Why Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil will be trending in 2024 and why you should make this best olive oil part of your lifestyle choices.
Updated December 22nd 2023
- Introduction
- Olive Oil: An Ancient Wisdom That Lives On
- Is Olive Oil A Food Or A medicine
- What Is Wellness?
- How Extra Virgin Olive Oil Increases Emotional Wellness
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil & The Environment
- Reducing Financial Stress Through A Healthy Diet : Including Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Intellectual Wellness : Extra Virgin Olive Oil Aids Cognitive Functions
- Occupational Wellness : How A Healthy Diet With Extra Virgin Olive Oil Can Help At Work
- Social Wellness
- Spiritual Wellness
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Physical Wellness
1/ Introduction
We are constantly bombarded with the latest advice / trends / fads to redefine the ways we can achieve good health, both mental and physical. However not all trends are created equal.
We are supposedly taking a much more holistic approach to wellness this year, here are just some of the ‘wellness trends’ that will be coming your way in 2024.
1. Sleep Syncing
A lack of sleep is said to make you ‘metabolically groggy‘, making it harder for your body to process insulin and contributing to weight gain.
2. Women’s Wellness
Women’s wellness beyond the menopause will become even more focussed on breaking taboos around broader women’s health issues such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and fertility.
3. Gut-Brain Connection
Over the last five years or so, we’ve also seen a huge spike in patients now experiencing mood disorders, depression and anxiety, and often this is also related to their gut.
There is a network of around 100 million neurones lining our gut. It is so extensive that many scientists refer to our gut as our “second brain”. This multitude of neutrons is called the enteric nervous system and produces more serotonin (our happy hormone) than our actual brain. This is why the gut-brain connection is key in maintaining good health and preventing disease.
4. Incidental Exercise
Incidental exercise is activity that takes place in small amounts, at various points throughout the day which makes it far easier to fit into your everyday lives.
5. Matcha Makeover
Switching your morning drink from coffee to this Japanese superfood green tea matcha, is a small but impactful change this coming year to help reduce stress, manage anxiety, and give your immune system a boost.
6. EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (aka EMDR) is recommended for anybody who may be seeing issues related to ongoing low self-esteem or anxiety, patterns of dysfunction in relationships, persistent low mood, or any issues that are clearly linked to trauma (historical or recent).
7. Gender Inclusive Beauty
We’re about to see the boundaries separating men’s and women’s products blur as more of us will be encouraged to welcome gender inclusivity in skincare and beauty For example, skincare should not be gender specific but should indeed be problem targeted, tackling the likes of breakouts, pores and irritation.
8. Facial Yoga
Facial yoga, or face yoga, is a routine made up of massages and exercises that help to stimulate the muscles, skin, and lymphatic system around your facial area. It’s thought to soften and relax your face muscles, relieving the visual signs of tension, stress and worry.
9. Digital Detox
Our increased dependency on smart phones, tablets and laptops is making many people reconsider their relationship with their electronic devices and this will give rise to the digital detox.
10. Mushroom Stacking
Mushroom stacking is one of the latest buzzwords, referring to combining medicinal mushrooms with other adaptogens and antioxidants (stacking) to enhance the benefits. This trend explores the stacks which work particularly well together and why.
An Enduring Health & Wellness Aid
Whilst some of these trends may offer help to individuals there is one that has stood the test of time – for centuries. In a fast-changing world it is unusual to re-discover a ‘wisdom of the ancients’ that is as potent now as it has been for thousands of years.
It has been known for centuries that high quality extra virgin olive oil is good for your health and wellbeing. It has also been lauded across many cultures. The difference now is – following extensive scientific research we now know exactly what is in high quality olive oils that are so good for you – its antioxidant polyphenols.
Morocco Gold is an exceptionally high-quality extra virgin olive oil from a unique new source. What makes it so special however is it is teeming with health enhancing polyphenols, the antioxidants that provide protection against a wide range of chronic illnesses. This makes Morocco Gold particularly attractive to health and wellness conscious food lovers – worldwide.
Morocco Gold is on a mission to show health and wellness conscious food lovers how this incredibly simple diet / lifestyle choice, inclusion of a high-quality extra virgin olive oil can have a profound impact on their health and wellbeing.
2/ Extra Virgin Olive Oil : Ancient Wisdom That Lives On
The olive is among the oldest known cultivated trees in the world – being grown before written language was invented. Extra virgin olive oil is the original superfood. Its flavour and health enriching properties have been celebrated and enjoyed for centuries.
Olive oil has long been considered sacred. The olive branch was often a symbol of abundance, glory, and peace. Over the years, the olive has also been used to symbolize wisdom, fertility, power, and purity.
