Healthy Low Carb And Low Fat Choices With Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Updated 8th January 2024
Summary:
- Maintaining a healthy low carb diet doesn’t have to be a challenge with the Mediterranean Diet and extra virgin olive oil.
- Healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil can be a core part of a low carb diet, alongside plenty of protein and fiber.
- Research finds following a low-fat diet can increase chance of living longer than low-card diet.
- The Keto Diet uses fat as an energy source for the body instead of carbohydrates.
- Extra virgin olive oil is also high in monounsaturated fats. These fats are an important part of your diet and rightly fits well within the keto diet.
Contents:
- What Is A Low-Carb Diet and how can extra virgin olive oil fit in?
- New Study Asks If Low-Carb or Low Fiet Diet Help Longevity?
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a healthy fat choice for followers of the Keto Diet.
- How Much Healthy Fat Like Extra Virgin Olive Oil Is Required On The Keto Diet?
- Is Keto Diet Healthy?
- Why Do People Choose The Keto Diet For Weightloss?
- About The Keto Diet
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil And Keto Diet For Beginners
What Is A Low-Carb Diet And How Can Extra Virgin Olive Oil Fit In??
A low-carb diet is a style of eating is centered around whole, unprocessed foods with an emphasis on heart-healthy fats, protein, and fiber. By incorporating these principles into your meal choices, you can enjoy a variety of healthy and delicious options. For example, try swapping pasta for zucchini noodles or using cauliflower rice as a base for your favorite stir-fry. Additionally, feel free to indulge in healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil and nuts, which are key components of the Mediterranean Diet. By making smart, low carb choices with the help of this nutritious eating plan, you’ll be well on your way to a healthier lifestyle.
New Study Asks If Low-Carb or Low Fiet Diet Help Longevity?
Study Answers if a Low-Carb Diet or Low-Fat Diet Helps You Live Longer (yahoo.com)
Researchers have found that following a low-fat diet has a greater chance of helping you live longer than a low-carb diet.
According to a report in Yahoo.com, researchers found that participants who followed a low-fat diet had an 18% lower mortality rate than those that followed a low-carb diet. As summarised by Yahoo.com;
The study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine looked at the effects of both low-carbohydrate diets and low-fat diets to determine which of the two helped people live a longer life—and the results may surprise you.
Researchers analyzed data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, which in 1995 and 1996 recruited AARP members ages 50 to 71. Study participants were asked to complete a food questionnaire. Participants who reported having cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, end-stage kidney disease, or other health issues were excluded from the analysis—which left 371,159 participants in total.
The participants’ food choices were categorized based on how closely they resembled a “healthy” low-carb or “healthy” low-fat diet. A healthy low-carb diet was defined as a high intake of unsaturated fats with limited consumption of low-quality carbohydrates, such as refined grains, added sugars, fruit juice, and starchy vegetables. A healthy low-fat diet included plant-based proteins, high-quality carbohydrates, like whole grains, whole fruit, legumes, and non-starchy vegetables, and limited saturated fat.
After following up around 23.5 years later, researchers found that participants whose eating patterns were most similar to the healthy low-fat diet had an overall mortality rate that was 18% lower than those with eating patterns that least resembled the healthy low-fat diet. On the other hand, participants whose eating patterns were most similar to the healthy low-carb diet had only a slightly lower mortality rate compared to those with eating patterns that least resembled this diet.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a healthy fat choice for followers of the Keto Diet.
Extra virgin olive oil is a good choice for the Keto diet because it is a healthy source of monounsaturated fat. Unlike saturated fats, monounsaturated fats are not associated with health risks such as heart disease. In fact, some studies have shown that monounsaturated fats can actually help to improve heart health. extra virgin olive oil is also a good source of antioxidants, which are believed to promote overall health and well-being. Given all of these health benefits, it’s no wonder that extra virgin olive oil is a popular choice for the keto diet.
If you are unsure whether extra virgin olive oil and the keto diet are meant to go together, we are here to answer with a resounding YES! If you are new to the keto diet it helps to start with an understanding of keto diet foods.
How Much Healthy Fat Like Extra Virgin Olive Oil Is Required On The Keto Diet?
