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Benefits of Olive Oil
Dec
Olive oil is one of the healthiest types of oil that you can use, especially in cooking. Due to this, many health experts from different fields recomment it. Olive oil contains a healthy type of fat, known as monounsaturated fat, which helps lower the risks of heart diseases, by reducing the bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body. Not only it contains mono-saturated fats, but also a very high level of a powerful antioxidant, known as polyphenols, which is excellent for the good health of the heart. So its advantages range from improving heart health to better skin and hair.
Advantages of olive oil
In cooking
Compared to most types of cooking oil, olive oil calories are much lower. Therefore, for people who are trying to lose weight, dieticians and fitness experts usually recommend eating foods that have been cooked in it.
Olive oil is very high in natural antioxidants, like Vitamin E. These antioxidants can have a great effect on the body, by reducing blood pressure, coronary heart diseases, and cholesterol.
One of the advantages of olive oil is that it contains Vitamin K, which is excellent in the regulation of blood clotting. The acidity levels are much lower than other cooking oils and therefore, olive oil is a lot easier to digest.
Skin and hair
There are numerous benefits of olive oil on the skin. It has been successfully used in several commercial skin care products, as well as home remedies for healthy and glowing skin. Using it topically can help delay wrinkles because it penetrates the skin thoroughly and has a softening and smoothening effect it. It also helps the skin retain its natural moisture. Moreover, it costs less and has fewer side effects, as compared to commercially manufactured cosmetic creams. You can mix with granules of sugar, and apply it to the face, throat, neck, and shoulders, as a natural scrub, to exfoliate the dead skin. This helps the new skin to move to the top layer, which makes the skin look much healthier.
Hair experts also usually recommend head massages with warm olive oil, to increase the volume of the hair and to improve hair texture.
During pregnancy
Pregnant women can reduce stretch marks on the skin, through the application of olive oil a few times a day. Since it is a natural ingredient, it can also help reduce the discomfort caused by a nappy rash, in babies, without any known side effects.
Even though there are numerous advantages of olive oil, you need to use it carefully while cooking. In fact, the excessive consumption of any type of oil can have certain adverse effects on the heart. People suffering from heart problems or obesity should consult their doctors.
Goodness Of Olive Oil
Olive oil the main component of the Mediterranean diet. It is derived by crushing and then pressing fresh olives. There are many types of olive oils available in the market through out the year. Depending on the processing the types of olive oil include – pure extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil, pure and extra light olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is, however, the most health promoting. Due to its extraction from first pressing of the olives thus has a natural delicate flavor with the goodness of more antioxidants.
Health benefits of olive oil
Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acid, a type of unsaturated fat that has health promoting properties. It is considered one of the healing fats as when it is replaced with other fats; especially saturated fats that have much lower rates of heart disease, atherosclerosis, colon cancer, asthma, and diabetes.
Heart health
Olive oil is very protective against heart disease. It prevents oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL cholesterol). And thus, prevents it from sticking to the arterial walls. It also helps to decrease the total cholesterol and doesn’t affect the high-density lipoproteins (HDL cholesterol). Low cholesterol along with low oxidation of LDL helps to prevent atherosclerosis. The fatty acid that predominates in olive oil is oleic acid. Oleic acid is very resistant to free radical or oxidative damage. In addition to monounsaturated fat, olive oil is loaded with other powerful antioxidants. Antioxidants that have free radical scavenging abilities like vitamin E, carotenoids, polyphenolic compounds tyrosol, hydro-tyrosol, oleuropein-all and also chlorophyll. In fact, the abundant polyphenols in extra virgin oil are responsible for cardiovascular benefits rather than the monounsaturated fats alone. Also, it helps to maintain a healthy lining of the blood vessels and prevent high blood pressure.
Colon cancer
Including olive oil in the diet may have a protective effect against colon cancer when compared to other fats. The polyphenols in olive oil have anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant and antioxidant properties. They are responsible for the protective effect against colon cancer, breast cancer and osteoporosis (preventing bone loss).
Diabetes
A healthy meal that includes olive oil and is low in fat has a good control over the blood sugar levels. Also, it helps to keep the triglyceride levels low in diabetic patients.
Although studies prove that olive oil when replaced with saturated fats helps to lose weight. However, you should take it in recommended amounts. Remember that any fat provides almost double the calories compared to carbohydrates or proteins.
