Olive oil
Our friend, called olive oil
Maria Skoura
During adolescence you acquire habits and knowledge for your rest of your life. Having healthy nutritional habits, means living a healthier life.
The use of olive oil in our diet, is another healthy nutritional habit. Solon describes the olive tree as the “greatest gift for all kinds of treatment”.
Your body can benefit a lot from olive oil, which is a prime component of the Mediterranean Diet. Its high nutritional and biological value, places it among the 10 most beneficial food products. It‘s rich in valuable nutrients and vitamins and shields the body.
Daily health benefits of olive oil:
• It contributes to the good cognitive brain function, as well as maintain strong bones, more specifically in young people, because it helps the body to absorb calcium.
• It protects your stomach and the digestion system, by decreasing the danger of ulcer and gastritis.
• It contains vitamin E, that protects skin from radiation and makes it look brighter.
• It helps prevent skin cancer, due to its nutritious components, (such as skoualene), which are absorbed by the skin.
• It helps the prevention of cancer, since it protects cells and DNA from any possible alterations.
Tips on its use:
• Use it as a main fat source in every meal.
• It’s exceptional for culinary use because it doesn’t oxidize in high temperatures
• When used raw, in your salad and bread, due to its high content of vitamins and antioxidative substances combined with antioxidant of vegetables, (i.e. vitamin C from the salad vegetables and vitamin E from the olive oil) it helps prevent more effectively cell deterioration.
• Use it in fresh tomato sauce, yoghurt (tzatziki), garlic sauce, even in homemade mayonnaise.
Maria SkouraNutritionist, Scientific Associate of the Greek Society of Adolescent Medicine
