Lower your risk for heart disease!!

By Lisa VanWilliams

Why cook with olive oil?

• Olive oil has roughly 33% saturated fat while butter is composed of 66% saturated fat. Olive oil has no cholesterol, while a serving of butter has around 33mg of cholesterol. 

• Extra virgin olive oil contains some of the highest amounts of monounsaturated fats compared to other oils. These fats actually help lower a person’s total cholesterol level and LDL cholesterol level, or bad cholesterol. When used in moderation, olive oil provides more health benefits than negative.

• Olive oil comes in a few versions: virgin, extra virgin, pure and light. Virgin means that no chemicals were used in the process of extracting the oil from the fruit. Extra virgin means that the olive oil has undergone several tests to confirm its taste and to verify that it is free of defects & chemicals -it tends to be a little more expensive. Light olive oil is not pure virgin olive oil - it is a blend of oils.  

• Per the USDA the nutritional information one teaspoon of olive oil contains:

Calories : 119
Fat: 13.50
Carbohydrates: 0
Fibers: 0
Protein: 0