If you are genuinely confused about whether you should be eating more fat, less fat, more protein, or fewer carbohydrates — I completely understand you. The nutrition conversation has been noisy, contradictory, and heavily influenced by commercial interests for decades. Low fat in the 80s. High fat in the 2010s. Keto. Carnivore. Plant-based. The loudest voice changes with the publishing cycle.
Here's the shift that cut through the noise for me: I stopped asking 'what does the research say about fat?' — because that question has many true and contradictory answers depending on which study you cite — and started asking 'how do I feel eating this way?' Energy throughout the day. Quality of digestion. Skin. Mood. Sleep. Mental clarity. These are the real metrics.
Fat Is Not a Villain — A Brief History of How We Got Here
The idea that dietary fat causes cardiovascular disease emerged primarily from Ancel Keys's Seven Countries Study in the 1950s–60s. Keys observed associations between saturated fat intake and heart disease rates across populations, and these findings shaped public health recommendations for decades. What's now understood is that his methodology had significant limitations — he selected countries that supported his hypothesis, conflated natural saturated fats with industrial trans fats (which are genuinely harmful), and was looking at dietary patterns, not isolated nutrients.
The low-fat era that followed produced an unintended consequence: food manufacturers replaced fat with sugar and refined carbohydrates to maintain palatability. The low-fat products that dominated supermarket shelves were, in many cases, metabolically more harmful than what they replaced. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome all increased dramatically during the low-fat era.
Fat is essential. Your body needs fat to absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K. To produce steroid hormones — estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, progesterone — all synthesised from cholesterol. To build healthy cell membranes. To keep your brain functioning — the brain is approximately 60% fat by dry weight, and specific fatty acids are required for cognitive function and mood regulation. None of this is optional or negotiable.
The Omega Balance — The Conversation That Actually Matters
If there's one area of fat intake that genuinely deserves more attention from most people, it's not total fat quantity but the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-6 and omega-3 are both essential fatty acids that share the same metabolic pathways and compete for the same enzymes. They have opposing effects on inflammation: omega-6 fatty acids drive pro-inflammatory signalling compounds, omega-3 fatty acids drive anti-inflammatory ones. In traditional human diets, the ratio was approximately 4:1. In the modern Western diet — dominated by seed oils (canola, soybean, sunflower, corn) in virtually every processed food — the ratio has shifted to approximately 15:1 to 20:1.
This chronic omega-6 excess relative to omega-3 is a meaningful contributor to the chronic inflammatory state that underlies so many modern diseases. Addressing it doesn't require eliminating fat — it requires shifting the type.
The Best Plant-Based Omega-3 Sources
Chia seeds — one of the richest plant sources of ALA; one to two tablespoons daily delivers a meaningful contribution. Found in our Beauty Berries blend.
Ground flaxseeds — similar omega-3 profile to chia, with lignans for additional hormonal benefit. Must be ground to access the oils.
Hemp seeds — high in ALA and GLA, with an exceptionally well-balanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of approximately 3:1.
Walnuts — the nut highest in omega-3, with specific research supporting cardiovascular health.
Edamame, tofu, tempeh — soy foods contain modest but meaningful ALA alongside their protein content.
What I Actually Watch Out For
I pay attention to one thing more than any other: processed seed oils. Canola, soybean, sunflower, and corn oil appear in almost every processed food, fast food, and restaurant cooking. Their dominant omega-6 content, combined with the oxidative damage that occurs during high-heat industrial processing, makes them a meaningful driver of inflammatory burden. Replacing them — at home, in the cooking oils you buy — with olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil makes a real difference over time.
Beyond that: read ingredient lists rather than nutrition labels. Real food has short ingredient lists. The fat in an avocado, a handful of walnuts, a piece of salmon, a tablespoon of tahini — all of these are uncomplicated and good. The fat in a processed food with 30 ingredients is a different conversation entirely.
The most liberating reframe I can offer: stop thinking about fat as a macronutrient to optimise and start thinking about it as part of food context. An avocado is not a fat source — it is an avocado, with fibre, potassium, folate, vitamins E and K, and monounsaturated oleic acid your body uses for cellular membrane integrity and vitamin absorption. The fat is inseparable from the food. When you eat the whole food, you get the whole benefit — and the body knows exactly what to do with it.
→ Related: Food Is Information
Eat Plants. Feel Alive.
Xo Kristel & Michael
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.