You Get What You Pay For

That was a favourite saying of my Grandfather and I think it is still valid. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy finding a good deal but there are a few things I do not skimp on and that’s footwear and food. Damn the cost!!

You definitely get what you pay for in terms of food. When you choose to eat at one of those All You Can Eat $15 buffet, I can assure you are not getting the best quality food. There is a reason why its cheap, the food you are eating is cheap!! Don’t eat cheap food for God sake!! When we eat cheap foods we put our health at risk. Life is far too short to eat cheap food.

I cringe when a client says to me “I got 2 litres of olive oil for $4.00.” I will let you in on a secret, the olive oil I buy is probably $30-$40 and its probably not an entire litre. What you are getting in that bottle of cheap olive oil, is definitely NOT olive oil and it is NOT virgin!! If you don’t believe me please read this fantastic article by Forbes on the corruption of the olive oil industry, or this article from the New Yorker. Olive oil has been cut with inferior and cheaper oils, like sunflower and soybean, since the 24th century BC, and continues today. The trafficking of fraudulent olive oils has been compared to the trafficking of cocaine, without the risks, but just as lucrative.

Buying cheap olive oil is not only bad for your body, more to come on that, but it puts the honest and credible producers and farmers at a disadvantage. They are unable to compete with this bastardized product, and they often go out of business leaving those of us without a good supply of olive oil.

Eating some cold pressed, unfiltered and unrefined olive oil can be helpful in maintaining cell membranes, our nervous system, helps with the manufacturing of steroid and sex hormones among many other functions. But, not all fats are the same. Olive oil is a monounsaturated fat whereas the fats that are often used to cut olive oil are polyunsaturated fats. There are many differences and one of the major concerns is the heating of these fats. Olive oil is ok to be heated but not the polyunsaturated. When you heat the polyunsaturated fats you change their chemistry and can create less useable and difficult fatty acids for the body to use and they can be carcinogenic.

I can go on and on about this topic but I won’t, if you want more information please feel free to comment below or contact me. Long story short, purchase good quality, cold pressed, unfiltered, unrefined and ideally organic olive oil, use less and enjoy!

Happy Eating!!

Sarah