Olive Oil for Your Beauty

Do you want to know the secret behind olive oil that works like magic for your beauty? Well, here they are:

Olive oil and the skin
The ancient Greeks used to bathe with oil, using a special scraper to take off the excess. To moisturize dry skin, apply it daily directly to dry spots and stretch marks. You're not going to be using that much so use the best olive oil; extra virgin. Pure and Light olive oil has been chemically processed, avoid it.

This is how you do it: massage a small amount of olive oil into skin whenever you need softening and moisturizing, Apply extra oil to rough or cracked areas. Bath: Add several Tablespoons of olive oil to your bath, along with a few drops of your favorite essential oil, to soothe and nourish you.

Olive oil can also help relieve sunburn. Olive Oil contains polyphenol compounds that act as antioxidants to help prevent and repair damage to the skin done by accidental sun exposure. The skin damage is related to the destructive activity of free oxygen related radicals produced by skin cells. Polyphenolic components of olive oil have been compared to traditional antioxidants, such as tocopherols, used by the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry to prevent skin damage. Results show polyphenols as having the highest activity as radical scavengers.

There are mentions in Greek texts about the protective effect of olive oil, a commonly used skin conditioner at the time. A few small scientific studies support this. But this doesn’t mean that it is safe to apply olive oil then sun tan lotion. No matter what you put on your skin, sun exposure will eventually age and damage the skin. Avoiding the sun, wearing protective clothing or at least using the newer UVA and UVB sunblocks would be better.

Olive oil as hair treatment.
This helps repair split ends, heals dandruff, and makes your hair shiny, silky, and lustrous. Massage a few tablespoons of olive oil into scalp and hair. Cover hair with a plastic bathing cap and leave on for 30 minutes or more, then shampoo as usual.
Olive oil also helps in treating baldness. Wash your hair regularly and treating your scalp with virgin olive oil.

Defend against Aging
Olive oil contains rich amounts of Vitamin A ,E, minerals and antioxidants, in particular squalene, an excellent emollient and antioxidant, compatible with skin and containing high levels of collagen--skin's own natural age-defier.
Antioxidants help slow the ageing process. Olives are high in polyphenols. These substances are water soluble so are mostly found in the waste water after olive processing. The oil retains a small amount of the polyphenols. Some of the polyphenols such as hydroxytyrosol have been found in higher concentrations in good quality oils while tyrosol and some other phenolic acids are found in poor quality oils. The difference between virgin and extra virgin is the acid content and organoleptic properties such as taste, so undoubtedly extra virgin has different polyphenols than virgin but as before the total amount of polyphenols are probably the same.

Posted by antiwidi at 08:58 38 comments Links to this post


Extra Virgin Olive Oil for My Sweet Heart
A new study shows extra virgin olive oil, which contains more antioxidants than more refined olive oil, may offer better protection against heart disease. Extra virgin olive oil is made from the first pressing of olives and contains higher levels of a class of antioxidants known as polyphenols than more refined olive oils that come from later pressings.


Researchers say these polyphenols may provide another way to reduce the risk of heart disease in addition to the heart-healthy benefits attributed to the monounsaturated fatty acids found in olive oil. Recent studies have suggested that the bulk of olive oil's heart-healthy benefits comes from good fatty acids (monounsaturated fatty acids), but researchers say polyphenols may also contribute to those benefits and further reduce the risk of heart disease.
Extra Virgin olive oil also produced another healthy antioxidant effect. It increased the level of substances in the body that prevent the oxidation of bad, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Oxidation of this type of cholesterol is linked to the formation of clots in blood vessels, which could lead to heart attack or stroke.


For Extra Virgin Olive Oil, olives are hand-picked. Cleaned with pure water, then crunched and malaxated and finaly cold pressed. Extra virgin olive oil is derived from the first cold pressing of olives without refining. The oil is extracted from the olives by mechanical means (pressure) which do not modify it's basic properties. This results in a completely natural product which maintains the taste plus chemical and biological characteristics of the olive.


It is characterized by an acidity level of less than one percent. It is considered the finest and fruitiest olive oil and is therefore also the most expensive. It can range from pale champagne to greenish-gold to bright green in color. In general, the deeper the color, the more intense the olive oil flavor. Extra virgin olive oil's naturally intense taste is especially complimentary when drizzled over seafood just off the grill, to dress salads, the finishing of sauces and anywhere that richly flavored olive oil will enhance the finished dish.

Posted by antiwidi at 07:34 1 comments Links to this post


Fights Heart Disease with Olive Oil
Studies suggest that olive oil decreases rates of heart disease. No wonder the Greek physician Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, referred to olive oil as "the great therapeutic”. It is unclear if any single component of olive oil is responsible for these health benefits or if it is a combination of olive oil and a diet high in vegetables, fruit and fish.

Recent studies by The U.S. Food and Drug Administration credited olive oil with decreasing the risk of coronary heart disease. Up to 80 percent of olive oil is made up of monounsaturated fatty acids, which resist oxidation (the process by which fatty acids are degraded) better than polyunsaturates. Monounsaturated fatty acids help keep HDL—so-called good cholesterol—levels up and LDL, "bad" cholesterol, down.


In addition, the presence of phenols, tocopherols, and other natural antioxidants in olive oil also prevent the formation of certain free radicals (highly reactive molecules) that may cause cell destruction within the human body.


Several studies in Mediterranean countries also have shown that the incidence of heart disease is lower than would be expected by blood cholesterol levels. Many feel that this discrepancy can be explained by the high amount of olive oil in the diet in this region. But what is it in olive oil which lowers heart attack risk? Researchers Larsen LF, Jespersen J, and Marckmann P at the Centre for Advanced Food Studies, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark decided to see if it was due to olive oil affecting the blood's basic ability to form clots. Less effective clotting would mean fewer heart attacks. The researchers compared the effects of virgin olive oil with those of rapeseed and sunflower oils on blood coagulation factor VII, which is a key factor in blood clot formation. In this study eighteen healthy young men consumed diets enriched with olive oil, sunflower oil, or rapeseed oil for a period of 3 wks. Levels of Factor VII were significantly lower in those who ate olive oil compared to sunflower or rapeseed (canola) oil. The study's conclusion was that olive oil may lower the procoagulant tendency of fatty meals which could explain the low incidence of heart attacks in Mediterranean countries.

More recently 10,000 patients at high risk for heart attack or stroke were followed for 4.5 years in the The Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) Study. People who received 265 mg (400) IU of vitamin E daily did not experience significantly fewer cardiovascular events or hospitalizations for heart failure or chest pain when compared to those who received placebo. 1.6mg, or 2.3 IU (International Units) of Vitamin E, a natural antioxidant, is present in one tablespoon of olive oil. One tablespoon of olive oil would provide 8% of the recommended daily allotment for vitamin E.


One thing that you can do to fight heart disease is by doing Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet has been shown to lower heart disease but Mediterranean countries people eat as much as 40% of their calories as fats (mostly olive oil). For patients with low HDL levels and high triglycerides, the Mediterranean diet may lower heart disease best.

Olive oil is an integral part of the "Mediterranean diet" which is associated with sensible tasty portions and slower, more enjoyable eating. People who eat a "Mediterranean diet" have been shown to have a remarkable variety of health benefits. Olive oil can quickly satisfy hunger and lead to fewer total calories ingested at mealtime.