There are three things in life that generate visceral responses: religion, pol-

itics, and nutrition. All three are often based on belief systems that do not

respond well to challenge. In fact, those which challenge prevailing beliefs

usually are ostracized because they question the orthodoxy no matter how

wrong it appears to be. Of the three, nutrition is more of a science and

therefore is governed by observation backed by experimentation.

My own journey in trying to make sense of the complexity of nutrition

began twenty years ago when it became obvious to me that making fat

the villain of nutrition was simply dead wrong. During the past twenty

years, I have met many others who have shared my beliefs. One of the

first was Ann Louise Gittleman.

I had known Ann Louise for more than twelve years when she first

asked for my advice on fat-derived hormones called eicosanoids for her

book entitled Beyond Pritikin. The two worlds from which Ann Louise

and I came were totally different. I came from academia, whereas she was

more of an observer of the outcome of standard nutritional advice. As the

chief nutritionist at the Pritikin Institute, she was told that as much fat as

possible should be removed from the diet. Although it seemed like an

intuitively good idea, her observations at the Pritikin Institute made it

very clear to her that many of the patients were becoming less healthy as

they religiously removed fat from their diets. Sometimes the eyes tell us

better than the brain.

Feeling that she could not in good conscience continue to recommend

the Pritikhx principles as the pathway to optimal health, she left to begin

her own journey to understand exactly what we require for optimal

health and then how to communicate the answer to others.

Understanding why fat is essential to optimal health was the necessary

first step, and then telling Americans that certain types of fat actually are

good for them represented a far more difficult challenge.

This is why I find it interesting that Ann Louise s continuing journey,

detailed in this book, has paralleled my own research. One of the key

components of this new book is the role of certain fats, including fish oils,

gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). A]]

these have powerful effects on our hormones in general and in particular

on the eicosanoids. In essence, these fats are powerful new "drugs" that

we are just now beginning to understand how to use correctly. For the

first time. it is~correct to state it takes fat to burn fat.