Please make extra virgin olive oil your oil of choice because it really is a super star food. Of all the healthy oils, this one is the reigning champ and you say, “Dr. Ann what makes extra virgin olive oil so special?” And there are really several features. First of all, it is filled with those make me healthier mono and saturated fats. Extra virgin olive oil has more mono and saturated fats than any other oil.

Why are mono and saturated fats so good? First of all, they do wonderful things for your cardio vascular system. They lower your bad cholesterol. They bring up your good cholesterol. They can lower blood pressure. They make the cells that line your arteries healthy and happy and function well. We know that mono and saturated fats are awesome for decreasing the risk of insulin resistance and again, you hear me talk about insulin resistance a lot. It’s a big killer. You don’t want to get it. It can increase your risk of diabetes and heart attacks. It turns your fat cells into fat magnets.

But perhaps what is most special about extra virgin olive oil that people don’t know about is that it’s filled with anti-oxidants. It’s an extremely potent anti-oxidant food like dark chocolate and red wine and blueberries. It’s from olives and extra virgin olive oil is unique from the other type of olive oils in that it’s extracted by gentle pressing. That’s why it’s called extra virgin. And when you obtain the olive oil in that manner these very potent anti-oxidants are not destroyed. Now that is unlike sort of the non-extra virgin varieties which still have mono and saturated fats but their antioxidant potentials or power is much reduced.

And the other thing about the wonderful phytochemicals that again provide this anti-oxidant power is they're also very potent anti-inflammatory agents and inflammation is the key driver of most diseases. We’ve got a couple of recent studies, which is quiet fascinating that have found that oleic acid which is the predominant fatty acid in extra virgin olive oil seems to have appetite suppressive effects and they’re studying it. So dip your bread into extra virgin olive oil, use it in your salads, drizzle it on your vegetable dishes and important tip is that the very healthiest way to do your extra virgin olive oil is in foods at room temperature or cold or in low heat cooking. Because one thing bad about extra virgin olive oil sort of is that it doesn’t tolerate heat very well. So you don’t want to fry in it. You don’t want to use high heat because if you do, the fats will become oxidized and not only have they lost their health benefit they’ve actually turned into molecules that are sort of toxic because oxidized fats are toxic molecules.

So, make extra virgin olive oil your oil of choice—it really is, truly a super star food and remember you are the only one that can make you healthy. Take charge of your health! For icyou this is Dr. Ann.