What's the best spread for your daily bread? Butter, margarine or nothing at all? Avocado or hummus? The debate continues on what's the best spread and healthiest spread for your daily (wholegrain) bread.
Avocado is healthy, natural and good for you. This is one of my faves spread on crunchy grain toast with tomato, cucumber, chicken and rocket. Avocado is rich in monounsaturated fat - the same heart-friendly fat as in olive oil and macadamias - with little of the "bad" saturated fat. At 22 per cent total fat, it's way lower than butter, margarine and most light variants so you can afford to spread it on thickly. I buy a small avocado if it's just for me to spread over the next day or two.
Hummus is another healthy option. This does double duty as a spread or a dip. Made from tahini (sesame seed paste), chick peas, lemon, garlic and salt, hummus has 15 to 20 per cent fat, the same as avocado, with the benefit of being low in saturated fat. Now that supermarkets sell tubs of it, it's easy to keep in the fridge. Use with cold lamb or on toast fingers with a drink.
Peanut butter is convenient and kids love it. At around 50 per cent fat, it makes a great substitute for butter and adds a bonus of protein as well, which is handy if you're vegetarian. The "purest" choice is a 100 per cent peanut variety which is often in the health food aisle. Sadly many of the supermarket smooth or crunchy types have added oil and less peanut. No added salt types taste fine - there's enough gutsy flavour from the peanuts so you won't miss the salt.
At 14 per cent fat, light cream cheese offers you a nice flavour change with around one-third less fat than the full-fat version.
At 80 per cent fat, pure butter's got a great taste and is all-natural, but it's hard to spread thinly straight out of the fridge. It's high in saturated fat so not for anyone with a high cholesterol, according to the Heart Foundation. If you love the taste, the best compromise is a light butter like Devondale, or a butter-oil blend such as Helga's.
At 60 or 70 per cent fat, margarines and spreads are similar to butter but with better spreadability. Go for canola or olive-based types as long as they're soft and ready to spread. This means they have no trans fats present unlike the firm ones with the consistency of butter.
Catherine Saxelby is a nutritionist and author of Nutrition for Life. Get more healthy eating tips at www.foodwatch.com.au