’ll keep track for a month & get back to you. 🙂
Hi Angie! Keep me posted. 😉
I absolutely loved this article! My family owns a wellness facility in Terre Haute, Indiana and it feels great to find articles like this with people living the same way. We always encourage grass-fed tallow, butter or ghee (Indiana doesn’t legally allow the sale of raw dairy products, they have to be sold as a pet food product), coconut oil (our family has a gallon bucket of the stuff on hand and we work with a local neurologist to promote it), first-pressed extra virgin olive oil and most recently we’ve discovered the wonderfulness of goat’s milk butter. Like I said I thoroughly enjoyed it and am going to share it with all of our clients and on my networking!
We get raw dairy in Indiana through a cow share.
We’re a family of 9 and we eat about half a pound a day, so that about 15 pounds a month…
I’m glad you posted this because i was thinking we were going thru a lot of butter.
Hi Tanya – Thanks for pointing out the unintentional pun. That should teach me not to write and edit posts in the wee hours.
You can always check with the Amish farmer, Miller’s Organic Farm in PA. They ship across US, and make deliveries into NY, NJ, FL, SC, etc. I’m sure they would gladly send a 40# or even a 20# block with a price break. Their cows are strictly grass/hay fed and organic. Call them at 556-0672.
Here is the full phone number for Miller’s Organic Farm; (717)556-0672.
I’m drooling with envy :o)
I’m in Fairbanks AK, and I haven’t found it yet. We can get organic, and I’m hoping things will change when the Co-op opens in the fall.
Maybe I can talk some 4-H kids into starting a project ;o)
Thanks for letting people know the real problem is sugar and processed food.
Can you order through Azure Standard in Fairbanks? We can get it here in Kodiak (albeit by barge) and I know people in Anchorage can order. Anyway, a good option for us is Organic Valley’s PASTURE butter; buy it in bulk through Azure for a much better price than Kerry Gold in grocery store here. It says cultured on the label too…. Miss making our own butter in WI and having access to wonderful raw milk.
Hi Heather – I’m not sure. Anyone else getting pastured butter through Azure Standard?
Sorry this is so late….but yes you can get pastured butter bulk through azure here in Fairbanks. Let me know if you need in a co-op we have a few here depending on your location 🙂
forgot to say I found you at Fat Tuesday
“get out of the grocery store and find your local farmers!”
Amen!!
@Allen: sorry to be a stickler but weed is not legal in Alaska. It is, however, decriminalized, meaning there have been certain allowances for personal use (under an ounce) that the government has decided falls under the right to privacy. That includes growing, up to 25 plants, in one’s own home. Growing outside of one’s home is still illegal as is possession of more than one ounce and selling, in any amount. More than one ounce is a misdemeanor, more than four ounces is a felony. And no, I did not have those specifics off the top of my head, lol. Those are Wiki numbers but I think they are accurate. There is apparently also a medical marijuana registry in the state.
Our family consists of three adults and four teenagers… our butter consumption is high. A couple of my kids consider it a food group. I would love to find a score like your 40lb block but am happy to find Kerrygold at our Costco. Except for the last two times I checked. NO Kerrygold available so I ordered some from U.S. Wellness Meats. Definitely up in the bracket with gold prices but worth far more, imho.
I found Kerry Gold in the cheese section of Harris Teeter in NC.
You must get a picture of the delivery guy with the butter on the motorcycle with your next order! I have no idea how much butter we eat, fractions less than you guys and I’ve never seen it in such a large block. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this post on Friday Food Flicks.
Amanda
If you live in San Francisco, you can get Spring Hill or McClelland’s Dairy’s pasture raised, organic butter in 30-50lb blocks.
I just read this again & realized that your math was 2 sticks of butter per pound. At the grocery store, four sticks come in a one-pound package, so I think you need to double the number of sticks you posted. 🙂 Each stick is 1/2 cup, but only 1/4 pound. I did my math wrong, too, because I was figuring cups instead of pounds. Oops! 🙂 For the two of us, we have gone through 8 cups (four pounds) of butter in three weeks. We also have gone through a gallon and a half of cream. Yum!
Angie – Unfortunately, ever since getting pregnant with my first baby, math hurts my brain. So I found this handy, dandy butter converter online which told me that 40# of butter = 159.99 sticks – which works out to a 1/4 pound per stick. Of course, I start to see swirly rainbows when I try to check my math, so I could be wrong… Either way, we DO love our butter!
