The Benefits of Olive Oil On Skin - 5 Hot Tips For Using Olive Oil

The benefits of olive oil on skin are simple but profound, the oil is rich in nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins which are great for the skin whether you choose to eat it or apply it externally. The vitamins A and E, including some polyphenols, contribute to cell repair and postponing of the signs of aging. Many people swear by the oil's ability to promote a smooth and radiant complexion while maintaining the skin's elasticity; something which has been known for thousands of years. All the basic recipes below are made with store cupboard ingredients and can be adjusted according to your own personal taste.

Tip 1: The Best Facial Cleanser

For this excellent facial cleanser combine 80% olive oil with 20% castor oil and customize to your own skin type with essential oils. Gently massage the oil combination into the face and neck for about two minutes, follow this by draping a warm, damp wash cloth over your face and leave until cool. Once removed, gently wipe off the oil with the cool, damp cloth. One or two drops of the oil may be used to moisturize your skin afterward.

Tip 2: Face and Body Exfoliant

Olive oil is the perfect ingredient to add to an exfoliant because of the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities of the oil. Take two or 3 tablespoons of olive oil and add two or three tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda, the finer the crystals of soda the better, you are aiming for a mildly abrasive mixture. The bicarbonate of soda can also be replaced with sugar. You can also add a few drops of essential oils to the basic recipe.

Tip 3: Bath Time Luxury

You do not need expensive potions to enjoy a luxurious bath time. Adding a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the bath water will ensure that your soak will leave your body cleansed and well moisturized. To take your bath time experience to another level, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and lie back and relax.

Tip 4: Soften Hard Cuticles

Warm a few tablespoons of olive oil and add to freshly squeezed lemon juice, three parts oil to one part juice and simply soak your fingertips for ten to fifteen minutes. The combination of the olive oil and lemon juice will gradually strengthen your nails making them more resistant to chipping.

Tip 5: Moisturizing Hand Treatment

Before going to bed, smooth a generous amount of warm olive oil on your hands and put on plain, white cotton gloves and then go to sleep. In the morning your hands will be soft and smooth.

It is worth bearing in mind that the cold pressed extra virgin olive oil has the highest concentration of nutrients and because of the extraction process used, no chemical additives, it is therefore the very best for eating and applying to your skin. Always buy the best that you can afford and you will reap the health and beauty benefits.

I love to make gifts for my friends and family and olive oil is one of those incredible ingredients that is not only good for you on the inside but makes you look great on the outside.

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Top Reasons to Love Olive Oil

Some of us have never been introduced to the culinary life Mediterranean style. It's never too late, however, for that discovery. The benefits are many. We can consider at least four reasons why olive oil belongs in your life.

Olive Oil Everywhere

When in Italy you probably will not be served butter with that beautiful bread. Typically butter has other purposes. In a restaurant - excuse me: ristorante - or even a café - chances are if you must have something to go with that bread, it will be olive oil. Many have distinct flavors, created by infusing herbs and different kinds of fruit or spices with the olives.

Extra Virgin, Virgin and just Olive Oil - what does it all mean?

In the first place this oil is a natural product. There is a process for releasing and capturing the oil that has been almost the same for thousands of years, using just about the same techniques. You can feel the excitement in understanding the presence of the fragrant and tasty oil from olives in human society since ancient times.

The differences between Extra Virgin and Virgin involve acidity. Basically there is a standard, a grading process for the olives. Extra Virgin Olive Oil - nicknamed by some as EVOO - means pressed with no heat, no chemical usage, no treatments. That's why it is known as cold pressed! - and has a lower percentage of acidity.

Lifestyle and Health Benefits

In simple language, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is known to play a part in:

* Lowering bad cholesterol
* Acting as a powerful anti-oxidant
* Reducing the risk of certain cancers.

Studies continue to show you can be healthier incorporating this magical oil into your life, gaining a lifestyle that has all these advantages. And it tastes good too, mixing it in with many kinds of foods both cooked and uncooked.

Cooking with Olive Oil

Go ahead and cook with it. Eggs, too? But of course. Butter is not mandatory. So sizzle up your French toast, oil your pan for an omelette and add a dollop to rice while it's steaming. Using it to prepare meat, seafood, vegetables and fish will result in food that is healthy and delicious.

