Does eating fat make you fat? Not necessarily. Some fats are good for you. Instead of making you fat, these so-called “friendly fats” actually help you maintain a healthy weight. One of the friendliest fats is extra virgin olive oil. People on the Greek island of Crete eat a diet which is 40% fat, mainly […]
A few weeks ago I extolled coconut oil as a healthy saturated fat. Today I want to discuss another saturated fat that has a long tradition of use as both food and medicine. That “healthy fat” is ghee, a “clarified” butter that has had milk solids and moisture removed. Ghee has been an essential part […]
Back in the 1970’s when I first got interested in natural foods, macrobiotics was all the rage. This philosophy of diet and health emphasized the concepts of balance and the practice of a traditional, grain-centered diet. Since the originator of macrobiotics, George Oshawa, was Japanese, traditional Japanese foods figured prominently in the macrobiotic diet. Besides […]
When it comes to diet and health, sometimes it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Beliefs about what foods are “good” and what ones are “bad” are deeply ingrained. Take saturated fats. There is a widespread belief that saturated fats such as found in whole milk, butter, red meat and tropical oils, are unhealthy. […]
“Let your food be your medicine” was the advice of Hippocrates, offered over 2000 years ago. The ancient traditions all relied on the healing properties of plants, and developed a profound understanding of the value of certain foods in health. One of the most sophisticated of these ancient therapeutic traditions is Ayurveda, the “science of […]