Oh, gee whiz! You were right. I haven’t even been pregnant lately, so I guess I just need more sleep. : P Thank you again for this post, and for all you do to inspire others into nourishing themselves & their families. 🙂
Hey! We eat about a stick a day, family of five. 🙂
do you have an article or link to whole food diets on a budget – been refocusing on such things recently and we seem to be spending more and more the more healthily we eat. i must add that my medical cost in the way of prescription meds and other chronic pain maintenance therapies HAVE GONE DOWN! So I am very reluctant to cut back on the healthy foods…
making our own yogurt, spending more time sourcing best prices on grass fed beef, wild fish….
planting a home garden
better foods – more happy – worth the investment but would love to be confident that we are not spending more than necessary…
i think a great testimony to the full fat diet would be a pic of you in your hot pants.
im just sayin.
you rock x
I love this post! Sends such a strong message about traditional fats!
Yay! Butter! 🙂 Excellent post! Thanks for sharing.
We probably eat about a stick per day. I use coconut oil, as well.
Love the post! I just did a blog post about what we buy for a week’s worth and I did the math… we go through 40lbs of butter in 2 months with 4 kids and 1 adult having it like you guys do. Yum!
If you watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth it actually explains everything you just said here and backs it up with science. Turns out those studies that you don’t put much stock in? They didn’t look at the full picture.
I love science, but you have to be careful to separate it out from the politics. That’s where the problem lies.
I have no problem eating raw butter from grass fed cows. I live in Illinois and own 4 herd shares getting 4 gallons raw milk per week and I also purchase 1 gallon raw cream weekly. I eat butter that I make all by itself or with berries or grass fed meats raw or raw eggs only. Been doing this for year. I do not eat any grain, seed oils, any boxed crap, or anything with refined sugar. Eat raw nuts and berries. I am 50 years of age 5′ 11″ 170 lbs. I am a avid road cyclists who gets out and cranks it up. My breathing seems to be easier than ever before on hard ride. I am in the best shape i have ever been in my life with body fat percentage of 7%. I eat all I feel like eating of these foods. Tell this to the mainstream they think I am crazy. But look at my health and fitness level and look at theirs. Whos crazy. I am fit.
Hello Emily,
What was the cost for 40 pounds of butter?
Would appreciate if you respond to my questions.
Thanks.
Well this is fab thanks. I was looking to write about the benefits of butter and this article is helpful. One particular idea you gave me is the self regulation we have for natural foods. I have not considered this, although I am all for ’emotional eating’ rather than calorie counting for effective weight loss this is a really good one and I am going to do it, on camera, with a spoon and some butter – lots of butter. Cheers!
Thanks, Nico! Please come back and share your experience!
Hello – I used to be a big fan of raw milk and butter, until my husband got diagnosed with some form of weird arthritis and the naturopath said that my husband (with blood type O) should avoid all dairy because Os are sensitive to dairy. I was very sad and have given up on dairy for the family since then.
Has anyone heard of this or have any Os out there doing well with dairy consumption?
Hi Elaine – I am type O and do great with raw dairy. It took some adjustment at first because I think I was lactose intolerant from years of pasteurized, conventional dairy products.
If your husband feels great without dairy it may be worth it, but he also may be able to reintroduce it after his gut has a break for awhile and a chance to heal.
The lactose in conventional butter and milk products is the exact same as the lactose found in raw dairy products. The lactose molecule, a dimer of glucose and galactose, does not change depending on the diet of the animal who produces it. So while you may have had some side effects due to other aspects of conventional dairy, switching to raw dairy would not fix lactose intolerance. Just an FYI 🙂
Yes lactose is also in raw dairy, but I think the difference is the presence of other things in the raw milk that help digest the lactose. If I recall correctly, LACTASE is an enzyme that helps digest lactose. It is present in unpasteurized dairy as nature intended, but is missing from conventional dairy. It is my understanding that because lactose is a sugar molecule, it survives the pasteurization process, but enzymes cannot.
Your doctor is an idiot.
They wrote “naturopath,” not doctor. A naturopath is NOT a real doctor.
Elaine, I’m also type O and handle raw dairy really well. I’d heard that before about Type Os avoiding dairy, but I personally decided to ignore that advice because of the nutritional profile of raw dairy. I’ve had dental issues than concerned me greatly, and heard that raw milk helps teeth. I was willing to ignore the blood type theories in favor of trying to save my teeth. I found I handle it really well, as long as its raw (i.e. I minimize the amount of cheese I eat from local farmers because they heat the milk during the cheese-making process; I’ve found I don’t digest it as well). Also, I should specify that I consume goat milk, not cow milk… but I have occasionally tried raw cow milk and did fine.
While I do agree with some of the blood type theory principles, I cannot get behind it 100%. I think people who push those theories are just limiting themselves (and those around them). I don’t think things are as simple as whether you are Type O, Type A, etc. There are lots of other factors involved and we each have to find what works best for ourselves.
I realize your comment was a couple years ago, but hope this info is helpful to someone.
