Episode 32 of The Living Life Well Show: Taste and See-Olive Oil
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life Well Show, the intersection of God's Word, today's science, and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the Word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth.
So we're back with our taste and see series.
And today we're going to be doing olive oil. So olive oil is a substance that has been around for virtually ever. We've been using it. And multiple societies throughout the world. And periods of time for many different things. And so we see it's first mentioned in Genesis 28. Right after Jacob has had the dream and now he's there at Bethel and he creates an alter anoints that [00:01:00] alter. There with oil.
And so we see that olive oil is mentioned over 200 times throughout the Bible it's used as the fuel for lamps in the menorah. Traditionally. It's also used in temple service the most holy of anointing oils and oils used in the inner sanctuary of the temple and specifically for the priest to carry out their duties, this particular oil, as it's related through Israeli history is that it was the first drop from a pressed.
olive of that was used for the special oil. It sounds like the rest of it was used for other things, but for temple service, it was the very first drop that was used. To carry out the temple duties. So olive oil. Has been used for generations and generations societies throughout the world.
And really what we're seeing is [00:02:00] tons of benefits with it. In the Bible, it even refers to in Isaiah one. It talks about using olive oil to heal wounds and Luke 10 talking about the good Samaritan. It talked about putting olive oil on the wound and dressing the wounds. To help them heal.
And in James a refers to healing. In the aspect of when you are sick, being anointed with oil to receive healing. Olive oil is used throughout the Bible in many different ways. And it was also used in sacrifice, right? So in. Many cases, it was mentioned to mix olive oil. Into the bread and the food that was being cooked and offered as a sacrifice there. In the temple. So we know that olive oil was good. It was healing.
And we know that it was a part really of everyday life. We think that is a big component of the Mediterranean diet even, and possibly one of the big [00:03:00] reasons why that diet has gained so much popularity for its. Healing and anti-inflammatory properties because olive oil has something called oleic acid in it. This is very, anti-inflammatory really helps with digestion.
The polyphenols that are contained in olive oil really help with a digestive process. They're very anti-inflammatory. We see C reactive protein levels go down quite a bit. As it relates to a regular use of olive oil. In addition, olive oil affects cholesterol, it has been shown to decrease total cholesterol. Increase your HDL or good cholesterol.
And now more provocative testing shows that it even decreases our apolipoprotein B, which would again, be another. A measure of cholesterol that is bad for us. And we see that olive oil has [00:04:00] lots of different healing properties and works in many different ways. It's also very good for bone health. As well. It has been shown to really help with supporting bone health, especially in women. And has some association potentially there with estrogen effects is as well.
So olive oil overall is a tremendous product that helps in a lot of ways. And one of the things that we actually see is that it helps with insulin sensitivity. It works as a bit of an appetite suppressant, but also works to make your body more sensitive. To insulin, it affects the leptin levels, which can drive hunger as well.
So olive oil has been shown multiple times throughout recent literature. To really back up, you know, the reason it takes such a prominent role in the Bible, why it is used in so many different things, why it is even used in [00:05:00] the sacrifice for the Jewish tradition. To God. And it even was used to anoint Kings and other positions of leadership. Throughout the Jewish church, but also in our current church and in the church even at Acts.
What I want to talk about is now kind of consuming olive oil. So how do we incorporate that? Into our everyday diet. You know, there's a lot of information out there about oils and about how they become rancid when heated and olive oil has been lumped into that as well. And it's still a little bit. Unclear as to exactly. Whether that occurs or not.
What we do know though is that olive oil is a tremendous for drizzling on after cooking for certain. And it is good for cooking when you cook it at [00:06:00] a level that is lower than the smoke point. If you cook it at levels that are less than the smoke point for the olive oil. You definitely will avoid any of that transfer into kind of a more rancid type oil. And olive oil is primarily, really made up of monounsaturated fats.
Very good fats, healthy fats that are healing. And again, beneficial support. Skin health if you will. So when we have these monoun-saturated fats, what they're really doing is increasing our metabolism. Thus causing a potential weight loss while at the same time, decreasing our appetite. And body fat.
So the. Fat content that's associated in olive oil is much different than when you're looking at. Other animal products or even other seed oils and things like this. And so that's why olive oil is a superior or oil [00:07:00] basically to essentially really anything that we found, maybe avocado oil is a rival to it.
But otherwise, really all your other cooking oils take a very far back seat. To olive oil. So in speaking of cooking again, you want to make sure that you only heat it up to the smoke point, which is around 410 degrees or so going over this can then caused you to lose some of those beneficial effects.
It's unclear as to whether it actually becomes harmful. It. Doesn't appear to be, but. A jury is potentially still out on that aspect of it. ~If you are using olive oil and cooking, please do. But try to cook with it. So that it's going to be at a lower level, N not get to that smoke point because we know for sure under that you are definitely safe with continue to cook with it. ~So how do you find a good olive oil.
So that is a really good question because there are so many different terms are so many different types and so many different places to buy from. First thing that you want to look for is you want to make sure that it is extra-virgin [00:08:00] basically what this means is that just like all our products that we buy, especially plant-based products, we want them not to be processed.
Extra-virgin just means that it hasn't been heated. Hasn't been refined in any type of way. It is truly essentially unadulterated if you will. Extra-virgin is what you want. Want to look for, and then you want to look for cold pressed or first pressed. And so this again is almost a little bit redundant because. if it is extra-virgin that essentially is what's happening and by cold pressing, that means that there hasn't been any heat added to it. It's essentially been at a temperature that's less than 80 degrees. Fahrenheit.
And is Saving. The integrity. Of the oils and the phytochemicals and everything that. That are coming out. In that oil. Now, the third thing you want to look for in an olive oil is you want to make sure that it's in a dark bottle. [00:09:00] Light and heat will affect the shelf stability of the olive oil and the overall quality of the olive oil. Over time.
And so we want to minimize the exposure. So looking for, dark glass bottles, metal containers. Things like this are going to be important when you are looking at buying a good quality. Olive oil. And then finally, as often as possible, you want to have it come from a single source. So single source may literally be a single grower that grows in, in one particular farm and one particular area or a collective and a region or a country.
Now many times when they will say it's a product of Italy. That doesn't mean that it is an Italian olives that you're getting. It just could have been bottled there in Italy. Could have even been transported [00:10:00] and pressed there in Italy.
And if you can buy something that's from a single country that would be good. Better's going to be from a region within a single country and best would be from an individual grower. Now, as you get more narrow, typically prices go up a little bit. However, you can buy a really good quality olive oil for really under a about 25 bucks. And so this should last for, you know, quite a long period of time.
Now, some people even advocate some physicians in the functional medicine space. Even advocate. Essentially drinking a shot of olive oil daily. And especially if somebody is having a lot of digestive issues and, or is having issues with regards to cholesterol or diabetes, this may be a benefit to you. If somebody has auto-immune disease underlying, this could be something that would be a benefit.
But again, you're going to want to [00:11:00] make sure that you're doing high quality products and not something that has already either been heated. And altered and, or is going to have potential to spoil because it hasn't been packaged and transported correctly. So that's just a little bit about olive oil.
It's a great substance to include with your cooking. After cooking on salads on really for dipping sauces even for marinades, it all is going to be very good and it's going to be beneficial. I hope this helps and thanks. And God bless.
That's it for this episode of the Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more, or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying, go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The [00:12:00] preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services.
If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific concerns.
