What is this?

I have always believed that recipes should be true to their ingredients from each gram of ghee ( clarified butter) to each grain of salt. However as we stepped in 1980 and from then on, there was a big awareness of dangers of butter and of salt all over the world. So, what was I supposed to do?  I started using margarine in place of butter in my recipes and then my husband started using it on his toasts in the morning and eventually we even used vegetable shortening in cookies and a lot of other baked goods. 

A few years ago, it so happened that a loved one brought home a list of foods to avoid in order to lower cholesterol. That list had the words "hydrogenated fats"and foods containing hydrogenated fats.  So we checked every jar of peanut butter in our home and what do you know, they all had partially hydrogenated fats in them.  Then we checked the margarine tub, that too had the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in them. Bad News? No not really. We now shop very carefully, read every single ingredient and have started using natural peanut butter and cooking oils like Canola oil, Olive oil and  vegetable oil.

Now the question still remains. what do I do when I have to make recipes that require Ghee? I started using real butter, except that I use may be a tenth of the required amount and make up for the rest with oils. I used to be embarrassed about doing this, because this was the method used by either people who could not afford "Ghee" or by people who were extremely thrifty. Also a lot of other foods like brown rice and foods with a lot of fiber were used by servants in India. Today I not only eat simple servant  like foods I give them to my husband,( even if he yells at me).  I tell him that we have to get used to this lifestyle and be an example for our children and grandchildren. This life style of simpletons back home is what is good for us all.