Emily, I love this! My family (of 6–including 3 big boys who eat a lot) uses about 5 lbs of butter each week. So we would use 60 lbs+ in 3 months! 🙂 🙂 I love butter, it’s a super important part of our diet! Your post is awesome! Such a cute photo of your little one! 🙂
Family of 6 going through four sticks a week, more on weeks were one of us decides to do a little baking. We just moved to a more rural area and the farmers market closed by the time we got out here, but I am excited to find more local farmers and start shopping with them vs the grocery store.
avg 4 lbs/wk for a family of 6, but 3 rarely eat home….. and we don’t bake with this, either. baking gets its own butter.
HI– What’s the best way to find this butter in my local area? What to search for? Thx.
Find your local Weston A Price chapter leader. They should be able to point you to the place. 🙂
ahhhhh, it’s WHAT we’re putting the butter on that makes us fat. I knew it! Must rethink.
I buy when the butter is on sale and freeze it. My mother couldn’t believe that my cholesterol levels were normal since I use butter and mayo heavily. I always tell people real food isn’t a problem.
Great post 🙂 I forget though that it is difficult for those in the USA to get dairy & beef products from pasture raised cows. Here in New Zealand we are so lucky as that is the norm for us. I can’t imagine anything different. I will count my blessings 🙂
Thanks Jen! Lucky you. I would love to visit New Zealand some day soon. 🙂
I believe in eating the correct fats and foods for health and research quite a bit to formulate my way of eating. Having said that I am intrigued by this article (like so many others) BUT I have never ran across a blog where someone has tested their cholesterol after eating such foods as in this article. Also I am not saying you are wrong or right but for me I never feel comfortable taking chances without knowing some kind of test was done to verify the results. Hopefully you do not take this as an insult because I am not trying to say you are wrong. I am just doing my best to make informed decisions for my health.
Hi Ryan – No insult taken. I’ve definitely heard plenty of testimonials for folks who have eating saturated fat without adverse effects on cholesterol, but I can’t say exactly where. Personally, I really don’t like blood draws so I haven’t done this experiment. Perhaps another reader has done this?
Ryan – See Davette’s comment above. 🙂
Ryan, I suppose you can say I did a study. 3 years ago, I was one sick puppy – seeing my doctor every 2 weeks cause I was going down-hill fast. My blood work was all wonky – WBC was LOW, platelets were low, RBC was off, BUT my cholesterol was great – maybe great for mainstream medicine, but not for me. My cholesterol was 142 and my doc was so happy about that. Even though I was fatigued, couldn’t think straight, I was dizzy, my hair was falling out, I was itchy, my skin was yellow and dry, she was happy about my cholesterol. My doctor was concentrating on the numbers in my chart and completely ignoring what was happening to ME. My doc was a Functional Medicine physician and I wasn’t taking any meds, but once I researched her supplements, I found out they were GMO. I decided it was time to take charge of my own health and started eating organic, grass-fed, really natural foods – and stepped up the butter, olive oil and coconut oil. Six months later, I was improving – still sick – but improving. I had my blood work done again – my CBC was totally normal and my cholesterol was 220 – that’s the REAL perfect number. That was a 18 months ago and I’m only getting better and so is my son. We NEED cholesterol – for brain and body. Watch out! As of January 2013, the FDA is implementing the their ridiculous “Food Safety Modernization Act.” It’s their secret little war on raw milk.
Yep! I’m recovering from mercury poisoning from my amalgam fillings and our son is recovering from vaccine injury. We ate really good food before we figured things out, but NOW we’ve kicked it up a notch. We ate butter, but now we eat a half pound per of organic, grass-fed butter each day. My new mantra is “We’re getting better with butter!” And I love the look I get when I tell the “margarine” people.
Love your post! We are a family of 4 and go through 5-8 lbs a week depending on what I am making. WE could go through more I am sure, but it is so expensive. I try and eat at LEAST 4-6 T a day.
I used to NEVER buy butter (I almost typed “better”–how apt!). I read Prevention magazines religiously for a while, and fancied meself a bit of a health expert! …despite my rather uh…”statuesque” or “voluptuous” build. 😉 Then, well, the internet won me over to butter’s benefits. 🙂 Now, I NEVER buy margarine–and NEVER will again. Lol. My family of 3–one of whom is a 2yo–eat 1-2 lbs. of butter a week. But, I rarely bake. If I did, it would be more, I’m sure.
Laura! I have to ask – this may be really forward – but once you discovered butter’s benefits, did you lose weight? I did. It’s crazy! To lose weight, all one needs to do is eat good food and REALLY good fats and the weight falls off. Go figger! The body knows what to do if nourished???? And girl – I have a gluten-free bread recipe tah die for – so let me know if you want it.
