Healthier heart – almost instantly
Have you had your olive oil today! If not, you may want to start the day over by cooking up some eggs in the heart healthy oil.
Lately I’ve been swirling a tablespoon in the skillet and frying or scrambling an egg for breakfast. Yum. Much better than butter or any other unmentionable – like that fake stuff, margarine. A definite no-no in my house.
How many olive-oil-rich meals does it take before your heart starts to benefit? It’s possible your body will start reaping rewards after a single meal according to Real Age.com.
In a study of people with high cholesterol, their blood samples showed less clotting potential just 2 hours after eating a breakfast containing phenolic-rich olive oil.
Eating just one high-fat meal can inhibit artery function, but eating healthful antioxidant-rich fats like olive oil is a love pat for your blood cells. Researchers credit the phenolics in the oil for helping make blood less "sticky" (translation: less likely to clot). Give your circulation a boost with olive oil.
A bit of misinformation caught our attention recently and I’d like to dispel the inaccuracies.
For starters, it’s just plain wrong that olive loses its healthy benefits when used in cooking. Likewise, it doesn’t transform into something unhealthy when heated above 350 degrees.
People ask us if you can cook with extra virgin olive oil – or if it should be used only to finish a dish such as roasted vegetables or fish. Yes, you can roast and fry foods in EVOO. The food will taste better, for starters.
And, notes nutritionist Karen Collins, EVOO doesn’t suffer a significant loss in health benefits when used to cook. Collins is a nutrition adviser for the American Institute for Cancer Research, a nonprofit which funds cancer-prevention research. “Olive oil is a very healthful oil and most people are aware of its heart-healthy monounsaturated fat,” she says.
Popularity: 6% [?]
