With all the talk about saturated fat and monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and trans fat, it’s easy to get confused about how they fit into the big picture, and to understand what it means for the food choices you make. I’d like to give you another strategy for figuring out what to eat. Instead of FAT, I am going to talk about FATTY ACIDS. First, some definitions.

If fat is a sentence, then fatty acids are words. If fat is a word, then fatty acids are letters. If fat is the universe, then fatty acids are galaxies. If fat is a solar system, fatty acids are planets and moons. If fat is a pyramid, fatty acids are bricks. 

If foods are words, then I want to focus on the letters. Today, I want to talk not about olives and avocados, not olive oil and avocado oil, but rather about the o’s and the e’s with which they are spelled. This conversation is not about lard or chicken fat. It’s about the fatty acids of which they are composed. Continue reading →