Mediterranean Diet - FatsPerhaps the most important part of the Mediterranean Diet is this plant.Olive oil is the single ingredient most associated with the Mediterranean Diet. It is the one single food substitution you can do that will improve your health immediately and have great consequences. But not all olive oil is the same.Olive oil and your heartThere are many types of fat that you can find in your diet. Saturated fat will raise your LDL level, increasing your risk of heart disease and stroke. Olive oil, which is unsaturated, decreases the risk of heart disease.Types of FatFats are confusing. You will hear saturated, poly unsaturated, monounsaturated, and trans fats. First, we won't look at the chemical structure of fats. Second, we will look at the evidence that the food is associated with fat and how it influences our bodies. Finally, we will dismantle some bad arguments against certain fats.Saturated Fats - it's the source, not the ingredientSources: butter, red meat, dairy.What the Mediterranean Diet showed us what that the total diet mattered more than the individual ingredient. In spite of the revolutionary approach to using cohort studies with complete diets, many have insisted on pulling that apart to find out if one ingredient is "bad." For years, saturated fat was considered the "bad" part of what we ate. The American Heart Association recommended limiting saturated fat to just ten percent of what you eat.  The AHA recommended changing from saturated fat to polyunsaturated fat or monounsaturated fat. There has never been a question about olive oil, but a few concerns have been raised about some polyunsaturated fat.But it isn't as simple as the saturated fat molecule. We don't eat pure saturated fat, it turns out we eat food containing that fat. Depending on the food, it depends on how saturated fat affects you.Dairy and Fish vs Red MeatAdding more fish and dairy to your diet decreases the risk of heart disease. Adding more red meat to your diet increases your risk of heart disease. This study, from the EPIC group, was impressive in its size, and its ability to factor out other issues that might increase heart disease. Once again, cohort studies show it isn't as important.CheeseBesides heart disease, cheese decreased the risk of dementia among a cohort of Finnish men followed for 22 years.Perhaps the greatest snack of all time (my opinion - not science).Another cohort study found that cheese was associated with a lower risk of pre-diabetes. Other forms of dairy products did not have this same benefit. This flies in the face of some vegans, who insist diabetes comes from saturated fat.Finally, non-dairy cheese is not a great source of nutrients. I know my fellow vegans want to find a good alternative for cheese, but there simply isn't one.Proving again that the whole food is greater than its parts, fish.Fatty fish have been shown to decrease not only cardiovascular mortality, but all causes of mortality. But...