Butter vs Margarine

I am on a mission to lose weight (again – but let’s not discuss that) and as part of this mission, at one point in time (five years ago), I switched every single dairy product in our house to the lowest fat available. Including butter. Then a few years back the big debate about transfats started. There are lots of websites arguing against transfats. Like here and here and here and here …

So after a while I switched to regular butter rather than reduced fat butter/margarine blend. I figure long term health and longevity for the whole family is more important than a few pounds on my hips. But now I’m not sure what to do. I’m struggling to re-lose this weight and I know that every tiny bit counts. And we also have the problem of butter being very popular with the children. They spread margarine thinly on toast, but the past few weeks they’ve gone through a kilo of butter a week. A KILO! That’s 2.2 pound in the old fashioned language. A LOT! That’s absurd … I don’t eat that much butter. I don’t put it on sandwiches at all, but I do like it on toast. Or margarine. Whichever. I don’t really mind. But toast and vegemite isn’t the same without butter/margarine first! I spread it thin… Now butter definitely tastes better and is much better for health, but the reduced fat spread has less calories and the kids don’t eat as much. Nowhere near as much! So it saves on both cost and calories for them. Not that they need to count calories at all. They’re all fit and healthy. But I’m thinking more of long term life habits – spreading butter on toast with chunks as thick as cheese is not a good habit!

So – I dunno. Butter or marge? I can’t decide! Who uses butter? Who uses margarine? Why do you make that choice? Would you change it? All advice greatly received!