The quest for the perfect diet

A spate of recent studies has upended decades of established dietary advice about eating fat. Is fat now good?

Fruits and vegetables
(Image credit: (iStock))

What should we eat?

Mostly vegetables. Veggies of all kinds and colors, including salads and other leafy greens, are loaded with various types of phytonutrients and antioxidants that are essential to healthy living. Many recent studies have shown that people who eat more vegetables and other plant-based foods — such as beans, whole grains, fruits, and nuts — tend to have lower rates of heart disease and other chronic health issues than those who mainly consume animal-based products like meat and cheese. But researchers have also recently discovered that fat, maligned for more than 40 years as the leading cause of weight gain and high cholesterol, can also be part of a healthy diet. "Americans were told to cut back on fat to lose weight and prevent heart disease," says Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Boston Children's Hospital. Today, "there's an overwhelmingly strong case to be made for the opposite."

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