Olive oil was used for not only food and cooking, but also lighting, sacrificial offerings, ointment, and ceremonial anointment for priestly or royal office. The leafy branches of the olive tree were ritually offered to deities and powerful figures as emblems of benediction and purification, and they were used to crown the victors of friendly games and bloody wars.
Legend has it that Poseidon, the sea god, and Athena, goddess of wisdom, competed to find the gift that would be most valuable to humankind. Poseidon offered the horse and Athena the olive tree. Because of its many uses, the provision of heat, food, medicine and perfume, the olive tree was chosen as the most valuable and in return for Athena’s contribution, the most powerful city in Greece was named Athens in her honour.
3/ Is Olive Oil A Food Or A Medicine?
In Rome, olive oil was used for nearly everything in relation to their health. Roman medicine takes heavily from Greek doctors, who influenced European medicine for centuries, and Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine writes about over 60 different conditions or ailments that can be treated with olive oil, including skin problems, burns and wounds, ear infections, gynecological problems, healing surgical scars, and much more. Many of these uses are still valid and are used as home remedies today.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Hippocrates : father of modern medicine
Olive oil was believed to bestow strength and youth, not least because of the tree’s longevity and its tremendous resilience. Even through the harshest summers and winters they continue to grow strong and bear fruit.
Extra virgin olive oil is now probably the most extensively researched foodstuff on the planet and its health benefits are evidence based. So – how can extra virgin olive oil contribute towards ‘wellness?’
4/ What is wellness?
Wellness is as an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth. Definitions include:
“…a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
– The World Health Organization
“a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential.”
– The National Wellness Institute
Maintaining an optimal level of wellness is crucial to living a higher quality life. Wellness matters because every choice we make, everything we do and every emotion we feel relates to our well-being. In turn, our well-being directly affects our actions and emotions. It’s an ongoing circle.
There are reckoned to be eight dimensions of wellness: occupational, emotional, spiritual, environmental, financial, physical, social, and intellectual. Each dimension of wellness is interrelated with another. Each dimension is equally vital in the pursuit of optimum health.
5/ How Extra Virgin Olive Oil Increases Emotional Wellness
Emotional wellness relates to understanding your feelings and coping effectively with stress. It is important to pay attention to self-care, relaxation, stress reduction and the development of inner resources so you can learn and grow from experiences. The better you understand the processes and manage those feelings, the smoother the ride will be.
When incorporated into a varied healthy diet, including plenty of fruit, vegetables and oily fish, extra virgin olive oil has been shown to contribute to decreasing the risk of depression.
According to a study from the University of Navarra and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, diet rich in extra virgin olive oil can help to protect from mental illness.
The study included 12,059 volunteers and explored the dietary determinants of stroke, coronary disease and other disorders. The research was conducted over a period of 6 years, during which time the researchers gathered data on lifestyle factors including diet and medical history.
The results revealed that volunteers with a high intake of trans fats had up to 48 percent increased risk of depression compared to those who did not consumer those fats. In addition, the researchers also discovered that a higher intake of extra virgin olive oil and polyunsaturated fats was associated with a lower risk of depression.
This is one of a wealth of studies showing how extra virgin olive oil and the Mediterranean diet are associated with lower rates of depression.
6/ Extra Virgin Olive Oil & The Environment
Environmental wellness inspires us to live a lifestyle that is respectful of our surroundings. This realm encourages us to live in harmony with the Earth by taking action to protect it. Environmental well-being promotes interaction with nature and your personal environment. Everyone can have a strong environmental conscious simply by raising their awareness.
A study by researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Minnesota has demonstrated that foods that are considered to be healthy, such as whole-grain cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and olive oil, also have the lowest environmental impact.
This extensive research by Michael A Clark, Marco Springmann, Jason Hill, and David Tilman, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that eating healthier also means eating more sustainably and reveals a clear link between healthy food and environmental sustainability.
Food choices are shifting globally in ways that are negatively affecting both human health and the environment. Here the researchers considered how consuming an additional serving per day of each of 15 foods key food groups is associated with 5 health outcomes in adults and 5 aspects of agriculturally driven environmental degradation.
The researchers found that “while there is substantial variation in the health outcomes of different foods, foods associated with a larger reduction in disease risk for one health outcome are often associated with larger reductions in disease risk for other health outcomes. Likewise, foods with lower impacts on one metric of environmental harm tend to have lower impacts on others”.
“Additionally, of the foods associated with improved health (whole grain cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and fish), all except fish have among the lowest environmental impacts, and fish has markedly lower impacts than red meats and processed meats. Foods associated with the largest negative environmental impacts—unprocessed and processed red meat—are consistently associated with the largest increases in disease risk.
Thus, dietary transitions toward greater consumption of healthier foods would generally improve environmental sustainability, although processed foods high in sugars harm health but can have relatively low environmental impacts. These findings could help consumers, policy makers, and food companies to better understand the multiple health and environmental implications of food choices”.
