Butter…one of the most luxurious fats to eat!

Especially if it is grass-fed, which provides you with a beautiful yellow hue, along with plentiful omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, D, E, K, and of course, a creamy, satisfying flavor and texture. In my opinion, butter is one of the best fats to eat. 

From Plant-BasedTo Grass-fed Butter

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was eating a plant-based diet and also experiencing intense morning sickness. I began to crave rare steaks, bacon, and butter. After being so hungry for so long, and after my morning sickness mostly faded, I was out shopping at Sam’s Club and found myself walking into the refrigerated cheese/meat/butter section. This was not planned and none of these ingredients were on my shopping list…yet, there I was. I saw a big tub of grass-fed butter and excitedly grabbed one to try later. In fact, I was so excited to eat this butter after buying it that I sat in my car in the Sam’s Club parking lot, sitting low so nobody would see me, found a plastic knife, and helped myself to this delicious tub of butter.

After a few bites, I was satisfied and drove home. I stuck the butter in my freezer to take out and snack on, like a tub of ice cream. It was an absolute treat for me! This, along with slowly “giving in” and eating the rare steaks and bacon that I craved so much, is what changed my mind about the plant-based diet. I began to feel satisfied with my food and was also starting to feel less like a feather in the wind, easy to push around, fragile, and weak. 

Though this story is pretty embarrassing, I think it is safe to say that I REALLY NEEDED something that was in that butter. Whether that be vitamin A in the form of retinol (not found in this form in plants), vitamin D (I don’t get enough sun, wasn’t eating fatty fish, or supplementing), vitamins E or K, or even omega-3 fatty acids (again, mostly found in fatty fish and grass-fed/pastured animal products), I’ll never know…but it is probably true that I needed all of those things, and so did the baby in my belly. And no, I wasn’t taking a prenatal vitamin regularly…again, the wrong choice on my part. I thank God my baby girl turned out healthy and her bowed legs corrected themselves within months of being born.

Prioritizing Butter In My Home

As I already mentioned, butter is delicious and contains many beneficial nutrients. Veganism/plant-based dieting did not provide me with the things I needed, and morning sickness prevented me from eating what I required, so it made sense that I craved dense sources of these nutrients that I was likely lacking. And this also includes calories…I didn’t have enough muscle or fat on my frame, in my opinion. Now, butter is a staple fat in our household. The children often ask for bites of pure butter, and I (almost) never deny their requests, because I remember the strong craving I had while pregnant in Sam’s Club and craving butter as a child. Unless we are almost out of butter and need it for a recipe, the kids (and myself!) are never denied a bite of grass-fed luxury!

Uses of Grass-fed Butter

And it turns out, there are many ways to eat butter. You could be like me and my children and eat pure butter (yes, I still do it too!), use it for sauteing, adding it to baked goods, or using it to grease pans. Since time has passed, I’ve found a couple of other creative ways to add grass-fed butter into our diet: bulletproof tea/coffee , melted over steamed vegetables, in homemade hollandaise sauce, on grilled salmon, for pan-fried steak, and mixed with honey/herbs and made into a spread. But this really is a basic ingredient, so there aren’t any “special” ways to eat it. We enjoy it every day and even by itself, and I don’t hide in my vehicle to eat it in secret, either! 

Further Reading on the Benefits of Grass-fed Butter: 

Why Butter Is Better: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/know-your-fats/why-butter-is-better/