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Olive Oil: Decoded

Diet and Nutrition image.

People in Mediterranean countries (such as Greece and Italy) eat a rather high 40 percent of their calories as unsaturated fats, mostly in the form of olive oil. If you're committed to cooking with an unsaturated oil and you stand in the supermarket aisle eying the olive oils, it's easy to become confused. You see pure olive oil, extra virgin olive oil and light olive oil. What do all these terms mean?

Consider the process of extracting oil from the olive:

The picked olives are washed and ground up. The resulting mulch is slightly warmed and mixed with water. A hydraulic press applies over a ton of pressure. The runoff is centrifuged or decanted to separate the oil from the water. This is what is referred to as a "first cold pressing" and the resulting oil is termed "extra virgin." This is the darkest, most delicate and flavorful oil. It is also the most expensive, but as with many things, cost is not necessarily a true reflection of quality.

There's still oil in the remaining just-pressed mulch! As pressure is gradually increased further, the next oil that comes out is the "virgin" olive oil. It has less color, but still contains some of the olive's fruitiness. Now you have pure olive oil with a mild flavor. Virgin olive oil does not contain less fat, it is just lighter in color and is simply a highly refined olive oil.

Next time you are at the market, you won't have to stare blankly at the olive oils and wonder what's what. You'll be able to confidently pick the oil you want.

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Dr. Jon Gray Asks some important questions of interest to Boise residents - Chiropractor Boise Dr. Jon Gray Asks...

What's the difference between sick care and health care?
Sick care is largely about relieving or suppressing symptoms. Health care is about improving performance. While sick care is about how you feel, health care is about how you function. Sick care is what you do to treat an obvious problem, and health care is what you do to avoid the problem and advance your well-being.
How do you know when you're healthy?
Ask most Boise residents this simple question and you're likely to hear, "When you feel good" or "When you're at your proper weight for your height" or "When you have lots of energy and vitality." Great answers. But our chiropractic patients know that true health is when your body is working as it was designed. True health is how you function, not how you feel.