I would like that recipe, please. 🙂
Hello – just reading this awesome older post and the comments, and we would LOVE that good gluten free bread recipe (egg free if possible, and/or suggestions of what to sub for eggs). We are eliminating certain foods for a time in aid of healing my Lyme disease and some food sensitivities – even our beloved eggs from our farm lady neighbor, because our daughter tested super reactive to them on the IgG test (although she has never felt sick from eating them). We love butter and I love ghee!
Frankly, I’m appalled at you bragging about such gluttonous behavior…even laughing at your small child eating just straight out butter. You are not teaching your children healthy eating habits at all. Shame on you.
Hahahaha!!!!
LOL my kids ask can I have a piece of butter LOL so while we might not eat as much we eat our fair share
We eat 5 pounds of butter a week. Family of five, kids aged 7, 5, and 2.
Lose weight while eating all the butter and good fats that you want by not eating all the carbs: The “Fathead” movie: http://www.hulu.com/#!watch/196879
You are nobody to be dishing out your bullshit advice, telling people to stuff themselves with animal fat just because that’s what you and your redneck family do. Assholes like you and your useless lay persons advice are what confuses the issues and keep making people fatter every day. I’m aware that every douchebag on the internet wants to be a guru and act like a know it all about things they don’t have the first clue about but please, give it a rest. No one needs diet advice from the farmers house frau.
Keep eating your canola oil sweetheart
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!
I also don’t agree with eating so much butter, but everyone is entitled to their opinion, and Hey–if it works for them, who am I to knock it?! No one is telling you to do anything! Relax!!!
My grandmother, the wife of a dairy farmer, was a part of a forty year study along with all of the nursing students that she graduated with. She sent in fingernail clippings and pieces of hair ever so often for them to research and compare with others from her class. Part of the findings from the research was that you should ONLY eat butter, NEVER eat margarine. Needless to say, our family has only ever eaten butter. It is interesting, however, that the research conclusions haven’t made any waves in the way that our government views healthy food!
Hi Anna – Thanks for sharing! I would LOVE to see the details of that study… Do you have them? Could you link them here or email me with them? emily at holisticsquid dot com. Thanks!
Real studies don’t say “you should never _______.” Studies don’t work that way, and it’s unfortunate that you lack the science background to understand how scientific studies actually work. They may find a correlation, but not the cause. Please tell me the name of the university and scientists participating in the study so that I can verify the information, thank you.
I live very small far place, where I could found that?
Great article! I am all excited as today I am picking up 20 lbs of salted and 10 lbs of unsalted Cultured Pasture butter. My connection is getting it from Petaluma too, but not sure if same place? They are actually picking up 900 pounds for us folks here in Butte County! Being mid April, this spring butter is the best of the best! Purchasing in BIG bulk order, I am paying 5 bucks a pound. I also am giving 15 bucks for delivery.
We also are big on raw milk and have 3 shares of pasture cows with weekly raw milk. There is no comparison with raw milk. One is healthy( RAW) and one is “Dead” with terrible fat (the kind you buy in the grocery store).
Then of course comes the protein: Local grass fed, pasture raised Black Angus! We buy a 1/4 to a 1/2 steer every year from Browns Valley! Guilt free! I even have picked out what steer!
Screw the Doctors with Statins! Were you aware that people on Statins have an increased risk of Cancer?
I purchase 50lbs in the spring and #50 in the fall for my family of 5 and we still run out!
To FU: Since you used such foul language and wrote so nastily, I want to ask you: Does F U stand for F—YOU? If you think the advice is so bad, why are you reading it? I LOVE BUTTER. Cholesterol is not the problem. Google Linus Pauling, a two time Nobel Winner in Science.
The French east much more butter than other people, yet they have very few heart-attacks. The people in the U.S. eat little butter, but have hundreds of heart-attacks. Cause? STRESS.
Makes sense to me.
I googled him and it said he was a quack who said vitamin C could cure cancer, yet he DIED FROM CANCER. Weird….
Mike, Weird ? Perhaps and perhaps not, considering that many autopsies reveal a great deal of men demonstrate a high prevalence of Prostrate Cancer that increase progressively with advancing age. Thus critics attempting to discredit Linus Pauling’s Vitamin C theory based on him having Prostate Cancer at 93 yrs old may actually be considered a cheap shot at best that holds little relevance.
Nonetheless, here is an example at the “International Journal of Epidemiology “, one of many articles outlining this issue
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/2/278.full
And furthermore, yes, Linus Pauling, PhD, the megadose vitamin C advocate, died in 1994 from prostate cancer. However, Mayo Clinic cancer researcher Charles G. Moertel, M.D., critic of Pauling and vitamin C, also died in 1994, and also from cancer (lymphoma). But Dr. Moertel was ONLY 66 years old. Dr. Pauling was 93 years old. Therefore I’d consider that QUACK bit statement with a grain of salt if at all. And if one is quoting Wikipedia as a source of information , …DON’T! It is a poor source for information anyone can edit, thus a poor source to garner one’s information.
