Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST
By Tammy Duffy
Three weeks ago my Mom started a science project in her backyard. She placed a container of margarine outside in the elements, in the shade, to see what would happen to it. I have no idea what possessed her to do this but the results have been quite interesting.
After three weeks, in the heat (there were days that were 90 degrees) not one bug entered the container. Not one. The margarine did not lose its shape or consistency. There has been some pollen and petals that have blown into the container, but other than that, nothing has happened to it. This particular brand (seen below in the photo) is supposed to be the "healthier" type of margarine because its made with olive oil. There is not one fruit fly, no mold or other type of growing organism from not being refrigerated. It has not rotted and does not smell any differently. That cannot be a good thing.
I have moved my Mom's container to my home and have added another brand of margarine to the experiment. We will see what happens over the next several weeks. I must say after witnessing what happened with my Mom's experiment, I will never eat margarine again. I will proudly only buy butter and be better off for it.
Way back yonder margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. Well, this did not work out so well, it actually killed the turkeys. The companies that put all their to research of course wanted an return on their investment. So, they repackaged it and added yellow coloring and began selling it to the human race to replace butter.
So, let's compare and contrast....butter vs. margarine. Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine. If you eat margarine you actually can increase your chance for heart disease, especially in women in women by 53% . By eating butter this actually increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added and they are synthetic.
Let's not forget the most important part of all of this. Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods. Margarine has a plastic taste to it.
And now for Margarine…..
It is very high in Trans Fatty Acids and triples your risk of Coronary Heart Disease. It also increases your Total Cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL Cholesterol, (the good cholesterol). It also increases the risk of cancers up to five times. Lowers quality of breast milk and decreases immune response.
If one evaluates the molecular structure of margarine is one molecule away from being plastic. It also shares 27 ingredients with paint. My Mom's experiment and these facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life.
If a fly won't go near the food on your plate, its probably not healthy to eat. We will report back in a few weeks with an update on the other brand we are not testing along side Mom's original container. Off to the butter aisle in the grocery store!
