EVERY two weeks, award-winning alternative health columnist Hazel Courteney brings you the latest news on ways to rejuvenate yourself.

CONTRARY to popular opinion, fat can be good for your. But only if you eat the right kind. After all, walnuts, oily fish and soya beans all reduce wrinkles, help you to keep a suntan for longer, aid weight loss, improve memory and make your brain function more efficiently. If you suffer from dry skin and have the type that burns easily, eczema, aching joints, frequent infections, water retention, lack of energy or heart disease, you could have a deficiency of essential fatty acids.

That doesn't mean you're not eating enough fat. After all, most of us get 40 per cent of our calories from fat.

But, unfortunately, we eat the wrong type and that can be disastrous.

"A huge proportion of degenerative aging conditions are triggered not only by eating excessive animal fats, but also by overconsumption of mass produced fats and oils", says Udo Erasmus, a Canadian biochemist.

"Most vegetable oils, have been refined, bleached and deodorized, and then used for frying. These processes introduce huge amounts of aging free radicals into the body."

Furthermore, hydrogenated fats (also known as trans-fats) used in margarines, cakes, biscuits and cereal bars harden arteries.

However, even bad fats are better than no fats at all. No-fat and low-fat diets are linked to depression, allergies and skin problems such as eczema.

Even butter is good in small quantities because it is rich in vitamin A and butyric acid, which has anticancer properties.

No wonder Prince Charles has made his range of Duchy biscuits all-butter!

But which are the really good fats?

There are two main types of essential fats (EFAs). The fist, Omega 3, is found in oily fish, linseeds, walnuts, and soya beans and up to 60 percent of us are deficient in these fats.

Omega 6 is the second EFA, found in sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds and their unrefined oils.

After a recent Caribbean holiday, my skin is dry and Dr. Erasmus suggests that if I want skin like Rachel Hunter's, then I need to ingest twice the amount of Omega 3s and 6s. Luckily, he has formulated Udo's Choice, made from organic linseeds (flax), sesame and sunflower seeds, plus rice and oat germ oil - which contains this healthy ratio.

He recommends one tablespoon daily, drizzled over cooked foods and salads in summer, and twice this amount in winter.