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expression of genes controlling fat metabolism, which may explain how they prevent obesity. Hippocrates gave us the essence
     of nutritional epidemiology: "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food."
    After I read about traditional diets, it was clear how my vegan, fat-free ways had depleted my body. But one thing was nagging
     me: whether eating saturated fat and cholesterol every day was really okay. Before I dived headfirst into traditional beef,
     butter, and eggs, it seemed sensible to find out what modern science had to say about them. I started to do some homework
     on real food.
    Everywhere I Go, People Are Afraid of Real Food
    AT THE UNION SQUARE GREENMARKET in New York City, an older woman was buying chicken. "I can't eat any skin," she told the
     farmer firmly. "This is the best chicken on the market," I chimed in, "because it's raised on pasture. And the skin is good
     for you too, full of healthy fats." She turned toward me, indignant. "I never eat the skin," she said. "It's bad for you,
     all that fat!"
    At Murray's, the oldest cheese shop in New York City, a young woman was asking for low-fat mozzarella. She prefers whole milk
     mozzarella, she said, but feels "less guilty" eating the skim milk version.
    At home, I serve my friends roast chicken, mashed potatoes with milk and butter, spinach salad with bacon, tart cherry pie
     with lard crust, and raw whipped cream. "There goes my cholesterol," jokes one of them. "Don't tell my doctor!" Even as they
     dig into this delicious and satisfying food, they cannot forget that it's going to kill them. "Heart attack on a plate," says
     another. The tone combines fear, resignation, and guilty pleasure.
    All these good people are wrong.
    The woman at the farmers' market doesn't know that chicken fat is monounsaturated and polyunsaturated— two fats even the conventional
     experts say are healthy. Why would she? According to the experts, the less fat the better, and chicken fat is no exception.
     Schmaltz is a guilty pleasure. Here, the farmer is no help; he doesn't know what's in chicken fat, either. Chickens raised
     on grass contain more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an unusual fat which fights cancer and builds lean muscle. Chicken fat
     also boosts immunity. The Jewish penicillin wasn't skinless chicken breasts; it was chicken soup, with droplets of golden
     fat that also make chicken soup silky. But someone taught this lady that chicken fat is poison— not her mother, I'll bet— and she's sticking to it.
    The young woman at Murray's doesn't know that you need the fat in milk to digest the protein and absorb the calcium. If she
     struggles with her weight, she may discover— as million of Americans have, after thirty years of dubious advice— that eating
     foods engineered to be low-fat doesn't work, especially when you eat more calories because the food is unsatisfying. Also,
     the latest research indicates that milk, yogurt, and cheese actually aid weight loss, perhaps due to the effects of calcium
     on fat storage.
    At my house and at the farm, we eat the way people did for thousands of years. That means all the foods they tell you to avoid:
     red meat, whole milk, sausage, butter, and raw milk cheese.
    But the beef and milk are grass-fed, the pork and poultry are pastured, and the fats— from lard to coconut oil— are unrefined.
    Milk, cream, and butter are grass-fed and raw. I relish the rich, unfashionable cuts you never see in "heart-healthy" diets,
     such as liver and bone marrow— just as our Stone Age ancestors did. I don't buy low-fat versions of anything. Foods should
     be eaten with the fats they come with: whole milk, chicken with skin.
    All this real food is good for you. How?
    • Grass-fed beef is rich in beta-carotene and vitamin E (both fight heart disease and cancer) and CLA, the anticancer fat.
    • Grass-fed milk, cream, butter, and cheese are rich in vitamins A and D, omega-3 fats, and CLA. Butter contains butyric acid,