Olives are a smart snacking alternative. When reaching for chips or nachos, you might want to consider olives as a tasty change of pace from the run of the mill snack items.

Olive Goodness

Olives are as good for you as they taste. While most folks never considered this to be true about olives, the fact is that olives are packed full of goodness.

Calories

Olives are a great choice for a low-calorie snack or recipe ingredient. They add flavor and variety with only 7 calories per extra large olive (21 calories per serving). Most folks think olives have more calories than other foods. Recent research reveals that many consumers think black ripe olives have more than five times the number of calories than they actually have. The truth is olives are a great low calorie food. This just goes to show that not everything that tastes good has too many calories.

Fat & Cholesterol

At only 2.5 grams of fat per serving (4 Large olives), olives are a great low fat alternative to traditional snacks. Not only are olives a low fat food, but they are an excellent source of the good fats that help lower the bad cholesterol.

The fatty acids in olives are highly monounsaturated. The 2 grams of fat in a ½ ounce serving of olives are 75% monounsaturated. Monounsaturated fats such as olive oil have been found not to have the artery damaging LDL-cholesterol, and to leave the beneficial HDL-cholesterol level unaffected or even at a higher level. Also, olives are a cholesterol-free food.