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I've been cooking with kerrygold butter for a couple weeks now (we seem to have just gotten it in Hawaii) and have noticed recently that I have been getting chest pains on the left side after eating foods I cooked with it. Not horrible or anything, but I can just visualize my arteries all clogged up. Tonight I've had heartburn and muscle aches as well, the same as when I eat grains/processed foods. Any ideas what this is? Would switching to grass-fed ghee (if I can find it) help? Also, how much butter do you normally cook with? I use about a quarter to half of a stick (2-4 oz depending how much I'm cooking) for my meat and veggies. I find that I need to add more semi-frequently even at a low-medium heat.

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It can't hurt to try some ghee. If it gives you the same issues you know you have a problem. You can make a small batch yourself by rendering some kerry gold :D – Oranges13 May 5 2011 at 11:12

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In my eyes (that is just my opinion) one should not eat butter on Paleo diet. I am reading many posts which tell that people down tons of butter (not necessarily you) and bacon...i dont think that the paleo diet was intended this way. How i understand it is this: very lean grass fed meat, wild fish, moderate intake of eggs and tons of fresh veggies and fruits. No dairy, no grains, legumes, no processed anything....

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She's cooking with butter, pastured, no less.. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. – Todd May 5 2011 at 7:06
Verena- I agree about a more natural lean to the "paleo" diet (cavemen weren't eating bacon and eggs for breakfast) and dairy isn't optimal, but people were raving about it on here and I thought I'd try it out. I definitely prefer olive oil for most things. My body apparently does better with it. Thanks for your answer. – Danielle May 5 2011 at 7:38
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My thinking on lean meats is yes, wild and grass-fed animals have leaner meat, but that we are adapted to eating the whole animal which includes things like leaf fat and offal; I see pastured butter as a healthy animal fat, so I like to use it pretty liberally. And it's damn tasty! ;) – Jules K May 5 2011 at 11:25
Why the downvote? This is a common view coming from Cordain style paleo. Just because many here don't follow Cordain, I don't see the need to chastise those that do. I am upvoting to cancel out the negativity. @verena - try looking at panu/archevore to see where many of us are coming from... (what up wit dat butter, yo?) – Dave S. May 5 2011 at 12:07
Thaks, Dave! :) You are right i am following cordains style, but i am not dissing other peoples interpretations of paleo. We all need to do what we think is best for us... :) – verena May 5 2011 at 17:47
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Casein, a milk protein, is fairly structurally similar to gluten, the devil's protein, and it exhibits some similar biological activity. Gluten gets a nasty rap around here, and rightly so. It causes all manner of weirdo problems that manifest in all sorts of different ways in different people depending upon sensitivity. Same deal with casein. Ghee gets rid of the casein, lactose, and other remaining proteins and ramps up the total butterfat composition of what's left. Ghee is pretty close to 100% butterfat, with most butters being around 80-87% butterfat where the difference between that and 100% is mostly casein and lactose.

My guess is that the lactose is causing the heartburn because you're intolerant. I've heard some say that gluten can cause muscle aches, so maybe casein can as well if you're highly sensitive.

Toss a pound of Kerrygold into a frying pan and put it in the oven at 250F for 30 minutes. Scrape off the foam (the separated and solidified lactose and casein) and toss the pan back in for another 10 minutes, but keep an eye on it and make sure the butter doesn't brown much. Once there's no more foam coming off, you've clarified the butter. Once the butter starts to brown just a bit, you've made ghee. Clarified butter pretty much tastes like butter, ghee pretty much tastes like butter with a hint of carmelization.

I used about 1lb. of butter this past week, and I've never used butter before this week, so I'm probably not a good measuring stick for butter usage.

Also, is Kerrygold 100% grassfed? If not, try switching to Pastureland. Residual gluten from grain feed can work its way into the milk, and thus into the butter... next stop, your body.

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I know some people here eat a lot of butter but not everyone does. I usually get through about 4 oz a week, can't imagine using that much to cook a single meal. I'm curious to know what method of cooking you are using to require so much butter, are you using the butter to fry you food?

I don't know why you would experience the effects you have. A simple way to find out if the problem is lactose or casein is to drink some milk and eat some cheese. These have much higher levels of lactose and casein, if they do not have the same effct you can rule those out as a cause.

4 oz of butter is about 800 calories of fat you are adding to your meal, that is a lot of butter fat for your body to deal with for a single meal. I think it would make me feel sick.

It is a strange world were the Irish are exporting butter to Hawaii :)

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