The benefits of using olive oil

When you’re looking to make changes for your health, it’s always best to start out small. These little steps can add up to big benefits for your body over time, but are much less daunting if you take them on slowly. An easy step to make for better health is to switch from your regular vegetable oil to olive oil.

What is olive oil?

Just as the name suggests, olive oil is oil that’s pressed from the olive fruit. It can come in a variety of types and flavorings. Each of these formulations offers a different concentration of olives in the oil as well as a slightly different flavor to those with discriminating tastes.

What are the benefits of using olive oil?
What many people don’t realize is that olive oil actually is a monounsaturated fat as opposed to a saturated fat. This means that olive oil is actually a ‘good’ fat that is heart healthy. Fats that are saturated will stick to the insides of your arteries and create unhealthy build up in your body – which can lead to heart attacks and other forms of heart disease. But unsaturated fats don’t act in this way. Even more harmful are trans fats, but again, olive oil does not include those.

How do you store and care for olive oil?
While olive oil can look beautiful in a decorative bottle, it is not advised that you leave it out in any sunlight or where it might be able to become warm before you use it for cooking. It is a delicate oil that can become rancid in taste if these things should happen. What you’ll want to do is store it in a cool and dark place so that it can maintain its freshness until you use it again. Some experts have even gone so far as to say that you should keep it in your refrigerator. What you might also want to do is choose bottles of olive oil that are opaque so that no light can get in.

How do I use it?
Olive oil can be used in place of oil in any recipe that you are making. However, it can be a little strong in a lighter recipe, like cake, so you may need to choose a light version or find another substitute. You can also use olive oil for stir fry or for dipping your bread into. With all of these choices, it will be more difficult to find a reason NOT to use olive oil.