The Reason You Should Be Drinking Olive Oil

Drinking olive oil has been a health trend for several years, and for good reason — olive oil is chock-full of rich nutrients like vitamins D and E. In ancient Greece, the epic poet Homer dubbed the oil "liquid gold," while Hippocrates called it the "great healer" (via ScienceDirect).

Olive oil, unsurprisingly, comes from olives grown on olive trees. The olive tree can be traced back to mythology and the story of Zeus promising to give the region in Greece, known as Attica, to the god or goddess who created the most useful invention. The goddess Athena was the winner having fashioned the olive, which was useful for light, heat, food, medicine, and perfume. The goddess planted the olive tree on what today is known as the Acropolis, and it's said that the tree that grows there today came from the roots of Athena's original tree (via Olive Oil Source).

Thousdands of years later and olive oil is still held as a great gift from the Mediterranean. After the olives are picked from their trees, they are crushed into a paste and put through centrifugation to separate the oil (via Everyday Health). Its uses vary from cooking to keeping skin soft and supple. 

So what are the reasons you should drink olive oil?

According to Olive Tap, people in the Mediterranean drink a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil every morning. They believe it helps cleanse the body and aids with the digestive system. After chugging back their daily olive oil, they follow it with a warm cup of water and lemon. The combination of the lemon and the olive oil helps maintain lubricant for digestive mucus which helps avoid constipation.

Olive oil is also believed to help with weight loss. The oil is considered a good fat because it contains monounsaturated fatty acids, which help maintain a healthy heart, appropriate blood sugar levels, and aid in weight loss by helping you feel full and satisfied (via NDTV). That said, Everyday Health still warns that olive oil is a fat, so follow the popular mantra —everything in moderation.

Drinking olive oil can also help in the beauty department with hair growth and keeping skin moisturized, but the benefits go beyond these. Drinking olive oil may also help prevent cancer, which may be attributed to the oil's antioxidant properties that could counter the oxidation of rays from the sun. Studies conducted on people who inhabit the Mediterranean region where it is common practice to drink olive oil on a daily basis found that only three in every 100,000 residents get skin cancer. That, alone, is reason enough to start drinking this liquid gold (don't forget the sunscreen, though).