Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Spartan Diet Obsession with Quality

The Spartan Diet is obsessed with the qualitative aspect of food.

Most diets, and in fact the whole of our health food culture, focuses on categorical distinctions between different kinds of foods. For example, the idea that olive oil is "good for you" has seeped into mainstream conventional wisdom. But that notion is only potentially true.

The Spartan Diet emphasizes the quality of olive oil, not just the category. Non-organic, refined olive oil, and olive oil heated to an excessive temperature while cooking, isn't all that healthy.

First cold pressed (extra-virgin), low-acidity olive oil is the very best kind, and the only kind we recommend. And the Spartan Diet calls for keeping olive oil below it's "smoke point" -- the temperature at which the oil begins to break down from the heat and becomes less healthful.

This obsession with quality over category is part of the Spartan Diet revolution in how we think about food -- and should be applied to every single food choice you make.