What’s the relationship between sports performance and extra virgin olive oil? Is it advisable for people who do sports to consume olive oil? In this post, we’ve decided to answer these two questions. But first, we’re going to give you some advance information. If you do sport, you’ll see that after you finish reading this post, you’ll never forget to add extra virgin olive oil to your diet. We’ll demonstrate that there is a connection between sports performance and extra virgin olive oil. The first thing we want to tell you is that everyone should lead a healthy life. In order to achieve it, eating habits play a fundamental part. We are what we eat, as we’re sure you’ve heard and read hundreds of times. And it’s a sentence which can be justified in many ways. Well, if you want to choose healthy eating habits, you have to opt for the Mediterranean Diet. Why?  Because it’s the healthiest way of eating in the world.  All the dieticians and nutritionists in the world agree with this statement.

Sports performance and extra virgin olive oil plus eating habits and training

Do you know what the Mediterranean Diet is based on? You’re right. Extra virgin olive oil. If someone wants to choose to eat healthily, they have to consume EVOO. Imagine that we’re talking about people who do sport and who want to achieve good results. Extra virgin olive oil is indispensable.  In this Mediterranean Diet model, the principal healthy fat is EVOO.  Healthy fats are necessary for everyone’s organism. All the more so if the people doing sport are top level. Why do we always speak about extra virgin olive oil? As you well know, there are many types of olive oil. But extra virgin olive oil is the one which is obtained from cold pressing, it uses the best food technology and it never loses its nutritional properties. It’s the type of oil you’ll find at Masía El Altet.  The authentic juice of olives. With everything we’ve already told you, we’ve demonstrated up to a point that there is a relationship between sports performance and extra virgin olive oil.

People who do sports, overexertion and EVOO

What has also been widely demonstrated is that the fatty acids from extra virgin olive oil helps people who do sports gain muscle mass. But the mission of fatty acids doesn’t finish here because they’re also very useful in helping to bring about a quick rcovery after exertion. The reason for this is that fatty acids have a very strong anti-inflammatory power.  In sporting effort, it’s necessary to bear in mind what is called oxidative stress which is produced by a lack of oxygen which occurs in prolonged exertion. EVOO is very rich in vitamin E and also in polyphenols.  Two of the elements most important in the fight against this oxidative stress. Besides, all the properties that this rich foodstuff contains help prevent people who do sports from getting injured. For that reason, we could say without any risk of being mistaken that sports performance and extra virgin olive oil go hand in hand.

Always with a specialist’s helping hand

However, it serves absolutely no purpose to consume extra virgin olive oil without following good instructions on healthy eating and, obviously, following a planned training schedule supervised by a professional. If you do a sport, be it at amateur or professional level, it’s always a good idea to count on the guidance of a professional.  This person will provide you with the guidelines necessary to improve your performance and obviously, will plan routines to avoid injury. Fortunately, the figure of the dietician-nutritionist is becoming more prominent within many clubs since they’ve become aware of the fact that eating habits are the key, not only to improving performance but also to avoiding injury. But it also goes without saying that there is still a long way to go for people who do sports to really take this on board. But little by little, the importance of healthy eating habits is gaining ground.  And we’re never going to tire of repeating that good eating habits undoubtedly include consuming extra virgin olive oil.

More benefits of EVOO for the person who does sport

We’ve already seen that EVOO is very good in avoiding oxidative stress and in preventing injury thanks to its vitamins and polyphenols. But consuming EVOO also has other benefits.  It’s the best food stuff for looking after the heart and the whole cardiovascular system.  That is the case for everybody but it takes on special importance where people who do sport are concerned because they put that system under a great deal of stress on practically a daily basis. It’s not necessary to remind ourselves that consuming olive oil wards off the possibility of contracting many other illnesses as long as it’s accompanied by a balanced diet.

Sports peformance and extra virgin olive oil, always hand in hand

As we’ve said during this post, everybody should have healthy eating habits. Even more so in the case of people who do sports. It should be the principal fat because it’s a healthy one.  In this way, by consuming EVOO, people who do sports will get rid of other less healthy fats from their diet. It should be an objective for the whole of society to consume extra virgin olive oil from a very early age. It’s important for children because it will improve all of their abilities, also where doing sport is concerned. Healthy eating habits will preempt excess weight and obesity, something which, very unfortunately, is reaching extremely worrying levels in Spain. In this post, we’ve wanted to show the relationship between sporting performance and extra virgin olive oil.  The conclusion is that EVOO improves the ability of people who do sport, above all if we’re speaking about those who belong to the elite category. Do you do sport? Were you already aware of the importance of consuming extra virgin olive oil?  Please, answer the two questions in the comments section. Have you liked this post? Have you found what we’ve told you interesting? If you have, please don’t hesitate to share it with all of your friends and family on social networks.  We’ll be really happy if you do.