Olives are very healthy and rich in healthy essential fats. They qualify as a low-calorie snack and ultimately they can help a person lose weight. The little round fruit also has natural compounds in them that may help prevent long-term weight gain.
One serving of green olives, which is around eight olives, has only 31 calories, and a serving of seven black olives has 35 calories. Compared to other snack foods, like flavored potato chips, (which average around 151 calories per serving) olives standout as a better choice. Consuming olives instead of other snack foods would help a person lose weight because of the calorie difference.
The little alkaline fruit contain a high amount of unsaturated fats, totaling 2.7 grams for green olives, and 3.3 grams for black olives per serving. Eating unsaturated fats can actually help a person’s health if they consume them instead of saturated or trans fats. According to a study in “Diabetology and Metabolic Syndrome,” a high-fat diet that is rich in olive oil is better than consuming saturated fat or margarine because it lead to less weight gain in comparison.
Another study showed that a diet high in olive oil rather than other fats led to less weight gain. In an issue of “European Journal of Endocrinology,” researchers conducted an experiment on children over the course of a year. The scientist concluded that the high mono-unsaturated fatty acid content in olives, and that a diet high in MUFAs helps to reduce the chances of obesity.