Lastly, in regards to Vitamin C , One needs to make up ones own mind as to whether it Vitamin C is efficacious or not in addressing Cancer by doing their own research. I personally find it to have it a lot of merit insofar.
My budget is stretched too thin to be taking on original cancer prevention research right now. How’s yours going?
Eat butter, dump margarine and oils!
My family consists of me, and occasionally god-children. I have never measured how much butter I use, but I do use it liberally. I absolutely love butter. Right now, the butter I purchase locally is Amish made somewhere in the Carolinas I’m told. It comes in 2 pound rolls. It is glorious!!
I was really disappointed by the phrasing here:
“Here’s the thing, lots of folks really like to hear about the studies. They tout the conclusions of such studies as facts. Personally, I think the dependence on studies to form our opinions is hogwash.
The FACT is that all studies (regardless of how scientifically based) contain the element of human opinion, and it is absolutely impossible to completely omit the human element from a study. So, as it stands you can find a study to prove just about any theory you would like to support.”
Studies can be poorly run, experimentors can intentionally manipulate the data…that’s why we have a thing called peer review, and why most experiments must be run multiple times before they are actually considered to be fact…and even then the data is often used by laymen to support conclusions that they never tested.
But that does not invalidate the scientific process and one study can be better than another and the ones that get published in reputable journals actually end up being pretty dang reliable. Please don’t discourage people from being scientifically literate or valuing scientific literacy just because some do it poorly and others abuse the complexity.
I couldn’t believe the part about my body knowing when I need/don’t need foods – but the other day I had a snack of a muffin with a huge chunk of butter and the butter (from the same exact stick Im eating right now) tasted really oily and bad. That same morning I had a slab of it, and now today I’m having a slab. Again, all from the same little stick of fresh delicious butter. But that muffin and butter – I bet I didn’t need any at the time because wow it tasted awful! Maybe that is not why, who knows, I just thought it was interesting! I’ve been following my intuition and I’ve never felt better!!!
So…I eat butter, drink whole milk and weigh in at 112 lbs. And it’s not in my genes to be little. The key for me is to eat REAL food. We have a garden, raise grass fed beef, we fish, have pastured dairy cows and I work in a natural foods grocery where I can get what we don’t raise. I understand that we’re incredibly blessed to have these opportunities, but just about everyone can raise a tomato plant in a pot, a window sill pot of herbs or even backyard chickens. The other key for us is we expend a lot of physical energy to keep this all running. Be well, my friends 🙂
Hi
I would like to ask you about yout your opinion on diet without gallbladder I love butter cream cheese but I am concern if I can eat them so much without gallbladder. Or do you recommend to take oxbile with every meal? I do not take any yet.
Hi Emily,
Fascinating story! I am checking out a farmer’s market tomorrow and will be looking for butter, but do you think Kerry’s Gold is good enough? I can get it at fresh and easy for $4.99 a lb.
Thanks!
Hi Sarah, thanks for the question. I think it’s a great, affordable option. Of course local would be better, but cheap is good too!
this sounds great and all but i just gave birth 6 months ago and i am still trying to lose that last 8 pounds, i am just a bit worried about not only not losing it but actually gaining it when i add butter, cream, cheese, whole milk etc into my diet (avoided those things throughout the past many years!). as my body may not be used to this, is my body going to store up all that fat when i start eating this way and make me gain weight?
Dump gluten & grains, try not to replace those things with paleo or gluten-free goods (i.e. rice pasta, paleo chocolate chip cookies, etc), eat fruits and veggies, source humanely raised meats, and eat the butter/cream/raw or aged cheese. You shouldn’t have a problem.
Check out the MDA forums and search primal pregnancy… http://www.marksdailyapple.com
I read an article titled “Holy Fukushima” discussing the elevated radiation levels on the NW coast because of the waters that have come from Japan, affecting wildlife, farms, dairies, etc. Have you read the article? If so, how do you move forward without fear?
Hi Melissa, thanks for your question. Here’s my take on this: http://holisticsquid.com/should-we-be-worried-about-radiation-in-fish/
Mmmm… butter… Just under 1/2 stick per person per day actually doesn’t seem like that much to me. 🙂 I really wish we had the freezer space to store that much grassfed butter at a time to help make it more affordable. Have still not found a local, totally grassfed option with milk from A2 cows, but I’m sure it’s out there! (Oregon, between Salem and Bend, in case anyone can give me any info.)
My husband and I (15 weeks pregnant!) go through about a pound of Kerrygold each week. That will likely step up as the weather gets colder, I get further along, and I start my bulletproof tea again. I recently retired from a corporate job to be at home, and am enjoying making a lot of things from scratch, so the butter finds its way into pie crusts and bread and perfectly cooked chicken. =)
I don’t have access to raw grass fed dairy where I live so the best I can find is certified organic butter that is mostly grass fed depending on weather and fed certified organic grains including corn and soy. I could however cross the borders to the States and stock up on some Kerrygold butter. Is this better than the butter I have now? I’ve heard that Kerrygold cannot guarantee that their grain feed is GMO free so i’m quite worried there as I avoid all GMOs.
