Olives from Spain

Hola! This week I'm in Spain and I'm literally in *food heaven* - I'm a big fan of seafood paellas and can't say no to sangria (the red wine has anti-oxidants hey?!). SO, soaking up some much needed vitamin D means I haven't been able to tweet as often, but I wanted to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who is reading this.. I only started blogging 6 months ago and am over-whelmed at nearly having 40,000 hits. So thank you for supporting me and thank you for following me on Twitter and Facebook.. Nic's Nutrition has over 1700 followers on twitter! I love reading people's comments on my blog and emails.. so thank you.

Yum - Olives from Spain sent me this delicious variety to try!

Ok, so enough of the thank-you's and back to the blog... as well as paellas and the odd sangria, I'm also a huge fan of Olives. I didn't know this until the other day, but Spain actually produces 40% of the world's total olive supply (fact of the day!).. which means I've been gladly adding them to salads and munching on them as snacks.. by the pool of course (ok I'll stop with the holiday talk!!).

Olives are an essential part of the heart healthy Mediterranean diet, along with other foods including fresh fish, meat, pulses and vegetables. Olives are a fantastic source of healthy unsaturated fats, fibre, vitamins (A, B and E) and minerals (calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and iodine), and are relatively low in calorie - with an average of 150kcal per 100g serving - to put this into perspective:

100g of olives = ~150kcal

100g of nuts = ~600kcal

100g of crisps = 500kcal

Which snack would you choose?! - The choice is yours!

For delicious recipes that use olives [click here] for the 'Olives from Spain' recipe page.. these dishes area created by Omar, a talented Spanish chef - you can't get any more authentic!!

I hope you're all having a great week!

Nic x

P.s for Omar's YouTube videos of dishes created with Olives see below:

Chicken breast stuffed with Spanish olives and Soft Cheese

Queen Spanish Olives Stuffed with Fried Manchego