The French love olive oil:it's the 2nd the most consumed oil in France.
For millennia, olive oil has been known for its subtle, fruity taste.
But it is also famous for its health benefits .
It is not for nothing that it is at the heart of the famous Cretan diet!
We have listed for you the main virtues of olive oil for your health.
Discover now the 7 benefits of olive oil on your body . Watch:
Olive oil is a fatty food par excellence.
But when it comes to an extra pure virgin olive oil, it remains very digestible.
It does not slow down the evacuation of food from the stomach.
As a result, it does not prevent the reflux of food into the esophagus either.
And in addition, gastric acidity is not modified by olive oil.
Thanks to olive oil, the total evacuation of gallbladder bile towards the intestine is favored.
The process is done in a smooth and regular way.
When olive oil acts on the gallbladder, the liver goes to rest.
In addition, its action is neutral on the cholesterol content of bile. The risk of gallstones does not increase.
The action of olive oil is very beneficial on the intestines.
It facilitates the digestion of food, including that of fatty foods.
Olive oil is essentially composed of oleic acid.
It is this characteristic that makes it very easily assimilated by the intestine.
The body can thus benefit from all its benefits quickly.
Olive oil is the ideal fatty food to prevent cardiovascular accidents.
It is a food of choice for diets that aim to prevent cardiovascular accidents, such as myocardial infarction.
Olive oil promotes an increase in good HDL cholesterol and a decrease in bad LDL cholesterol.
Overall, if you consume olive oil regularly, the cholesterol level does not change or tends to drop when you consume olive oil.
Do you know that olive oil has a high content of vitamin E?
Thanks to this feature, it prevents the formation of free radicals.
It therefore limits the formation of atheroma plaques on the walls of the arteries.
As oleic acid decreases the formation of these plaques, olive oil fights against atherosclerosis (also called atheromatosis) which is the leading cause of death in the world.
The oleic acid contained in olive oil decreases blood viscosity.
Why is it important?
Because this is what allows olive oil to prevent and limit the risk of thrombosis.
It seems that the regular consumption of olive oil would reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.
This is what finds a study, published in the Journal of National Cancer Institute , led by one of the great cancer specialists, Dimitrios Trichopoulos.
It all started with the observation that some women who were heavy consumers of olive oil, particularly in Mediterranean countries, had few breast cancers.
There is no doubt that a diet high in fat increases the risk of breast cancer.
The author of the study is therefore particularly interested in Greek women who are used to cooking with olive oil.
The diet of 2,300 Greek women, including 820 breast cancer patients, was studied.
The author was able to conclude that the daily consumption of a tablespoon of olive oil (10 g) reduced the risk of breast cancer by 25%.
The significant presence of monounsaturated fatty acids, which prevent oxidation, and antioxidant vitamins could explain this phenomenon.
Olive oil is the only fatty substance whose virtues are proven. Other fats should be consumed in moderation.
If you are not used to cooking with olive oil, here are some suggestions for using olive oil every day, in good dishes.
Whether you call it pistou or pesto, the recipe is always the same:here it is. It is very easy to make.
You can make a large quantity because your pesto will enhance many dishes.
And if you're in a hurry, nothing prevents you from buying a ready-made jar.
Then, all you have to do is prepare your dishes with it. Watch:
- Make small aperitif toasts. On grilled toast, put a little pesto then place raw vegetables on top for an appetizer such as radishes, cucumbers, cauliflowers, carrots, tomatoes, asparagus...
- Add it to your soup before serving.
- Also add to well-drained pasta or hot potatoes.
- Put it in sautéed veal, rabbit or chicken.
- Put it on your white meats, your fish after cooking or grilling.
You can add a little crème fraîche to your pesto to make it smoother and more fragrant.
Repeat the classic pesto recipe and simply add sun-dried tomatoes. You can also find it in any supermarket or grocery store, or even here on the internet.
- Put it on pasta, in sauces, in béchamels or even to deglaze dishes.
- Make this delicious and easy chicken mozzarella recipe whose secret ingredient is red pesto.
- Do not hesitate to put it on your grilled meats.
The tapenade is a preparation made from olives, anchovies, capers, garlic and olive oil.
Very simple to make, it's a treat! You can also buy it ready-made, if you don't want to prepare it yourself.
- It will be excellent on grilled toast with goat cheese, drizzled with a drizzle of olive oil and accompanied by a salad.
- Put a little on hot potatoes or any other vegetable, according to your taste.
- Raise your white or red meats, cooked or grilled but also on cooked or grilled fish with a little tapenade. On the other hand, add your tapenade once the meat is cooked, when it is still hot. Try for example on a steak, just before cutting it.
Like pesto or tapenade, garlic cream can be easily prepared at home or bought ready-made. You will find it in supermarkets, delicatessens and on the Internet.
- You can put it on your toast or to spice up your vegetables.
- It works wonders on legs, lamb chops, roasts and also fish.
Nothing is easier than making confit garlic! Otherwise, you will find it in delicatessens or on the Internet.
Either way, it keeps for months. You can prepare it natural, with herbs or with peppers.
- Serve it as it is as an aperitif
- Put it in the dish of your choice (roast, sauce...)
This recipe is perfect when you have too many tomatoes and they are starting to ripen. Find out how here.
If it's not tomato season, you can buy ready-made dried tomatoes in Italian grocery stores or here on the Internet.
- They will be delicious in a mixed salad, warm or cold, with pasta, potatoes or fish
- They can be served on fish, filet mignon and other meats. Then cut them into thin slices.