Just stumbled across your blog and I love it! This is a great post about butter, sat fat, causes of obesity, etc. Look forward to future posts now that I am following you 🙂
I will take butter vs. margarine any day. I hear margarine is one step away from plastic explosives.and after you take chemistry and learn what trans fat really is…yay moo!love the post!
Butter makes everything tastes great, but like you said…your body tells you when you’ve had enough. I could eat butter all by itself, but I do limit myself. Too much of a good thing can lose its influential power over my taste buds. 😉
I am on Protein Power Lifeplan by Drs. Eades. Started back in 2003, losing 30# without hunger. About the same time, found out I was allergic to dairy through testing. I am O+. Someone asked about cholesterol tests. I did have mine tested prior to and after the diet. My HDL(good) improved, and LDL (bad) dropped. At that time, I was eatimg like a cave man, without dairy. Now, because of incr. age
Sorry, …because of age, having pain from old car accident arthritis. Decided to go even more natural. Went gluten free, no corn, potatoes, or sugar. Drank only water and green tea, AND added pasture butter, when I read how my healthy margarine was made. So far, so good. My pain level has dropped dramatically! My next step is to get off of stevia. Really LOVE the pasture butter. My body crabed it, but that is slowing down.
“craved”, .Lol! (Should be on my computer instead of my phone!)
I am so glad you put this up here. I am a butter lover always have been and always will be. I never bought into the butter is bad for you hype. When I buy butter I make sure it is organic and it usually has at most 2 ingredients (cream and salt). If you look on the back of the “butter alternative” products that claim to be better for you its all type of junk in it that’s bad for you.
People have tried to warn me about my butter eating habits vs. their smart balance or whatever they choose but I just laugh and say…. have you ever looked at the ingredients on the back of that stuff? I can almost guarantee you that in 10 or less years from now somebodies going to realize something in it causes cancer or some other life threatening illness.
My husband eats as much of it as y’all do though i personally don’t have a taste for it. I’ll eat it in baked products etc but to go out and consume it with bread and stuff.. ew no… i prefer olive oil or avocados! Or bacon for that matter
do you think high-quality cultured butter from grass-fed cows has nutritional benefits that cannot be obtained through other good fats like organic virgin coconut oil and cold-pressed flax oil and other quality oils? what is the advantage, nutritionally? (not flavor or texture preferences or variety of cooking uses.)
good butter can be really expensive and difficult to find.
Hi Trisha, thanks for your question. Yes, you can’t get Vitamin K2 from vegetarian based oils. In this post I discuss which foods contain k2. Hope that helps!
Just one more thing to look out for. Did you know that Ireland is one of the very few countries in Europe that fluoridates the water?. And yes, the fluoride in Kerry Gold butter is high… the poor cows must drink that fluoridated water. I am sure there are US dairies where cows must also drink the fluoridated water as well. But isnt there a local farmer who is doing it the right way ? And the fluoride in Irish cheese is much higher than in the butter of course. There is also some discussion on the web of Kerry Gold cows eating GMO grains.
Your Public Health Advisor
Young single woman here. I eat about half a pound of Kerrygold every week/two weeks, depending on how much I’m home. I cook eggs and veggies with it, bake with it, and eat a pat of it straight off the knife when I’m craving fat. I’m intrigued by the idea of bulletproof tea, too. And I’m thin and trim and work out often, and when people find out how much butter, bacon and coconut oil I eat, they tend to be shocked. F;unny thing is, I didn’t look so good before I started eating this way. REAL nutrition is the best BEAUTY secret!
Hi Kat – Thanks for your comment. I couldn’t agree more!
Hi Emily!
I love all your posts and recently referred back to this one because I never realized how close I am to the Petaluma farms here in SF! I would love to introduce MORE butter into my families diet (particularly because we are trying to add a third party and have difficulties) but my husband is lactose sensitive. What would you recommend for the lactose sensitive individuals? All I want is butter but I believe his digestion is just too sensitive for it and would love an alternative to help.
Thanks Brittany! I would highly recommend ghee. 🙂
Hi all!
We’ve always eaten butter, and my mother forbade any margarines in the house. We live in Australia and my Mum’s Mum knew some of the bigwig margarine manufacturing factory people when it first got into big production here. The guy involved not only told her what garbage went into it, but what they did to hydrogenate it, and also told her that he wouldn’t allow it in his own house. It wasn’t his company, he just owned the factory. He warned her against it, and so we never had it.
