If you are trying to figure out how to make your diet much healthier, you need to consider the health benefits of olive oil in your diet. There are several benefits to virgin olive oil and including it as part of your diet can allow you to feel healthier overall.
Olive oil contains oleic acid. It is a monounsaturated fat that is full of several different antioxidants. These antioxidants help to prevent damage to the body on a cellular level. Because it reduces the damage that the body’s cells can suffer as a result of oxidization it has been proven to help prevent the growth of tumors in the body.
You may also find that the use of virgin olive oil can help you improve the health of your heart and circulatory system. Improved cardiovascular and circulatory health means much less of a chance of having a heart attack or a stroke. One of the critical benefits of olive oil is that it can regulate levels of both bad (HDL) cholesterol and good (LDL) cholesterol which can also help reduce the incidence of heart attack and stroke. Keeping both forms of cholesterol within healthy limits and in a good proportion to each other is critical to maintaining good heart health and preventing the build-up of plaque which can clog arteries and blood vessels. Although LDL cholesterol can be oxidized in the body, virgin olive oil can also prevent this from happening due to its antioxidant properties.
It may not seem like it would be important to use virgin olive oil but you need to know that not all olive oils are made alike. You want to make sure it is as unprocessed as possible and virgin olive oil is the second least processed of all of the grades of olive oil. Because it has not been processed as much as later pressings higher levels of beneficial compounds will still remain in the oil itself. The only oil with higher levels of antioxidants and beneficial elements is the first pressing, or extra virgin, oil.
Many people may be concerned that using virgin olive oil in cooking will be difficult but this is not the case. The easiest method is to simply substitute olive oil instead of the butter and animal fats that you may currently be using. Because virgin olive oil can be quite flavorful it can be an excellent way to lightly dress salads or use as a healthy dip for bread and can replace fattening alternatives this way as well. If you are choosing to use virgin olive oil, try using it in areas where it does not need to be heated as much since it can allow more of the flavor to come through in the foods you are making.
If you want even more proof that olive oil can be of great benefit to your diet, look at the Mediterranean diet. People who eat olive oil on a daily basis are proven to have much lower levels of heart disease and cancer. If nothing else, this should help convince you of the truth of the matter.
You can find numerous many health benefits of olive oil. You can find more olive oil health benefits on my website.