We read the studies. You get the answers.

You could find out whether olive oil increases your testosterone with two blood tests and a bottle you probably already own. A morning test comes first, for a starting number on paper. The butter goes after that, olive oil takes its place in everything you cook, and a few weeks go by. A second test at the same early hour gives you a before and an after, and a higher second number would be all the proof you need. Testosterone came back about 17 percent higher, probably the very number you have seen quoted, when young men went through almost exactly that experiment. They even spent two weeks on butter before the switch.

Every cooking-method ranking you have ever seen puts frying last. Raw on top, steaming close behind, boiling in the middle, and frying dead last for anything nutritional. Fried carrots came back with nearly four times the antioxidant capacity of raw ones. A third measurement method put the increase at 1,956%.

You're spending more at the grocery store. Maybe thirty percent more on chicken, sometimes double on eggs, often a few extra dollars per bag of vegetables. Every time you reach for the organic option, you're making a bet — that the food inside is nutritionally superior, that the premium buys better protein, better fat, better raw material for your body.