Butter or Margerine

Question
Laurie
What is your opinion on the butter vs margerine debate?
As a kid I was slim, so was everybody else.
Then as an adult I switched to butter thinking it was healthier.
The weight began to creep up, even though I eat quite healthy and exercise. I do however enjoy toast with margerine and margerine on by potatoes and veggies.
I tried to cut it out but cant lose the 'fat tooth'.
I have gone back to using butter though sparingly.
I recently had a chat with some slim senior citizens about food.
They all ate butter not margerine.
Getting info on the web is impossible with those that say butter is evil(along with fat on meat) and those that say its a good fat-its the processed fats that are unnatural and evil. After all butter has  been around for hundreds of years.
Thanks for your opinion.

Answer
Dear Terry,

If you talk about pure butter vs pure margarine they both have the same calories, and margarine has trans fats which make the vegetable oil solid. It's probably a toss-up healthwise: butter has cholesterol and margarine doesn't, but it's a small amount (10 mg) if you just have one teaspoon.
Now there are many lower fat and lower calorie varieties of both butter and margarines. The more liquid you get, the better for your health. This ranges from stick to tub to squeeze to spray!
If you use butter sparingly (up to 3 teaspoons per day) it is unlikely this is the cause of your weight gain.

Think about how you ate as a "slim kid" and how active you were! There are probably many differences in your diet as well as your exercise level. I believe we eat larger portions and more often as adults, plus we can afford more financially. Dining out, shopping for whatever we want to have around the house for snacks, and alcoholic beverages can really add up to enough calories to put on extra pounds.

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