As part of the study, the researchers examined the impact of consuming an additional serving per day of fifteen specific foods on five “health outcomes” in adults that are brought on by poor diets and account for nearly 40 percent of global mortality, specifically: mortality, type two diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, and colorectal cancer.
At the same time, the effects on five “aspects of agriculturally driven environmental degradation” were studied including greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, acidification and eutrophication (the last two are forms of nutrient pollution).
The foods included chicken, dairy, eggs, fish, fruits, legumes, nuts, olive oil, potatoes, processed red meat, refined grain cereals, sugar-sweetened beverages, unprocessed red meat, vegetables, and whole-grain cereals.
By comparing the five health and five environmental impacts of each food, the researchers determined that foods with the lowest environmental impacts often have the largest health benefits. Foods such as whole-grain cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and fish had the most positive impact on health while also having the lowest environmental impact (with the exception of fish).
Conversely, the foods with the largest environmental impacts, such as unprocessed and processed red meat were also associated with the highest risk of disease. Minimally processed, health-boosting plant foods and olive oil were found to have a low environmental impact, but so did processed foods high in sugar that are harmful to health, such as sugar-sweetened beverages.
7/ Reducing Financial Stress Through A Healthy Diet : Including Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Financial Wellness involves the process of learning how to successfully manage financial expenses. Money plays a critical role in our lives and not having enough of it impacts health as well as academic or professional performance. A common source of anxiety and fear is financial stress.
Extra virgin olive oil has been shown to have a significant impact on a range of chronic diseases. However the cost of these diseases at both national and personal levels can be enormous. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number 1 cause of death globally: more people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause.
An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2016, representing 31% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% are due to heart attack and stroke. In 2016, the cost of CVD in the USA alone was around $555Bn. This is expected to rise to $1.1Tr by 2035.
About 70 million adults in the US have hypertension – that’s 1 in every 3! and only around 52% of people with hypertension have it under control. It is also likely that many are walking around with the condition who don’t even know they have it.
High blood pressure costs the USA around $48.6 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications to treat high blood pressure, and loss of productivity from premature death.
1 in 3 Americans struggle with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), celiac disease, and other digestive conditions daily. Healthcare spending on a single patient with a digestive disease can range from $18k to $150k per year. Of this, specialty medications can cost up to $70k per person per year.
When we look at the high cost of specialty drugs used to treat advanced digestive disorders, it’s easy to see how stigma and suffering in silence can eventually lead to a very expensive problem, for both individuals and health services.
All of these chronic diseases and many more can be alleviated by regular consumption of high quality extra virgin olive oil like Morocco Gold.
8/ Intellectual Wellness: Extra Virgin Olive Oil Aids Cognitive Functions
Intellectual wellness is strengthened by continually engaging the mind. Doing so can help you build new skills and knowledge that inspire and challenge you, and help you grow. You might choose different ways to keep your mind sharp, depending on your mood. For some, that’s brain games and puzzles, or scholastic endeavours. Even simply engaging in intellectually stimulating conversations and debates can strengthen your intellectual wellness.
People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet, known to include fish, leafy vegetables and extra virgin olive oil, increase their chances of better cognitive function, particularly later in life.
The scientific research, by Edinburgh University, has shown that consuming lower amounts of red meat and following the principles of Mediterranean cuisine correlated with higher scores in memory and thinking tests in the over 70s.
Extra virgin olive oil is a key component of the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts.
These latest findings suggest that this primarily plant-based diet may have benefits for cognitive function as we get older.
Researchers involved in the study tested the thinking skills of more than 500 people aged 79 and without dementia. The participants completed tests of problem solving, thinking speed, memory and word knowledge, as well as a questionnaire about their eating habits during the previous year.
More than 350 of the group also underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan to gain insights into their brain structure. The team used statistical models to look for associations between a person’s diet and their thinking skills and brain health in later life.
The findings show that, in general, people who most closely adhered to a Mediterranean diet had the highest cognitive function scores, even when accounting for other factors, including childhood IQ, smoking, physical activity and health factors.
9/ Occupational Wellness : How A Healthy Diet With Extra Virgin Olive Oil can Help At Work
Occupational wellness is about enjoying your occupational endeavors and appreciating your contributions. This dimension of wellness encourages personal satisfaction and enrichment in one’s life through work.
While many enlightened companies focus on physical activity in their corporate wellness program, they often don’t prioritize the other pieces of the wellness puzzle – nutrition. According to the Institute for Health Metrics, poor nutrition has nearly three times the impact on health as low fitness. While more than two-thirds of the U.S. population classified as obese and 86 million Americans struggling with pre-diabetes, the need for better, more accessible nutrition education is evident.