Who’d want it anyway? It tastes like cr@pola.
So now it’s likewise forbidden in my house…
@ Brittany
Maybe try some cultured butter…the bacteria eats all the lactose and turns it into good stuff as long as it’s made properly. Better yet, get some kefir grains and culture your own cream to make butter! It’s easy, there’s plenty of info if you google it. And you then know if it’s been cultured long enough to consume all the lactose. I make cheese (soft and hard cheeses), butter, ferment veg and soak flours etc etc all from the kefir and it’s whey. It’s great in smoothies, and there’s no sign of my lactose intolerance symptoms.
Good luck!
I have to eat dairy free for my 6 month old, and my toddler has to be dairy and gluten free. Is there an option for us in the raw butter world? We’ve been so happy to find the Earth Balance dairy and soy free “butter” but I see it listed in your icky list as a fake food. What else can we do though? (I’ve just recently started adding some soy back into my diet to see if the nursling can handle it.)
We use Earths Balance, as well. I think the author is commenting on the Earths Balance with soy. Some other options are coconut butter or you can purchase Earths Balance Dairy olive oil butter. When having to pick foods based on allergies, I try to do my best. My daughter is allergic to all forms of cow dairy. We were informed she might outgrow this allergy. At the age of 6 it is still alive and rears it’s ugly head. We know within 30 minutes if she ingested food with dairy, whether it be raw, organic, full of pesticides. It does not matter she gets this funky cough, difficulty breathing and then begins to vomit for an hour. The vomiting does go away, but the cough remains for at least a week. It is such a bummer. I wish you the best of luck and don’t be to hard on yourself.
Hi Jill – Thank you for your comment. Is the dairy allergy caused by casein? If it is, you could try ghee. Otherwise I would stick to organic olive and coconut oil.
We love raw cultured butter!!! Farmer’s GOLD. I make it fresh weekly by culturing the thick cream, then it turns thicker after culturing. I don’t know how much our family eats, but a pound at least. Ghee too.
We love our Jersey cows, they provide so much abundance in the form of milk, cheese, butter, whey.
My family eats around 20 pounds of butter every 3 months, and we are 3 people.
I’m from France, and believe me, the French eat LOTS of butter, maybe this is why we are rather healthy despite the foie gras consumption ^^
Hi, I went on the creamery’s website and I didn’t see anything this big, is this something you can get if you are local to them?
Good way of describing, and fastidious paragraph to obtain facts concerning my presentation subject,
which i am going to deliver in institution of higher education.
Hi! My family eats as much butter as yours. We have 8yo and 4 yo super healthy and brilliant kids!
We consumed so much dairy that I fed up with buying it and got a dairy cow! Might as well make my own! And loving it! I suggest it to everyone who has capacity(pasture) to do so.
I also wanted to mention that my husband, when he was before 2years old, was given a stick of butter as his snack from his German grandma.
I absolutely love this post – nobody eats butter like my family UNTIL I read this post of yours. when I average on the very low side and tell people minimum 4lbs per week (don’t want to shock them too much), they almost die and I think “andd that does not include butter for cooking, ghee for frying . . . ” *G* We have our own grassfed dairy cows here and I have “butter cows” that are here just to produce lots of cream for our butter habit. And when you make ghee for frying (you haven’t tasted delisch til you’ve had ghee), you need even more, and we go through a quart of ghee per week also (something to fry our dozen eggs for breakfast. . . )
I’m hungry just reading this, and I also have daughters who will eat butter on it’s own 🙂
Not to nitpick, but I think CAFO actually stands for CONFINED Animal Feeding Operation, which is slightly different than conventional or concentrated. I believe it means the animals are confined in stalls and cannot move freely. I’m not sure what concentrated would mean, unless it refers to overcrowded conditions, which could happen with or without stalls.
No Sarah, Tanya is correct. The C stands for concentrated. You can easily confirm this with a quick Google search. CAFO animals are confined but that is not what the letter stands for.
Hi Emily
I love your posts! Thank you! Question- I’m newly pregnant ( 7 weeks) and I keep reading that pregnant women shouldn’t have unpasteurized dairy or juice. I buy raw, unpasteurized cheese and butter and love my local juice bar. Is this true? Should I stick with pasteurized dairy and juices throughout pregnancy? Thanks!!
Hi Pregnant one – Thanks for your question! I cant advice you on what’s right for your pregnancy, but if I were pregnant I would certainly be drinking my favorite juice from my local juice bar as well as raw mik and cheese. Hope that helps!
There are two of us and we do a pound a week, which I thought was a lot before I read all these comments. I’ve a research-oriented post here:
http://www.deductiveseasoning.com/2014/03/butter-is-true-superfood.html
I live alone, and I go through almost a stick of butter a day, and several T. of ghee; I use lots, and lots of ghee daily!
