My Love Affair with Olive Oil

If I could only have one item in my pantry, it'd be olive oil. Yes, really! This amazing nutrient-rich product is incredibly versatile in both the kitchen and the bathroom.
Olive oil. Photo courtesy Bluescreen, Morguefile.

I love using olive oil to saute vegetables, mix up a homemade salad dressing or drizzle over roasted vegetables.

The oil adds flavor (so you can leave the butter in the refrigerator) and healthy monounsaturated fatty acids to your diet. These good fats lower your risk of heart disease, lower cholesterol and help control blood sugar levels, according to the Mayo Clinic.

As a bonus, olive oil is amazing as a beauty product too. I use it to moisturize my legs after shaving, as a super nourishing hair conditioner and to hydrate dry, chapped lips. You can even use olive oil as a makeup remover!

How do you incorporate olive oil into your day?

Until Next Time,
Choose Healthy!

Angela Tague
Whole Foods Living

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19 comments:

  1. I also drop olive oil into my ears. It helps to keep the wax soft, although I need to get them syringed every now and again.

    http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com

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    1. HI Francene! I have never heard of using olive oil for ear care. Very interesting! I too have the doctor flush my ears on occasion. It's amazing how much better I can hear afterwards! Thanks for the tip! ~ Angela, Whole Foods Living, http://www.wholefoodsliving.blogspot.com/

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    2. Interesting! My mom always used warmed up baby oil drops in our ears when we were kids, to soothe earaches. I'm sure olive oil would work just as well or better.

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  2. Love olive oil, like you I also cook with it,and use it on salads. I even marinate meat with it and bit of fresh lemon juice and herbs. Love olive oil... love olives!

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    1. Hi Jen! Thanks for stopping by! For some reason I love olive oil, but don't like to eat actual olives. They are too salty for me. Weird! I know! ~Angela

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  3. I love olive oil, but can't stand extra virgin. I like slutty olive oil ROFL

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    1. HI Amy, Well, now I need to do a side-by-side taste test. I've never really noticed the difference. You have me very curious!! ~ Angela

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  4. I love it! The post and olive oil. Looks like we're on the same page for food... I'll definitely be adding you to my regular feed. :) Good luck with the rest of the challenge!

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    1. Hello! Thanks for dropping by! ~ Angela, Whole Foods Living, http://www.wholefoodsliving.blogspot.com/

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  5. I love olive oil too, but be careful. Too much olive oil isn't quite as bad as too much butter or margarine, but it's still a fat. A tablespoon a day is about the limit. Loving your blog, BTW.

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    1. HI Jaipi! Thanks for visiting again! :) I will keep your olive oil tip in mind for sure. So far, I've been pretty lucky! ~ Angela, Whole Foods Living, http://www.wholefoodsliving.blogspot.com/

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  6. I use olive oil for cooking and as a moisturizer!

    Look forward to the rest of your challenge run…can’t believe we’ve had 16 days already!
    --Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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    1. Thanks for dropping by! The month really is going fast! Write, write, write! ~Angela

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  7. Absolutely LOVE olive oil. Use it almost daily for my cooking needs. My husband and my son are spoiled rotten with my cooking. (I'm a pretty good cook. LOL!)

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    1. Excellent! We also reach for olive oil for 90% of our cooking! (Have to use veg oil for brownie mix or it tastes weird! LOL!)Cook on! ~Angela

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  8. Olive oil is the only kind in my pantry. As for how I use it...any way you can imagine. I'm being completely serious! Can't beat the flavor and healthiness. As you pointed out, it's a great beauty tool too. :)

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    1. I know! Olive oil is truly a multitasker! Love it!!! ~ Angela, Whole Foods Living, http://www.wholefoodsliving.blogspot.com/

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  9. I use olive oil mostly in salads. I used to use it when frying foods, but heard that the chemical makeup changes when heated. So now I use grapeseed oil when frying or baking. I love butter in baking, too, though. :)

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    1. I would like to experiment with grapeseed oil. I know some oils have lower smoking points, so you have to be careful which ones you heat. Hmmm...thanks for a new topic to research! :) ~ Angela, Whole Foods Living, http://www.wholefoodsliving.blogspot.com/

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