Let’s say you’ve gotten the whole grain message loud and clear.  You’ve combed the bread aisles or your local bakery – you’ve read your labels and you’ve found your healthy, 100% whole grain bread.  But wait… what’s going on those healthy breads? How you spread ‘em matters, too.

My husband’s grandfather could not make a sandwich – even a peanut butter sandwich – without first spreading both slices of bread with margarine.  Based on the dizzying array of products on the market, a lot of people must share his passion for oleo. You’ve got spreads, sticks and sprays, fat-free ones and ones that promise to ‘support healthy cholesterol’.  Calorie-wise, the full-fat margarines are pretty much identical to butter, although they do have less saturated fat.  Fat-free spreads are really low in calories – usually only about 5 per tablespoon compared to 80 or so for the regular stuff, but sometimes people use that as a reason to just slather on even more.  For some, the sprays work well to give a hint of flavor for only about 1 calorie per “spritz”.

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