Can you Eat Butter On Mediterranean Diet?

Butter has been heavily demonized for being fat in general and for containing saturated fatty acids in particular. Well, neither one thing nor the other has to make you sick, far from it, nor prevent your slimming diet from being a success.

what’s in the butter

Butter is basically the fat of milk, being this food in its composition a minimum of 80% fat. It contains saturated fatty acids, but you should also know that not all are the same and that these short fatty acids (chemically they are short or medium chains) are actually beneficial for our body. Also, not all kinds of butter are the same, some may contain something more added, especially salt.

Regarding the salt contained in butter, we should be a little more careful, following the recommendations of the WHO that tells us to limit to 5 g of salt a day, and some brands of butter contain almost 3% salt, so I recommend you try to buy them without salt.

Another drawback of butter is its caloric intake, as it does not contain water practically in its composition, and such a percentage of fat provides a lot of energy. This can be solved by taking the right ration that will vary from one person to another, but about 10 to 20 g to spread or cook, can make you enjoy your recipe, without being a problem for causing excess caloric, and in turn, taking advantage of its nutrients, such as fat-soluble vitamins A and D, very important for bone health.

recommendations when it comes to eating butter

I recommend being very careful with the confusion created with “vegetable fats”. They are not better than butter unless we talk about an unrefined oil, as with extra virgin olive oil, which is healthy.

Margarine is actually a mixture of hydrogenated vegetable fats, that is, through an industrial modification, it has been achieved that they are solid, and cause serious health problems. Therefore, avoid margarine and any other product that contains trans fatty acids in its composition.

Enjoy butter in its measure, for cooking it is very stable, that is, it oxidizes less than other oils, so it can be a good option, and despite being caloric, it is satiating, which is very positive when we try to lose weight.