Fat is your friend. The brain thrives on a fat-rich

When David Perlmutter proclaimed, “Fat is your friend. The brain thrives on a fat-rich, low-carbohydrate diet,” he spoke as a physician, but also as a philosopher of the body. His words are a rebellion against the age of fear—an age that taught mankind to distrust what nature intended for its nourishment. To say that fat is your friend is not merely a nutritional statement; it is a call to reconciliation with nature, to remember that wisdom lies not in what is fashionable, but in what is timeless. Just as ancient healers revered olive oil and animal fat as sources of life and energy, Perlmutter reminds us that modern man, in his haste to outsmart nature, has starved the very organ that makes him human—the brain.

In ages past, the elders understood this truth without science. The Greek athletes, carved like living marble, trained not on sugar but on olives, nuts, and the oils of the earth. The Inuit of the Arctic, whose diet was composed almost entirely of fat and fish, lived in harsh conditions yet displayed clarity, endurance, and vitality that confounded Western observers. Their minds were sharp, their hearts strong, their spirits calm. For they understood, without books or laboratories, that fat was the fire of life, sustaining both mind and body in the frozen silence of creation. What Perlmutter rediscovered was what the ancients never forgot—that nature’s design is older than human arrogance.

In the modern world, fear replaced faith. The twentieth century declared fat the enemy, and in doing so, man began to unravel his own vitality. He replaced butter with chemicals, eggs with powders, and balance with obsession. Yet the consequences were swift and cruel: a rise in degenerative disease, minds clouded by fatigue, and hearts weakened not by fat but by the absence of it. When Perlmutter spoke, he was not merely revising diet; he was reclaiming sanity—the understanding that the human brain, a divine creation of 60% fat, hungers for what it is made of. To deny it fat is to deny it fuel.

There is a profound metaphor in his words. For just as the brain thrives on fat, the spirit thrives on truth—both require nourishment that is rich, not hollow. In the same way that refined sugars provide fleeting pleasure but lasting decay, so too do shallow comforts feed the body while starving the soul. The message of “fat as friend” is therefore symbolic of a larger human wisdom: what is real and sustaining may not always be fashionable, but it endures. The strength of the body, the clarity of the mind, the peace of the heart—all are built not upon denial, but upon harmony with what is essential and pure.

Consider the story of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the explorer who lived among the Inuit for years, subsisting entirely on meat and fat. When he returned to the modern world, scientists doubted his survival, so he volunteered for a year-long experiment eating only fat and meat under observation. He emerged healthy, his mind clear and strong—a living testament to Perlmutter’s truth. His body did not collapse; it flourished, because it followed the laws of nature, not the fears of fashion. So too must modern man re-learn this lesson: that health is not in deprivation, but in balance restored.

To live by this wisdom is not to indulge, but to align. Seek fats that give life—those born of earth and animal, not machine and refinery. Cast away the processed, the artificial, the sweet poisons that dull the mind and burden the heart. Let your meals be slow, simple, and sacred. Remember that food is not merely sustenance but communion—with the soil, the sun, and the wisdom of ages. In honoring what nourishes the brain, you honor the temple of thought, the bridge between flesh and consciousness.

The lesson is this: trust the design of life. The same hand that shaped the mountains and rivers crafted your body with purpose. When Perlmutter says “fat is your friend,” he invites you to return to that trust—to see nourishment not as fear, but as faith in the natural order. Feed your mind what it was made to thrive upon. Let your brain burn bright with the steady flame of true fuel. For when the body is nourished in harmony with nature, the spirit awakens, and man once again becomes whole.