Different Ways To Use Olive Oil For Health

There is more awareness today about obesity, heart-related ailments, and other health complications, leading users to find alternative, healthier food choices lower in saturated fats and cholesterol.

The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) has also brought awareness as they have designed a food pyramid which contains olive oil as the principal fat, replacing butter and margarine.

Benefits of Consuming Fresh, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat (the fantastic fat), a kind of fat that lowers total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), while raising HDL cholesterol (the fantastic cholesterol).

Your diet provides not just calories but information. The information delivered to your body's cells by a diet rich in monounsaturated fat from olive oil will improve your sensitivity to insulin, decrease your blood sugarlevels, and help prevent fat from amassing around your middle.

On top of olive oil having the"good fat", olive oil contains polyphenols, a powerful antioxidant that benefits the heart, the arteries, the digestive system and cancer.

There is a good deal of clinical data that indicates the usage of olive oil can provide heart health benefits, such as cholesterol regulation, and that it modulates anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-hypertensive as well as vasodilatory effects. Top quality extra virgin olive oil is really full of polyphenols. Generally, the fresher the oil, the higher the polyphenols.

Practical Tips:

• Instead of butter, use extra virgin olive oil bread, potatoes or other vegetables.
• Rely on extra virgin olive oil as your first choice for salad dressing.
• Dress your food with extra virgin olive oil immediately after ingestion. You will get more flavor and more nutrients from the oil.
• Just purchase cold pressed extra virgin olive oil sold in an opaque container to prevent its exposure to light and preserve its phenol content. 

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