The Main Reason You Should Be Drinking Olive Oil

Drinking olive oil has been a health tendency for several years, and for good reason -- olive oil is chock-full of rich nutrients like vitamins D and E.

Olive oil, unsurprisingly, comes from olives grown on trees. The seed can be traced back into mythology and the story of Zeus promising to provide the region in Greece, known as Attica, to the goddess or god that created the most useful invention.

The goddess Athena was the winner having fashioned the olive, that was useful for light, heat, food, medicine, and perfume. The goddess planted the seed on what today is referred to as the Acropolis, and it is said that the tree that grows there today came from the origins of Athena's original tree (via Olive Oil Source).

Thousands of years later and olive oil is still held as a great gift from the Mediterranean. After the olives are picked from their trees, they are smashed into a paste and put via centrifugation to separate the oil (via Everyday Health). Its applications vary from cooking to keeping skin soft and supple.

So what are the reasons you should drink olive oil?

Reasons to drink olive oil

According to Olive Tap, men and women in the Mediterranean drink a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil daily. They think it will help cleanse the body and aids with the digestive tract.

After chugging back their daily olive oil, they follow it with a warm cup of water and lemon juice. The combination of the lemon and the olive oil helps maintain lubricant for digestive mucus which helps avoid constipation.

Olive oil is also believed to aid with weight loss. The oil is considered a fantastic fat because it contains monounsaturated fatty acids, which help maintain a healthy heart, appropriate blood sugar levels, and aid in weight loss by helping you feel full and satisfied (via NDTV). That said, Everyday Health still warns that olive oil is a fat, so follow the popular mantra --everything in moderation.

Drinking olive oil can also help in the beauty department with hair development and keeping skin moisturized, but the benefits go beyond these. Drinking olive oil may also help prevent cancer, which may be attributed to the oil's antioxidant properties that may counter the oxidation of rays from the sun.

Studies conducted on individuals who inhabit the Mediterranean area where it is common practice to drink olive oil on a daily basis found that three in every 100,000 residents get skin cancer. That, alone, is reason enough to start drinking this liquid stone (don't forget the sunscreen, however ).