I don’t have access to local raw pastured butter, so I use either President Cultured Butter from France, and/or Kerrygold from Ireland; both are from grass fed cows; and I always have both on hand, as I like them both, I don’t favor either one.
I also will only cook with Ghee, Lard, or Duck Fat. I use coconut oil daily in oil pulling, gargling, and applying all over my body; i/e, I wash up with coconut oil.
Wondering what your family’s cholesterol looks like a year later? Blood triglyceride levels? LDL? HDL?
Hi RJ – I haven’t had them tested. I am not concerned about elevated cholesterol levels in woman, as it can be protective against heart disease: http://holisticsquid.com/is-high-cholesterol-in-women-a-good-thing/
yumm.
My husband and I eat about 1 1/2-2 pounds of butter a week depending on how much I bake. We currently live in Germany and get Kerrygold (it’s SO cheap-on sale for about $2.60 a lb) but in the Fall the shepherds bring the cows down from the Alps where they’ve been grazing all summer and making special Alpine butter. There are probably at least 10 different types of butter made here, it’s crazy but awesome. 🙂
We are a family of 7 and only eat about one pound a week, but I use a wide variety of healthy fats as each has a unique nutrient profile and also some fats are better at higher heat than others. I buy 6 gallons of raw milk a week. I make butter, buttermilk, raw cream cheese, yogurt and raw cheeses. I spend more per gallon on milk but I actually come out way ahead because of what I can get out of it. And no, you don’t have to spend your life in the kitchen – most of that can be done very quickly or 1 to 2 times a month.
I love butter! I have noticed myself that when we started eating real grass fed butter (Kerry Gold is the best for us at the moment) that we lost weight, were less bloated, and not to mention the butter is so delicious you could eat it with a spoon! We probably go through about a block a week between the two of us. Depends also what we’re cooking that week! I urge all my friends (and readers) to eat grass fed butter!
Butter is better!
Cynthia
http://www.sensiblysharp.com
Everything you say speaks volumes of truth.
Thank you!
Normally I would agree based on everything I’ve read but I went on a healthy regime for 6 months (no dairy aside from the butter, no meat, no oils, no sugar, no grains) for about 6 months and ate tons of steamed veggies SMOTHERED in Organic Pastures Raw Butter and nothing else that would cause high cholesterol and my LDL numbers were off the charts, nothing else was wrong in my blood tests. The only thing I could guess was the butter was used in excess, about one pound per week. It’s also ridiculously expensive at $18 per pound plus tax. It’s hard to justify.
I laughed when I read this. *Phew* We are not the only ones! We buy 5kg (about 11 pounds) of butter every 3 weeks. And it’s just my husband and I! Granted he is in the fitness industry, works out a lot, and typically consumes more than 3000cals a day. Most of our calories come from fat. Buying grass fed Anchor butter in bulk has changed our lives!!! We don’t feel the need to “skimp” on butter to save money now… We just add as many pads until our hearts are content!! Love your blog!!!
I agree, when you are eating REAL FOOD; actual veggies, fruit, seeds, nuts and lean proteins, you don’t have to count calories or fat grams. Just eat real food, move your body and be true to yourself. Thats what leads to a happy healthy life!
I’m trying to get my family to eat more butter. My husband is afraid of any fats, I was putting butter in my coffee but for some reason I’m getting sick of it. I prefer some sort of cream. Not sure why I became sick of my butter coffee,
Fantastic words… We absolutely LOVE butter. I particularly love really hot toast with butter dripping from it and when we have no butter I don’t eat toast at all.
gramswisewords.blogspot.com
Thanks for this post. My family consumes about the same amount of butter per head. We were also quite amazed that the amount we consumed because we substituted butter (and beef dripping) for all kitchen needs. Not even olive oil is used. It has been a complete boycott of vegetable oils. We have found a lightness in all food and desserts made with animal fat. All pans are easier to clean. (There are no resinous deposits). We mostly use clarified butter or plain French Normandy butter bought in 200g blocks. Most supermarket butter is through intensive farming. So we tend to stick to smaller French brands that come from free grazing cows. Normandy origin butter appears to be lush. Within UK, the Jersey and/or Guernsey islands, some Welsh farmers, etc. have some tasty butter offerings. With regard to cholesterol, our experience is that we seem to have better stats than we did before the boycott of vegetable fat. Lower resting heart rate, more stamina, no weight gain, lower and consistently better bloodpressure readings. We are in the 4th year of having made this switch. Only trouble is that we have to avoid almost all supermarket food as they ALL contain vegetable fat. We make our own food as well as our own crispy snacks etc. As for the expense, just changing the deep-fat fryer from 4 litres of vegetable oil to 4000 grams of beef dripping cost six times more. However, the cost of ill heath is much more. Hence, on balance, it works out cheaper in the long run.