Olive oil = bad??

[Fallen_Horse]

I was just reading Eat to Live, and in it, the author discusses how all oils are bad for a healthy diet (even olive and flax) because they add calories without adding fiber or micronutrients. What do you guys think about this? Is olive oil really that bad?

[xdarthveganx]

that sounds like complete crap.

[dontxhide]

What Darth said.

 

I love olive oil. I have about two tablespoons every workout day in my shakes. ~shrugs~ Ive been getting leaner also, so its not a big deal.

 

On the health side, even some of the raw food guru's claim the health benefits of olive oil.

[Marcina]

BS!!!

 

Dude I was raised on olive oil. In a family full of Italians who eat a lot of crap I think olive oil is the only thing keeping us alive!!

 

It's good for your heart and many other things. It's magic. Don't believe the olive oil haters.

[cubby2112]

I am going to take the unpopular opinion here. I think extracted oils are bad. So many micronutrients and phytonutrients are left behind in the pulp. You are mostly left with fat. It is a lot like isolated protein powders. Traditional Mediterranean diets are healthy despite olive oil, not because of it. They are healthy because of the abundance of whole plant foods. The oil is mostly dragging them down.

[offense74]

Jeff Novick on the subject

Sorry.

[Marcina]

ehh I dunno. I know that hydrogenated oils are bad for you.. And too much of anything is bad, obviously.

I don't believe that olive oil is unhealthy in moderated doses, like everything else. I'll cook with it, I'll use it in my salad dressings.. It's a lot better than butter, margarine, or lard.

[alison]

Well if you finish the book you will see that he says if you are an athlete or someone who is either gaining weight or has no problem with their weight, a bit or even a lot of olive oil is fine. He is just saying that for those who are losing weight it is a definite no! Rather get your fats from avocados or raw nuts and seeds as they contain so many other healthful things. He is saying it is not the 'health' food it has been made out to be, it will make you fat, very fat indeed, whether its a good fat or not. Also he points out that the meditteraneans who consumed this diet high in olive oil, were also consuming a mainly fruit and vegetable diet, along with working manual labour so getting in a good 8 hours or more of exercise daily. Now that they no longer do so much exercise and have kept the olive oil but not so much the fruit and veg they are fat along with everyone else.

 

Anyway olive oil in limited amounts is fine, and for an active person with a high metabolism they can go wild, but for everyone else it shouldn't be utilised that much. He is saying you will find fats from nuts and avos much more satisfying and filling, and its a lot easier not to overdo it.

[Marcina]

Yeah, I'm pretty lean. I get fats from nuts usually. I like my almonds a lot. As for olive oil, again I only really cook with it or have it in a salad dressing. I wonder if there are people who are all "Gotta get my daily dose of olive oil!" and take a swig out of the bottle. Lol .. ew.

[michaelhobson]

He is saying you will find fats from nuts and avos much more satisfying and filling, and its a lot easier not to overdo it.

 

Yes, as long as you're eating the nuts, avocados or olives. If not, cutting out the olive oil could leave you without essential fatty acids. And not to bring up Omega-3's and DHA again (that was covered in another thread), but skipping a couple of teaspoons of flax oil in the name of losing weight seems like really bad advice.

[Neven]

It does sounds better to eat whole olives than drinking olive oil.

[thendanisays]

I wonder if there are people who are all "Gotta get my daily dose of olive oil!" and take a swig out of the bottle. Lol .. ew.

 

.....did it this morning actually. well, out of a spoon cuz i was blenderless and spent the night out and it was the only healthy fat that he had whichi i'm supposed to eat for my diet ....yeah, it was gross....

[cubby2112]

In moderation most things aren't a problem, but that doesn't mean they are healthy. A little bit of olive oil isn't going to hurt anyone, but it is always best to try to get the majority of your fats from whole foods.

[alison]

In moderation most things aren't a problem, but that doesn't mean they are healthy. A little bit of olive oil isn't going to hurt anyone, but it is always best to try to get the majority of your fats from whole foods.

 

I agree completely.

[StrawberryJam]

We can get oil from nuts, avocados etc, but there comes a time when we do need to use oil, and olive oil is certainly better than other oils... especially if you get organic cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. I've also read that coconut oil is the best oil to consume, and that it has a much higher heating point than olive oil. So I tend to use olive oil for things like salad dressing or making dips and use coconut oil for cooking.

