Olive Oil: What's your opinion?

I must confess, I love olive oil. In fact, I use it as a salad dressing so much of the time. But I don't know if it's really all that healthy to be doing that. I feel like I tell myself that it is to keep on doing it. I just love the taste and I don't use it to cook. I just mostly use it as a dressing for raw foods.

But is it really bad? What do you think of it? How does or how has olive affected you personally?

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Permalink Reply by Paul on July 3, 2011 at 8:28am

Hmm but I just would like to know what's so bad about olive oil. I've eaten it for years and I definitely haven't gained any weight. I don't feel like it's severely affected my health. I mean, I'm only 21, but I'd just like to know what's terrible about it opposed to the health benefits I've always heard regarding it.

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Permalink Reply by Diospyros on July 3, 2011 at 8:52am

Well, it is a refined food with little nutrition, aka empty calories, aka junk food. Same category as white sugar. Typical junk food ingredients. Now whether it's harmful itself is maybe debateable. Another big problem with oils is that it is easy to overdo, and put you over the 10% max fat recommended around here by Doug Graham. Quite a few raw foodists who say they eat mostly greens actually get 50 - 90% of their calories from the oil they put on the salads!

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Permalink Reply by Star Khechara on July 3, 2011 at 8:54am

Hi Paul,

Its not that olive oil is bad per se but its because it is not a whole food, it is a fractiuonated food and it would be then very easy to over eat on fats if one is actually eating a product which is 100% fat.

It is thr same as if, instead of eating whole fruit, you merely extracted the fructose out and ate that. It is unnatural and makes for unbalanced eating.

Even just adding a few whole olives to a salad really bumps up the fat count so if you are adding neat extracted oils then you will be definatly eating too much fat.

Too much fat is too much, whether it is raw, cooked, from olives or anywhere else.

I Hope this helps you ;-)

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Permalink Reply by magicreative on July 3, 2011 at 9:04am

Karen - could you expand on " the mango high " a little more ? - I'd like to hear -

Also - how many mangoes do you eat at one time ?

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Permalink Reply by Angela Marie on July 3, 2011 at 11:29am

Oh my gosh! I get the mango high too! best mangos ive had so far are manila mangos/champagne mangos. SO YUMMY! and i feel so amazing after! i think i could live off mangos sometimes since i love them so much!

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Permalink Reply by Mango-Man on July 4, 2011 at 4:22am

Have you tried Nam Dok Mai Mangoes (NDM) or any indian/pakistani varieties. If you ever go to India, eat the mangoes for sure. India is, by far, the world's largest cultivator and exporter of mangoes. Here in the U.K, we get several different varieties during june/july/august and they are the best mangoes I have had. The only one that compares is the NDM.

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on July 3, 2011 at 9:31am

"I recommend having healthy relationships, love food that loves you back."

-Dr. Doug Graham

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Permalink Reply by Windlord on July 3, 2011 at 9:08am

Fair questions, Paul.

These vids should be helpful:

(2:55 on)

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on July 3, 2011 at 9:23am

Hi Paul,

Get the 811 Diet book, read through foodnsport website, watch all of Dr. Doug's youtube videos, read through All aboard the Banana Welcome Wagon! , this will get you on the right track.

From Dr. Doug:

Are refined oils, like olive, canola, sunflower, safflower, coconut, etc., OK to use in dressing?

Because they are refined from their original state, oils are no longer safe to ingest into the body. In their concentrated forms, they are pure fat and large amounts of that fat will be directly absorbed into the bloodstream, adversely affecting the blood viscosity (thickness) and the blood chemistry. However, eating some fresh olives, coconut flesh, or sunflower seeds, in moderation, is not bad for you. These whole foods assuredly contain plenty of fat but it is in a form that is combined with all the essential nutrients designed by nature to accompany that fat.

http://foodnsport.com/faq.php

Is Oil Good For Us? - Dr. Doug Graham

Refined Foods, Supplements, and Is More Really Better? - Dr. Doug Graham

What Are Empty Calories? - Dr. Doug Graham

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on July 3, 2011 at 9:25am

On top of all the other unhealthy facts about consuming oils, unless you are pressing the oil yourself, it is highly likely to be rancid.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Fossgreen on July 4, 2011 at 5:43am

interesting!

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Permalink Reply by matea on July 3, 2011 at 11:11am

My dad essentially drinks olive oil .. sometimes his salad floats in it like it is cereal. He justifies it by saying because we're mediterranean we can handle it. ah.. but it's quite gross to me. He actually is in good shape for a 50 year old man and has nice skin, but isnt in perfect health. I've come to see salad as more of eating a bowl of crispy chips - where the lettuce pieces are the chips - so I do without dressing and oil and like it quite a bit. Eating some avo helps a lot too.