But does EVO oil make you fat?

One of the most discussed food related topic is “But does extra virgin olive oil make you fat?” and today, we are going to sort this out for you, once and for all.

That extra virgin oil, main ingredient of the famous Mediterranean Diet, is rich in fat, that’s a fact. But what most people don’t know for sure is how healthy and essential these fats are for our body and why they shouldn’t be as scary as many people describe them to be.

We are going to talk all about it in today’s article and, just to let the suspence out, let us reveal that no, EVO oil does not make you fat… it is “just” one of the best fats around, precious friend of our health, to be used moderately but regularly in our daily diet.

Extra virgin oil: the healthy fat

If we take the 100% of extra virgin oil, just know that 99% is made out of lipids aka fats and that 75% of these aremonounsaturated fats.
Oleic acid, linoleic acid and palmitic acid make extra virgin olive oil the perfect ally to our cardiovascular system, for example. Did you know that olive oil’s fatty acids play an important rule in preventing heart diseases, protecting our heart from different pathologies?

In addition to that, EVO oil helps us to carefully keep under control “bad” cholesterol and it actually increases the levels of the “good” cholesterol, which has the important task of keeping our arteries clean from the fat sediments, making the blood circulation easier.

But let’s get back to the salient matter and to why extra virgin oil doesn’t make you fat but, as well as being a “good” fat great helper of our cardiovascular system, it is also a true friend for our diet and for the correct functioning of our body. This is possible thanks to the treasure trove of essential minerals it contains and those who helps us to assimilate such as vitamin A, D, E, K, but also calcium from vegs and fruits.

Moreover, extra virgin olive oil fats contribute in:

1. promote the feeling of satiety – thanks to some aromatic molecules that act like hormones, increasing the feeling of satiety
2. protect the stomach from inflammation – for the digestive system we can say that extra virgin olive oil intervenes effectively by regulating the acid secretions of the stomach and for this reason it is recommended to combat disorders such as gastritis and ulcers
3. facilitate digestion – as reported above but EVO oil is also the easiest oil to digest thanks to the monounsaturated fatty acids, a characteristic that makes it quicker to digest than vegetable and animal fats
4. avoid abdominal swelling – contains oleocanthal, a substance that has a strong anti-inflammatory action and it is good for the stomach, reducing problems of gastritis and possible swelling

And so on. We could talk about all the beneficial aspects of extravirgin oil for hours and hours without getting tired but we want to get to the point and take stock of the question asked at the beginning “But does EVO oil make you fat?”

We already revealed that no, extra virgin does not make you fat, praising all its amazing properties but despite everything, we need to come clean to an important side of the whole story.
Since it is made up of 99% lipids and considering that 100 grams provide approximately 900 calories, olive oil is certainly an high-calorie food but this doesn’t mean that we need to completely cut it out from our diet. If your goal is to lose weight, then you just need to learn how to use it with parsimony and to not exceed with the doses; in fact to enjoy its precious benefits and enrich your dishes with more taste all you need are 3/4 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil per day, better if used raw.

But if vegetable fats have the same calories and lipids of EVO oil, why should we pick this last one?

The answer is of course pro for our taste buds; a good extra virgin oil is more intense, fruty and tasty than a regular vegatable oil and right for this reason we won’t be tempted to use more, but the opposite. We are going for sure to be using less olive oil just because it will give more taste with less quantity poured.
And then, always because we are talking about its healthy benefits, if we talk about cooking with extra virgin olive oil then you just need to know that it has a smoke point (temperature at which a food fat begins to release volatile toxic substances) higher then the other oils and that’s why it’s more suitable for frying.

In conclusion, does EVO oil make you fat? No!
Don’t make the mistake of completely cut it our from your everyday diet just because you are being influenced by those popular myths, you are just going to be missing out not only on amazing benefits for your health but also on a unique and irreplaceable tastes which will make your food a litte bit more special.