Eating well in the workplace can have a significant impact on overall health and well-being. Nutritious foods can improve concentration and cognitive function, boosting an employee’s workplace performance. It is well documented that employee well-being leads to higher creativity and productivity. The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that optimal nourishment can raise national productivity levels by 20%. Healthy employees are happier, calmer, more engaged, sleep better and get sick less often.
Providing healthy food options in the corporate setting is an effective way to get employees to stick to smart eating habits which benefits both the individual and the company.
Social Wellness
Social relationships create support systems that can carry you through life’s struggles. Harvard’s Study of Adult Development ran for 80 years, collecting data on hundreds of participants. A recent study on a subset of this population, surviving octogenarians, investigated the connections between marital satisfaction, social lives, and happiness. Researchers found that participants who spent more time with others reported greater levels of happiness.
The impact of surrounding yourself with those that care for you can’t be understated. When the demands of life increase and stress mounts, the ability to turn to someone for support and understanding is powerful. Building and maintaining these networks take time and energy, but the work is worth the effort. And it will continue to serve you throughout your life.
11. Spiritual Wellness
The spiritual pillar will look different for everyone because it’s such a personal piece of overall wellness. For instance, it will play a stronger role in one person’s life more than another, depending on how each person defines it.
Firstly, spirituality is commonly viewed as a sense of purpose, direction, or meaning, without which, values can slip to the wayside, upending life’s balance. Secondly, many cultivate their spirituality through meditation, prayer, or other activities that foster a connection to nature or a higher power.
Lastly, maintaining your spiritual wellness will look different for everyone. It’s not about a specific religion or belief system. Spiritual health is about personalizing your journey. Some people might practice mindfulness as a way of checking in with their intentions, guiding their actions, and maintaining a values-based approach to life. However, how you choose to strengthen your spiritual health is up to you.
12. Extra Virgin Olive Oil And Physical Wellness
Physical wellness relates to maintaining a healthy body and seeking care when needed. Physical health is attained through exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep and paying attention to the signs of illness and getting help when needed.
Physical Wellness encourages us to care for our bodies through physical activity, proper nutrition, and a strong mind.
Being physically active is crucial to keeping your body in its top condition. A few proven benefits of physical activity are strengthened bones and muscles, reduced risk of disease and stroke, and more energy.
How A Diet With Extra Virgin Olive Aids Physical Wellness
Whether you are training for a competition or just building your fitness and strength for wellbeing and health, your results will be influenced by the diet you eat.
Choosing foods which are rich in healthy fats, such as extra virgin olive oil, can help improve your body’s potential in many ways, including muscle recovery and increased energy levels.
For instance, this is particularly good news for runners who are considering following a Mediterranean diet to improve performance. According to a recent report in Runner’s World, the range of foods and good fats from nuts, seeds and extra virgin olive oil can benefit runners in a number of ways.
By substituting heavily processed fats in meats and refined grains with more fruit, vegetables and fish, runners can increase their carbohydrate intake, providing the quick-burning fuel that they need.
Nutrition
It is important to nurture your body by eating a well-balanced diet. Filling yourself with a variety of nutrients and vitamins will not only help prevent illness but will also keep your body functioning at its best.
This is where high quality extra virgin olive oil like Morocco Gold really helps. Researchers have demonstrated that regular use of high-quality extra virgin olive oil contributes towards:
- Reduced of risk of cardiovascular diseases
- Beneficial effect on ulcers and gastritis
- Maintains the digestive tract in good health
- Helps to reduce blood pressure
- Help control healthy cholesterol levels
- Olive oil eases or prevents diabetes
- Olive oil lessens the severity of osteoporosis
If you think of your body as a highly tuned machine – extra virgin olive oil like Morocco Gold helps the machine run smoothly. Therefore, it means that you are taking care of the ‘inner self’ and is one less thing to be concerned about in achieving overall wellness.
Understanding the relationship between your body’s physical health and mental health is crucial in order to develop a balanced physical wellness. When you take the route to physical wellness you will learn to understand how your body preforms physically and be able to connect it to how you feel mentally. Physical wellness encourages principles of good health and knowledge, which affect behaviour patterns that lead to a healthy lifestyle. The following are a few suggestions to maintain an optimal level of physical wellness.
- Engage in physical activity everyday for 30 minutes.
- Use stairs instead of the elevator or escalator and walk whenever possible.
- Learn to recognize warning signs when your body begins feeling ill.
- For instance, eat a variety of healthy foods and control your meal portions.
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule and get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
- Practice safe sex.
This in turn will help with…
Mental Well-Being
Having optimal levels of physical activity and maintaining proper nutrition is key to improving your overall intellectual and emotional wellness. Not only will you sharpen your thinking and learning abilities, you will also enhance your sense of self-esteem and self-control.
