Here at Grassroots Salad Company, we have an extensive salad bar sure to impress even the pickiest eater! If you are not in the mood to design a salad completely from scratch, try one of our expertly crafted specialty salads. We have one that we call the Kriti, where you will find grape tomatoes, red onions, chickpeas, Wisconsin feta cheese, and Greek goddess dressing. But wait… There’s one more topping that has health benefits you probably haven’t even heard of! Kalamata olives.
First things first – did you know olives are a fruit? That is because they have a pit, so group them right in with the cherries and plums!
Olives in general are abundant in vitamins and minerals. You may have noticed that olive oil is all the rage for cooking nowadays. These same nutrients can be found in whole olives! So throw them on your next salad for an immediate increase in antioxidants and healthy fat. There have been lots of recent findings which suggest that olives can have an extremely important influence on your health. Let’s find out why!
Antioxidants: Olives are filled with antioxidants that zap the free radicals invading your body. Selenium in olives can help reduce joint inflammation. Iron helps with the hemoglobin in your red blood cells. Zinc will help with immune support.
Cancer Prevention and Bone Health: Olives are high in a phytochemical called hydroxytyrosol. The research on this benefit of olives is still new, but tests so far suggest higher deposits of calcium in the bones of animals that have consumed this phytonutrient. That’s potentially great news for our bones! In Mediterranean diets where olives are consumed frequently, there is also a much lower risk for breast cancer. This is as opposed to countries that have diets that do not include as many olive products.
Healthy Fats: Olives are high in oelic acid, which is a monosaturated fatty acid. Not only does oelic acid decrease blood pressure, it actually promotes fat burning for weight loss! It also does a great job at protecting your cells from free radicals.
While olives may be high in sodium due to the canning process, their benefits largely weigh out the negatives. So next time you’re at the salad bar here at Grassroots, be sure to throw some Kalamata olives on your salad or try our Kriti specialty salad!