Olive oil benefits

I grew up eating canola oil. But then I met my Italian wife who would not eat anything else but extra virgin olive oil. In no time I developed a taste for it and we started to use oil oil for almost everything except when he had to deep fry something (for which olive oil can be somewhat expensive).

Surprisingly enough, as we were doing our budget, my wife mentioned that she has seen the prices of olive oil go up during last couple of months even when she buys it at BJ's - a discount club for our area. I suggested that in order to keep our expenses within budget, we might want to cut back on olive oil consumption.

But it seems that we will be reverting to our original consumption levels in order to maintain our healthy lifestyle. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a qualified health claim for monounsaturated fat from olive oil and reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). In the opinion of FDA, there is limited but not conclusive evidence that suggests that consumers may reduce their risk of CHD if they consume monounsaturated fat from olive oil and olive oil-containing foods (about two tablespoons or 23 grams a day) in place of foods high in saturated fat, while at the same time not increasing the total number of calories consumed daily.

How do we use olive oil? Like any other oil. We hardly consume any butter and when we need fat, we just use olive oil. The point to note is that if you use extra virgin olive oil (like we do), use less of it.

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Photo courtesy: Natascha Rausch