Danielle Moore
Olive oil is considered to be particularly healthy. However, olive oil is not always healthy. Only if you implement four other measures will you benefit from the healthy properties of olive oil.
How olive oil extends life expectancy
Olive oil is an important part of the Mediterranean diet. Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School around Professor Dr. Douglas Mashek discovered that olive oil held the key to increasing life expectancy and reducing the risk of age-related diseases. Their results were published in January 2020 in the journal Molecular Cell.
Olive oil or red wine? What’s healthier?
In fact, people had always thought that the secret of the Mediterranean diet was red wine and the large amounts of resveratrol it contains – an antioxidant plant substance with extremely beneficial properties for human health. Because resveratrol can activate processes in the body that protect against diseases and lead to a longer life expectancy.
However, Mashek’s team is of the opinion that it is in fact the fatty acids in olive oil that activate the corresponding processes in the body as part of the Mediterranean diet.
Olive oil is only healthy when you consider these four other factors
However, just consuming olive oil is not enough if you want to enjoy all of the health-related properties of this oil, say the researchers. It is best to combine regular consumption of olive oil with the following four factors:
1st factor: Eating Mediterranean
First, you should consume olive oil as part of a Mediterranean diet that consists of lots of vegetables, salads, nuts, whole grains, and legumes, and only small amounts of animal-based foods.
2nd factor: use intermittent fasting!
Start Intermittent Fasting Now! This does not mean therapeutic fasting, where you don’t eat anything for days and only drink juice, broth, and water, although of course this form of fasting can also be carried out regularly and has healing effects.
With intermittent fasting, on the other hand, you try to keep the break between dinner and the first meal of the next day as long as possible (ideally 16 hours).
3rd factor: Limit your calorie intake
Eat a little less than usual. Finish a meal a little earlier, i.e. before you are really full. Put a little less on your plate from the start and see if the smaller portion isn’t enough. You may discover that in reality, you have always eaten a little too much.
4th factor: Keep moving, do sports
Mashek explains that olive oil is not healthy when you eat and digest it. The fatty acids, on the other hand, should first be stored in the cells. When these fat reserves are then needed through exercise or fasting and are mobilized again from the cell, only then can the special fatty acids in olive oil – oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid – activate the healing and life-prolonging processes mentioned above. Other fatty acids would not have this ability, Mashek and colleagues wrote.
Olive oil and it is very special effects
So if you manage to implement the four points mentioned, the life-prolonging and disease-protecting effects of olive oil will clearly come to light. In addition, olive oil has other very special properties:
For example, olive oil protects against the harmful effects of air pollution (olive oil protects against fine dust) and keeps the blood thin (olive oil is a natural blood thinner), which alone can lead to a significant reduction in respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
Olive oil can also be used in cold and warm cooking, so it is very versatile, so you don’t need many different oils. You should only choose a different oil for searing and deep-frying, e.g. B. coconut oil or a highly heatable frying oil. But if you only heat gently, the olive oil in your kitchen will do just fine.
