Butter Vs. Margarine Vs. Cooking Oils: Which is Better to Use?

I'm a real stickler about reading the labels of any food product I buy. Like most people, I'm trying to eat healthier, not only to maintain my weight, but to try and reduce the possibilities of developing health conditions, such as cancer or heart problems.

As you may know and realize, that unless you buy foods in their more "natural" state, that is fresh produce and meats, most of our foods are heavily processed, especially our convenience foods, such as any prepared frozen and canned foods and so forth. I try to minimize buying such food products, since it's my belief, that if you can't even pronounce the ingredients in processed foods and need a chemist degree to understand just what is in food, then one shouldn't be buying them, which is also why, I prefer to cook the vast majority of my meals from scratch, that way I at least I know what is going into my meals.

One of the greatest controversies I find is the battle of which are the better fats that we use in our day to day lives for cooking or baking. Is it butter? Is it margarine? And which are the better cooking oils? Once again, by reading the labels of any of these, one will be amazed by the differences. More important, one has to ask, which of these are safer to use?

Read the label ingredients of any pure butter product. I give the ingredients of Land O Lakes butter here as an example, and they are simply, "Sweet Cream, Salt. Contains: Milk"...that's it. Plain and simple. Below are the Nutrition Facts for their butter, which can be seen on the package and also on their website. Land O Lakes Butter

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 tbsp (14g)
Servings Per Container: Will depend on package size.
Amount Per Serving
Calories 100 Calories from Fat 100
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11 g 17%
Saturated Fat 7 g 37%
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 30 mg 10%
Sodium 95 mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 0 g 0%
Dietary Fiber 0 g 0%
Sugars 0 g
Protein 0 g
Vitamin A 8 % Calcium 0 %
Vitamin C 0 % Iron 0 %
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.