It's been about a year since the medical establishment has had to swallow some ill-chosen words about animal fats and red meat.

Far from being the horrible bogeyman that they wanted you to think it was, cholesterol is the main building block of the cell, giving the walls strength and structural integrity. I think it's safe to say that approximately 50% of an individual's body is composed of cholesterol.

Without going into a lot of detail on the truth about animal fat in the diet, I'll just say this: the medical establishment has long insisted that cholesterol is a threat to health, and soybeans are considered to be the panacea of the millennium. Suffice it to say that the only reason these assertions could have been made was because of the increase in the size of the crops of soybeans, corn, and other grains in the United States. The only way to utilize such huge crops over a long period of time would be to "force-feed" them to the population. Since we are already growing much more than we can possibly sell or give away, the next plan of attack is to put the product into as many domestic "for human consumption" food products as possible. Read the ingredient labels of just about any package on the shelf. It's a virtual certainty that you are going to find some form of soy, hydrogenated vegetable oil, or corn sugar in every packaged food on the grocey shelves. The problem with this is that there is not one single REASON to add these ingredients to human food. Our grandparents thrived on what they produced or traded for, and not a single thing contained these three basic additives. Shelf-life, appearance, texture, and taste are the "reasons" to add these over-processed ingredients to American food, but simple minimally processed foods would be much tastier without them, and nobody needs to eat something that has been stored for a year. So much for "flavor" and "shelf-life." I wonder what the next excuse will be to attempt the wholesale "sickening" of the American consumer.

Some skeptics say that a situation like this would require a conspiracy between the food manufacturers, the government, and the FDA of an incomprehensibly large scale. Well, I don't know about THAT, but I do know there is a "revolving door" between these companies and agencies through which scientists, researchers, and bureaucrats move freely and frequently. Research studies all utilize each other's findings, findings that frequently can be proven wrong or skewed.

The time has probably come for people who care about these things to do the real research themselves. Perhaps it's also time people cut the apron strings between themselves and the medical establishment, whose only reason for existence is to TREAT conditions without curing them and removing income sources from their caseloads.

My non-professional recommendation is much too simple for most people to figure out. If you are interested enough to do something about the situation, try this: For the next year, replace ALL vegetable and synthetic fats in your diet with pure, natural animal fats. Find meat cuts with good marbling and at least 1/4" of fat on the edges. Eat 3 eggs a day or more (or less--you don't need to eat eggs EVERY day). Cut back on prepared desserts, and substitute fruit. Try it for a year. Then let me know what happens to your health.

I can say this because I did this very thing, and restored my health after nearly 20 years of decrepitude and ongoing chronic problems. Be your own guinea pigs, and reap the benefits of moving yourselves out from under the thumb of the medical establishment once and for all.