Things have been a little hectic lately, so we were looking for something to bring us back into balance. There’s nothing like a little comfort food to generate some harmony in the home, and one of our favorites is Chicken Pot Pie. A lot of folks just buy their pie crusts from the refrigerated section at the grocery store. It’s easy and convenient and there’s no mess all over the counter.
We like to make our own though; it’s pretty simple, perhaps a little messy. The supermarket variety just can’t match the flaky, tender, buttery flavor of a homemade crust. And we know exactly what’s in it – flour, butter, salt and water. Here’s what’s in that Pillsbury pie crust from the market:
Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Lard and Hydrogenated Lard with BHA and BHT Added to Protect Flavor, Water, Wheat Starch, Corn Starch. Contains 2% or less of: Salt, Rice Flour, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (preservatives), Citric Acid, Annatto Extract (for color).
I’m not sure what some of those ingredients are but I know a few of them and I don’t want them in my body. Sadly much of the processed, packaged food on store shelves these days are chock full of chemical and industrial ingredients. Ingredients designed to enhance flavor or make the product viable on the shelf for an extended period. They are created to generate profits, not provide nutrition and support health.
Golden Goodness
As I was incorporating two sticks of golden goodness into the flour with the food processor, I began to ponder all the misinformation about butter and why the guilt and fear around it still persists. Baby Boomer’s seem to be especially trapped in the belief that butter should be avoided at all costs. That to dare to eat it, other than on Thanksgiving Day mashed potatoes, means hardened arteries and a guaranteed heart attack or something.
“I like bread, and I like butter – but I like bread with butter best.” ~ Sarah Weiner
The misinformation exploded when Ancel Keys’ “Seven Countries Study,” (it began with 22 countries but two-thirds of them didn’t fit his hypothesis) convinced various groups that saturated fats caused heart disease and recommended a low fat diet. The Keys concept that polyunsaturated fat, (PUFA) was healthier than saturated fat ramped up the margarine lunacy to new levels. In the early 1900’s folks were consuming nearly 20 pounds of butter per year but by the seventies it was down to under 5 pounds.
I still remember some of the commercial campaigns of the day. Chiffon’s, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature,” the housewife arguing with the box of Parkay and the kid getting his Imperial crown after biting into his morning toast. The truth about trans fats and PUFA’s started filtering in, in the 90’s and it became clear that margarine was a much bigger heart health problem than butter but the Boomer’s still hang onto their Country Crock.
Why? I wonder. Is it confirmation bias that drives their reluctance? Butter has been gaining ground on margarine for a couple of decades but the trend seems to be driven by younger generations, the Boomer’s still seem unconvinced. When you analyze what’s actually in margarine, it’s a little scary, if you ask me.
Country Crock spread contains a vegetable oil blend of liquid soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil and hydrogenated cottonseed oil, water, whey, salt, vegetable mono- and diglycerides, soy lecithin, potassium sorbate, calcium disodium-preservative, citric acid, artificial flavor, vitamin A and beta carotene for color.
That’s a long list, especially when you consider the ingredients of butter are – Cream and Salt. Hydrogenated seed oils may be the most toxic of industrial ingredients and there are two different types in Country Crock. In 2012, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) also concluded that there were serious concerns regarding the genotoxicity and carcinogenicity of potassium sorbate. And then you need to consider the other half dozen flavor enhancers and stabilizers.
Good Fat – Bad Fat
After the Keys study, the assumption was that butter has a high fat content and is therefore bad for your health. Margarine was suggested as a healthier alternative – heck, even Eleanor Roosevelt said so, so it must be true; sadly it wasn’t. In the 1990’s, health experts and nutritionists finally began to speak up and make it known that butter is much healthier than margarine.
Margarine is full of PUFA’s and leads to an increased incidence of heart disease and cancer. It’s time to wake up Boomer’s, butter is a natural healthy product and margarine is a toxic, industrial creation that will destroy your health. Saturated fats are needed for energy, hormone production, cellular membranes and for organ padding. Certain saturated fatty acids are also required for signaling and stabilization processes in the body.
When these important saturated fatty acids are not readily available, growth factors in cells and organs will not align properly and sickness and disease will manifest. The double carbon bond in PUFA’s make them unstable at high temperatures, like 98.6 degrees for instance. Bioenergetically they create havoc with your metabolism. Life is just better with butter!
Really good read. This blog could be expanded quite a bit regarding processed foods. If one (boomer) would just look at the correlation between the advent of the mass production of processed foods / fast, convenience food and heart disease, cancer, and obesity it becomes very clear they’re related. The timeline curves are almost identical. Then there’s the industrial/lobbyist/ political aspect that drives and perpetuates it. Sorry Mike I’ll shut up now, thanks for the post…..I love it.
Indeed! Then there’s glyphosate, GMO’s and big pharma. And please don’t shut up, my friend. I appreciate the feedback and the ideas for future posts.