1. Basic Terms:

- "Bad" cholesterol clogs your arteries and causes heart disease.

- "Good" cholesterol helps collect up bad cholesterol and get it out of your system.

- Saturated fat is "bad fat" that increases bad cholesterol in your body.

- Polyunsaturated fat is "good fat" that lowers both good and bad cholesterol.

- Monounsaturated fat is "really good fat" that helps lower bad cholesterol, but leaves good cholesterol alone.

- Fatty acids are building blocks of fat.

- Trans fatty acids are made in production of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils used to make margarine and many snack foods and processed foods.

- Whole foods are unprocessed food that occur in nature... nuts, meat, milk, poultry, eggs, fish, seeds, grains, rice, fruits, vegetables.

2. Why Fat is Bad: Fat is calorie-dense, it contains more than twice number of calories as carbohydrates. A high fat diet has been linked to several chronic diseases such as cancer and increased risk of coronary heart disease. Saturated fats can increase bad cholesterol.

3. Why Fat is Good: It gives taste and texture to foods. Unsaturated fats can decrease bad cholesterol in your body.

4. How Fat in Your Diet Affects You: Fat in your food can affect you differently depending on your particular health issues.

As daughter of an Alzheimer's patient, this inability to keep up with everyday items, like my glasses and car keys, drives me absolutely nuts! Absent-mindedness has always plagued me. Now, it keeps me anxious and guessing. Is this an early sign of Alzheimer's disease? Could I end up like my father, crippled with this disease? I decided to stop worrying about it and act!

I searched latest literature to see what techniques (no prescriptions, thank you!) could prevent or delay onset of Alzheimer's disease. Here are some of things I found.

Diet Counts!

Vitamin E

Diets rich in vitamin E and essential oils may help prevent Alzheimer's disease. A study recently reported in Archives of Neurology (2002) found that participants, aged 65-102, who ate fish at least once each week showed 36% less decline in cognitive functioning over study's three+ years. Similar results have been found in Rotterdam Study, a study tracking over 9000 participants. Those researchers found that participants who ate fish most often were only one-third as likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease as those who ate fish least often. These studies provide compelling reasons to add at least one meal of fish to your diet every week.

What other foods should you include? Olive oil is an especially valuable source of vitamin E and other anti-oxidants. I prefer extra virgin variety of olive oil for its milder taste. With a squeeze of fresh lime juice, olive oil makes a very pleasant salad dressing. And I've discovered that more I use it, more I like it.

B Vitamins

B vitamins, particularly folic acid and vitamin B-12, help prevent Alzheimer's as well as a host of other diseases such as heart disease and stroke. A study from National Institute on Aging found that mice fed a diet rich in folic acid were able to repair damage to DNA of nerve cells in hippocampus (an area needed for memory and learning). Foods rich in B vitamins whole grains, yeast, meat, low-fat dairy products, lentils and leafy greens.

Can't I just take a pill?

B vitamins may not be readily absorbable from pills. Certainly, supplement pills are better than nothing, but for good absorption by body, vitamin B shots may be preferable. Vitamin E and fish oil capsules are readily absorbed, so they should help. Check with your doctor or a nutritionist for correct dosages.

Substituting Soy for Dairy products