As explained by Healthline, there are different types of keto diet, all of which can benefit from inclusion of a healthy fat like olive oil. These are;
- Standard ketogenic diet (SKD): This is a very low carb, moderate protein and high fat diet. It typically contains 70% fat, 20% protein, and only 10% carbs.
- Cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD): This diet involves periods of higher carb refeeds, such as 5 ketogenic days followed by 2 high carb days.
- Targeted ketogenic diet (TKD): This diet allows you to add carbs around workouts.
- High protein ketogenic diet: This is similar to a standard ketogenic diet, but includes more protein. The ratio is often 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs.
Extra virgin olive oil is low in saturated fat and high in monosaturated fat, making it a perfect choice for all versions of the keto diet.
Is Keto Diet Healthy?
One of the key keto diet benefits is the use of fat as an energy source for the body instead of carbohydrates. But, when it comes to choosing fats which will reduce the risk of heart disease and moderate your body’s LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, extra virgin olive oil is one of the best options available.
According to the Olive Wellness Institute, results of research has shown that 25-50ml of extra virgin olive oil a day can help reduce heart disease risk factors, prevent or reduce type 2 diabetes, reduce obesity, prevent mood disorders and reverse fatty liver.
This is largely due to the polyphenolic compounds and antioxidants found in a high quality extra virgin olive oil such as Morocco Gold.
Why Do People Choose The Keto Diet For Weightloss?
There always seems to be something new in diet trends with each claiming impressive health transformations and stating how incorporating certain restrictions will help train your body to be healthier and feel better.
One such diet trend that has grown in popularity in recent years has been the Keto diet. The keto, or Ketogenic, diet focuses on fat over carbs. It is low in carbohydrates and high in healthy fats, designed to keep blood sugar at healthy levels and enhance metabolism. It gets its name from turning fat into ketones in improving your body’s metabolism, a metabolic process called ketosis.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil And Wellness Through Keto
We already know that extra virgin olive oil comes with its own impressive list of health benefits. In addition to providing essential antioxidants, serving as an anti-bacterial, preventing gallstones and serving your skin, extra virgin olive oil is also high in monounsaturated fats. These fats are an important part of your diet and rightly fits well within the keto diet.
About The Keto Diet
While there are several types of the keto diet, including cyclical and targeted, the standard diet breaks down your food intake into about 75% fat, 20% protein and just 5% of your diet for carbohydrates. Variations flex those numbers slightly but still are founded on high fat and protein with low carbohydrates. While a keto diet isn’t right for everyone, it does come with great health benefits like weight loss and helping diabetes. It has also been linked to reducing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, improving acne, improve risk factors for heart disease and even reduce the effects of epilepsy.
When pursuing a keto diet lifestyle, for either short long term, there are key foods that you avoid in order to follow the 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs. Most obviously, sugary foods like sodas, cakes, ice cream, candy and others are to be cut out or limited. With a low level of carbohydrates, grains and starches like pasta, rice, cereals and more are limited.
An interesting feature of the keto diet includes the limitation of most fruits and root vegetables, as these are high in healthy carbohydrates. While these food groups are obviously important to keep in your diet in order to get the necessary vitamins and nutrients, a keto diet puts a limit on such carbohydrates. Be sure you are careful to still get all those important vitamins and nutrients you need to live well.
This type of diet also highlights healthy fats, such as monounsaturated. Therefore, it’s important to limit your intake of unhealthy fats. Additionally, products that are low-fat and sugar-free are highly processed and should be limited or excluded when following a ketogenic diet.
Although the percentages of food intake may seem tricky, there are some great and easy ways you can make it happen, especially in using oils and vinegars in your dishes. In fact, we’ve even hosted a cooking class highlighting this latest health craze.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil And Keto Diet For Beginners
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to incorporate extra virgin olive oil into your keto diet is through a vinaigrette. This combination of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar comes with endless possibilities and be catered to exactly what you like.
In addition to using your extra virgin olive oil in a vinaigrette for your low-carb salads, you can incorporate it into so many more of your favourite keto dishes. Roast asparagus, zucchini or broccoli drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Sauté your chicken in extra virgin olive oil. Incorporating more extra virgin olive oil into your keto diet can add both flavour and elevated health benefits.
If you are thinking about the keto diet be sure to talk with your doctor before starting the plan. But once you do, discover how you can add increased health benefits by incorporating extra virgin olive oil into your regular routine.