You Didn't Expect This One

In the kitchen, while you are in the heat of your bubbling pots, take advantage of any drips from the olive oil bottle by wiping them up with your hands; it's a treat to your skin. There you have another great benefit: a spa treatment while cooking!

Olive Oil is marvelous for hair and skin and is used in natural remedies. When you shop for it, take the time to read the labels carefully. Some bottles labeled as Virgin are often blended with canola and other oils. That's okay sometimes, but reach for the real thing! Get ready for the good life - you'll see.

I'm Rebecca Ferndell, a food enthusiast, and I'd like to share what I continue to learn about cooking, food, health and recipes too. Join me at http://www.DishingFood.blogspot.com

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Olive Oil – Why This is the World’s Oldest Miracle Food

Olive oil is the pure juice pressed from the fruit of the olive tree. It has been cultivated for over 5000 years around the Mediterranean and has been used variously as a fuel, food, medicine and cosmetic.

Greece is one of the top 3 producers of olive oil in the world — and Cretan olive oil is the finest of them all.

Recently, olive oil (and particularly Extra Virgin Olive Oil) has been recognised as one of the healthiest foods you can get, promoting long life and improving resistance to many of the life threatening diseases that are the curse of the western World.

Isn’t Olive Oil Fat?

You can’t compare olive oil with other oils and fats. It’s best to look at it as fruit juice. It does contain fat of course, but this is the best “fat” you can eat, and is actually good for you.

Olive oil is the only oil or fat that is produced without refining or any chemical or unnatural processes. Thus it retains all its (considerable) vitamin and mineral goodness.

Olive oil:

• reduces cholesterol
• is free from saturated fats and high in monounsaturated fats
• has a naturally occurring chemical which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent which helps reduce the severity and occurrence of arthritis and asthma.
• contains a high percentage of phenols, vitamin E and other anti-oxidizing substances protecting the body from the negative effects of free radicals and thus helping prevent cancer and delaying the ageing process.

Which Olive Oil is best?

There are a few grade of oil you can choose from:

Extra Virgin Olive oil is pressed from the olive without help from heat treatments or other processing, and produces the purest and best oil. This is the most expensive and you should use this for dressings, especially.

Virgin Olive Oil comes from the second pressing and is still a quality tasty oil. Use this for infusing herbs (and salad dressings too).

Pure Olive Oil is produced using some filtering or processing. This oil is less expensive and can be used for frying. You should do all your frying in this type of oil. It is so robust, you can use it many times without any reduction in its flavour or quality.

Which Olive Oil Should I Buy?

Olive oil is in great demand because people are now aware of its health benefits, particularly when compared to other fats and oils. But who produces the best olive oil?

Because of this demand, producers all over the world are resorting to more mechanical and unnatural method of production. Even oils labeled Extra Virgin can sometimes be simply less quality oils that have had their acidity reduced, as this is a criterion for the Extra Virgin mark.

Demand for the oil has encouraged more cost-reducing methods of production through increased automation and concentrating production in ever larger factories. These methods result in a less nutritious product.

On the Greek Island of Crete, the production of olive oil is almost wholly by smallholdings. Small communities will grow olive trees and produce the oil for themselves, their own restaurants, and their own community in the same way they have for centuries.

Walk through olive groves on Crete in November through to February and you will see the families gathered for the harvest, shawls and headscarves wrapped close to keep out the morning chills. Occasionally you’ll hear the low drone of little mechanical flailing machines to gently beat the branches laden with the olives — a Cretan concession to the mechanical age.

Because of this tradition, many people say that you can guarantee the authentic and unprocessed nature of organic Cretan Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Take into account the Cretan soil, the stuff from which the olives acquire all their goodness, and you get the reason why the olive oil from Crete is the best tasting. For millions of years, the rains have washed minerals and nutrients from the mountainsides and hillsides of this mountainous island, and deposited them on the plains and valleys around the coasts — the very place where you will find rows and rows of olive trees, about 30 million of them!

Cretan Olive Oil — the best in the world for health and long life!


Graham Yates wrote this article. To learn more about Cretan Olive Oil visit http://www.completely-crete.com/olive-oil.html
 
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