A while back I stood in my kitchen, staring at a bottle of “heart-healthy” olive oil, and was reminded that most people still believe it’s food. It’s not. It’s a product that has been extracted, refined, and bottled, and it looks like nourishment but it isn’t. And that simple reminder, when you consider what it meant, has probably been worth more than any diet plan, supplement, or wellness fad combined.

An idea that came about, quite frankly, as a joke.

What happened was this:

I had been talking with a friend about eating better. They said they’d switched to olive oil because it was “healthy.” I laughed and said, “So we’re pouring health straight out of a bottle now?”

They didn’t laugh.

A few days later I thought about that moment. I realized I wasn’t joking at all. The joke was on me, and on everyone who thought oil was some kind of food.

The problem?

Oil isn’t food.

But what it is, is an extract.

It’s what’s left when you strip the fat out of a seed or fruit and throw away the fiber, the minerals, the phytonutrients, the water. What’s left is just the concentrated residue, an edible solvent that looks like food.

Personally, I love reminders like that.

It’s also why I tell anyone who will listen:

Pay attention to what you notice about your food and be obsessively curious about it.

Great awakenings can be fragile and fleeting.

And it only takes one to change the direction of your health and your life.

I’ve lost count of how many meals, habits, and choices started with a realization I almost ignored. Sometimes I let it sit for months before it turns into something useful.

But use them I do.

And I highly recommend you do the same with your food.

Speaking of extracts:

One of my focuses became understanding how oil behaves more like a drug than a food.

And back when I started paying closer attention, I noticed how easily it slips past the body’s natural defenses. It doesn’t fill you up or nourish you. Instead, it floods the bloodstream with calories faster than your metabolism can process them, flipping the brain’s pleasure switches the same way sugar or alcohol do until, soon enough, you’re craving food that glistens with it.

I lost track of how many meals I ruined that way.

But I think I picked up all the right lessons, plus a few I didn’t expect.

Anyway, I learned that these “healthy fats” aren’t harmless. Over time, they help pack on weight, fuel inflammation, and tire out your arteries. Every spoonful adds calories without substance; even the so-called “good ones” can silently wear down the body because oil is 100% fat. Just 1 tbsp has about 120 calories, more than twice what you’d get from the same amount of carbohydrate or protein. It contains no fiber or water, and because it doesn’t fill you up, you can easily consume hundreds of extra calories without realizing it. Once in the bloodstream, those concentrated fats can raise triglycerides, thicken the blood, and irritate the delicate lining of your arteries. This, in turn, sets off low-grade inflammation, interferes with how your body uses insulin, and gradually stiffens blood vessels. What looks like a harmless drizzle on a salad is, for most people, an invisible extra load that the heart and metabolism have to manage meal after meal. Still, oil isn’t the villain some people make it out to be.

But, a light drizzle on a salad or a touch for flavor won’t undo everything else you’re doing right. It’s the pouring, the frying, the constant habit that does the damage. Used lightly, it belongs in a good kitchen; used constantly, it runs the show.

And, even the Mediterranean diet isn’t healthy because of olive oil, it’s healthy despite it. The real power lies in the vegetables, beans, and fruits. The oil just coats them.

So when you start making changes, you stop believing the labels and begin reaching for whole foods instead, avocados, nuts, seeds, olives, corn, the way nature made them. And you find that nature already designed fat perfectly, with fiber and nutrients in the right balance.

When you eat food as it grows, your body knows when to stop as it recognizes fullness.

That’s when you realize that oil isn’t a staple, it’s a garnish.

And once you stop treating it like a main ingredient and start treating it like an accent, everything about how you cook and eat shifts. Your food tastes better, your energy steadies, and your whole diet approach starts to make sense again.

It’s all inside the way you choose to eat each day.

There’s no plan to sign up for, no secret to chase, just one simple truth hiding in plain sight.

Eat food the way nature made it, use oil lightly, and let the flavor of real food lead.

That’s my message for today.

Irina Valeva

https∶//​​www.IrinaValeva.com