 

Like many others have already mentioned, everything in moderation is fine. There's always going to be researches that say this is not good for you, that is not good for you... so if we were to cut all those food out completely we might be living on a diet of nothing but green superfoods.

 

There are so many health experts that says different things sometimes we just have to go with our own beliefs (be it research, gut feelings etc). For example, most of us in this forum has taken the belief that we don't need meat and dairy to be healthy... but there are health experts or bodybuilders out there that will say we need to be eating meat and dairy etc.

[VeganGirl2006]

In moderation most things aren't a problem, but that doesn't mean they are healthy. A little bit of olive oil isn't going to hurt anyone, but it is always best to try to get the majority of your fats from whole foods.

 

Yeah, exactly. Oils in moderation can be beneficial to any diet. They promote healthy skin and nails. That was something I learned while I was on Weight Watchers. They advocated 2 tablespoons a day if I remember correctly. But lots of oil, just like lots of anything, isn't good for you.

[Fallen_Horse]

Well anyway, I tried a salad dressing sans oil just to see how it would come out. 1tbsp of tahini and 3tbsp of blueberry vinegar, plus a little pepper and garlic powder. It tasted great! So I am thinking of using tahini instead of olive oil for my salads from now on...

[cubby2112]

Tahini is what I usually use instead of oil. It has so much flavor and works great. I usually just grind unhulled sesame seeds and mix them with some nutritional yeast and lemon juice or vinegar for a basic sauce or dressing.

[IronRonin]

Oils being bad for you is nonsense. Hemp, flax, coconut, fruit seed, AND olive oil are all FINE and should not be avoided for any reason. The other day I had some overweight lady who was a "nutritionist" (with a degree mind you...*puke*...) telling me how bad coconut oil was for me and how milk was the "perfect food". The fact that people like this lady advise others on a daily basis on how to eat infuriates me. I seriously wanted to go so far as to call her out on being ingly overweight and out of shape and having the balls to call herself a nutritionist. But yeah, EFAs and omegas are great, and plentiful in the right oils.

[xjohanx]

Oils being bad for you is nonsense. Hemp, flax, coconut, fruit seed, AND olive oil are all FINE and should not be avoided for any reason

 

if you're overweight it's pretty good to avoid them since it's a lot of calories.

personally i don't think oils are bad, but i prefer eating hempseeds and flax seeds more than using the oils since they contain much more micronutrients.

 

 

The other day I had some overweight lady who was a "nutritionist" (with a degree mind you...*puke*...) telling me how bad coconut oil was for me and how milk was the "perfect food". The fact that people like this lady advise others on a daily basis on how to eat infuriates me. I seriously wanted to go so far as to call her out on being ingly overweight and out of shape and having the balls to call herself a nutritionist.

 

ah dude i hate people like that. it's the same at gyms when really out of shape people walk up to you and tells you how to perform an excersise or how many reps you should do etc. if they know what's so good for the body why the hell do they look like that?!?!

 

Well anyway, I tried a salad dressing sans oil just to see how it would come out. 1tbsp of tahini and 3tbsp of blueberry vinegar, plus a little pepper and garlic powder. It tasted great! So I am thinking of using tahini instead of olive oil for my salads from now on...

 

i think that's a really good switch. tahini is great in most aspects. do you have any more recepies on tahini dressings?

[Fallen_Horse]

I wish I did. I just made that up out of nowhere, because I couldn't find one online. A search for 'raw dressing' doesn't work, because technically olive oil is raw, so most of those recipes use OO...

[Marcina]

Oils being bad for you is nonsense. Hemp, flax, coconut, fruit seed, AND olive oil are all FINE and should not be avoided for any reason. The other day I had some overweight lady who was a "nutritionist" (with a degree mind you...*puke*...) telling me how bad coconut oil was for me and how milk was the "perfect food". The fact that people like this lady advise others on a daily basis on how to eat infuriates me. I seriously wanted to go so far as to call her out on being ingly overweight and out of shape and having the balls to call herself a nutritionist. But yeah, EFAs and omegas are great, and plentiful in the right oils.

 

I just tell people milk is for babies. It's blunt, it's probably rude, but it's true.

 

I don't think I'm getting enough fats in my diet. Someone mentioned on here that I should get more EFAs to help control my depression. I've been doing that and also getting some sun and enjoying the fresh air.

So much better than pills. I am terrible for remembering the names of people who give me advice, so whoever told me that.. Thank you.