Olive Oil - Health and Beauty - Inside and Out

Introduction

In the Kitchen

In the Bathroom

In the Medicine cabinet

What kind of olive oil should you buy?

References

Introduction

Often the best remedies are the simplest and the least expensive. One of my favourite health and beauty "secrets" is using olive oil on just about every part of your body, inside and out. People in Greece, Italy and all around the Mediterranean have been using it for thousands of years. The Mediterranean diet uses liberal quantities of olive oil, and the ancients used it for cooking, beauty and to heal wounds.

I have never heard of anyone having an allergic reaction to olive oil.

In the Kitchen

Weight Loss: olive oil is an excellent oil to use in the kitchen. Use it on salads, with breads, and on the top of many dishes. It lowers the GI (glycemic index) of the food, making it digest more slowly, and keeping hunger pangs at bay during the hours after the meal.

In the Bathroom

Buy a small plastic squeeze bottle, and fill it with olive oil. If you have a favourite essential oil, add just one drop to the bottle. Lavender or rosemary are my favourites in the bathroom.

As you age, your hair, skin and nails tend to get drier. The three keys to a great skin are to exfoliate, moisturise, and protect.

Believe it or not, the most effective way to exfoliate your skin, on both your body and your face, is with white sugar. Use white sugar or raw sugar (not brown sugar). Don't put sugar IN your body, put it ON your body!

Gently mix half a cup of sugar with about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Be gentle, you don't want to dissolve the sugar
Wipe your face with a hot, damp flannel
Smooth the mixture all over your cheeks, forehead, nose, chin, neck and all over your face with your hands. Keep it away from your eyes
Gently rub it on your skin for half a minute
Rinse with warm water to get all the sugar off
Your face will still be covered with oil. Rinse the flannel in warm water, and gently wipe off the oil
Do this every week to remove dead surface skin cells, and have a smooth healthy skin!

In the shower, you can use this same mixture to exfoliate the skin on the rest of your body. Use a wash cloth and gently massage all over. The result - skin like velvet.

If the skin on your face feels dry, spread just one drop of olive oil in each hand, and gently tap it all over your wet face. The water helps the oil spread, and only use a drop of oil or it will look slick and greasy. Blot dry with a soft towel or tissue for a moist skin.

For those dry patches on the elbows and feet, first exfoliate with the white sugar mixture. Then massage in a little olive oil. The transformation will be almost unbelievable.

Makeup Remover: Olive oil is the best and most gentle way to remove makeup, even on your eyes. It can even remove waterproof mascara.

Dry hair conditioner: Olive oil is a great hair conditioner, especially for tired hair that has been coloured and blow dried. Massage a few drops into your hair, and wrap in a hot towel for an hour or so. Wash as usual, and when your hair is dry, spread a few drops in your hands, bend over, and rub through your hair. The result is shiny, healthy looking hair. You only need a little oil, or it may look greasy.

Dandruff: Massage a light layer of olive oil into your scalp and leave it for a few hours before washing.

Cradle cap: a common skin condition on the scalp of babies. Apply a thin layer of olive oil every day until it disappears.

Shaving: men and women - face or legs. A light layer of olive oil on damp skin before shaving is a much better, healthier more natural option than shaving cream.

Nail cuticles: Rub a generous amount of olive oil into the cuticles to soften them before a manicure. Avoid cutting cuticles as it can cause infection or irritation.

In the Medicine cabinet

Sunburn, rashes including nappy (diaper) rash, insect bites. Gently rub on a few drops of olive oil and leave uncovered. It sooths the itching and speeds the healing.

Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention: The FDA reports that taking olive oil each day can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease and strokes. Olive oil is mostly monounsaturated oil, which helps to increase HDL, ("good" cholesterol), and decrease LDL ("bad" cholesterol). High quality, fresh, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil has additional antioxidant properties that protect against heart disease.

Colon Cancer Prevention: Using olive oil may protect against certain forms of cancer, especially colon cancer (1). Olive oil contains oleic acid and other phenols that act as antioxidants.

Breast Cancer Prevention: Studies at Cornell University (3) showed that olive oil consumption was linked to a substantial decrease in breast cancer risk. The oleic acid and antioxidants in olive oil protected against other cancers too.

Alzheimer's Disease: A study showed that the hot peppery tasting compound in olive oil (Oleocanthal) may help treat and prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Diabetes: the European Food Information Council reports that olive oil can reduce blood glucose levels. I explain how olive oil does this in In the Kitchen above.

What kind of olive oil should you buy?

Get the best extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil that you can find. It must be both "extra virgin" and "cold pressed".

Check its expiry date. The fresher olive oil is the better.

Avoid olive oils that are described as just "Olive oil", or where the label says "pure", "light" or "less fruity flavour" or similar. These oils have been through a refining process, and the beneficial oleocanthal and other phenolics are removed.

So how can you tell which olive oils have the most oleocanthal?

Fresh-pressed olive oil has a hot, peppery, almost burning taste that will make you want to cough. Olive oil connoisseurs look for this sensation among the finest and freshest oils.

What are some of the best uses of olive oil you've come across?

References

1. Gill, Chris I. R. Virgin Olive Oil Phenols Inhibit Colon Carcinogenesis in Vitro. Int J Cancer 2005;117:1-7.
Article

2. Oleocanthal May Help Prevent, Treat Alzheimer's. October 15 2009 issue of Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.
Article

3. Elaine Yee-Tak Cheng (Cornell 2000) and Dana Hibner (Cornell 1999).

4. Pitt J., Roth W., Lacor P., Smith A.B. 3rd, Blankenship M., Velasco P., De Felice F., Breslin P., Klein W.L. Alzheimer's-associated Abeta oligomers show altered structure, immunoreactivity and synaptotoxicity with low doses of oleocanthal. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2009 Oct 15;240(2):189-97. Epub 2009 Jul 23.
Article