We eat a ton of homemade food at my house. Like, a TON. Eating out? Maybe once or twice a month. Frozen, boxed, or canned meals? They are a rarity in my kitchen. The way we eat? It’s cheaper, it’s healthier, and let’s be real: what we whip up at home blows most restaurant food out of the water.

So it always floors me when I toss a recipe up on social media, and here come the critics, stomping out of the woodwork to nitpick my ingredients—especially when I use natural fats like tallow.

I’m not sure how natural fats got such a bad rap, but let’s talk about it:

Lard from pasture-raised pigs? Packed with Vitamin K and D, kicks out way fewer nasty free radicals than other oils, zero trans fat, and won’t break the bank.

Butter? Loaded with calcium, Vitamins D and E, plus beta-carotene—stuff that can cut your odds of certain cancers.

Tallow? It’s hauling Vitamins A, D, E, and K, along with conjugated linoleic acid—a fat that might just cool inflammation and give your immune system a leg up.

And their biggest selling points? They taste incredible.

Am I saying natural fats are flawless? Nah, of course not! They are FATS, y’all.

But I cut my teeth on a farm. This is the real-deal food I grew up on. Unprocessed, straight-from-the-earth stuff. Mamaw’s biscuits? Lard-made, slathered with real butter, hot from the oven.

And you know what? Those folks I grew up around? They thrived—long, hardy lives.

Papaw Cochran? Lived to see 96. Papaw? 81. Mamaw? 92. And they weren’t outliers. Most of my loved ones hit their late 80s and 90s, eating just like me—full-on, no-apologies natural.

Brandon and I? Both in our 40s, rocking healthy weights, no cholesterol issues.

The trick? Moderation. I don’t flinch at bacon grease, but we’re not drowning in fats every night. We’ve got meat-free evenings, just like Mamaw and Papaw—baked potatoes, salads, or a hearty soup.

More than that? We move. Brandon’s out swinging golf clubs. Me? I’m a hiking fiend—can’t get enough of it.

Now I ain’t here to preach your plate. That’s between you and your doc. But me and mine? We’re sticking to the old-school ways. I trust what fueled my grandparents for dang near a century, a whole heck of a lot more than I trust those seed oils some of y’all use.