extra-virgin olive oil. In the high olive oil group,
participants were given a liter to consume per week. Just to
put that in perspective, one liter of olive oil contains more
than 8,000 calories—more than half a week’s worth of
calories for an adult male! Both groups—those that adhered
to the diet supplemented with added nuts and those
supplementing with added olive oil—not only retained but
improved their cognitive function after six years, with the
olive oil group coming out slightly ahead. The low-fat
control group exhibited steady decline.
Get to know the grassy, peppery taste of a good EVOO
(preferably organic) by swooshing it to the back of your
throat—and taste it often! Stock your kitchen with extra-
virgin olive oil, and use it in low- to medium-heat cooking,
as a sauce on eggs, vegetables, and fish, and in all of your
salads.
Saturated Fats: Stable and Able
Saturated fats are essential to life—they provide support to
your cell membranes and serve as precursors to a variety of
hormones and hormonelike substances. Saturated fat is the
most abundant type of fat in human breast milk—arguably
nature’s ideal food for a newborn.^32
Usually solid at room temperature, saturated fat is most
commonly found in full-fat dairy like cheese, butter, and
ghee, meats like beef, pork, and chicken, and even certain
fruits like coconut and olives. (Extra-virgin olive oil is
nearly 15 percent saturated fat.)