Mediterranean Diet

Aajonus's core position on olive oil is that it is not an animal fat and therefore sits outside the category of fats the human digestive system is designed to handle. He states plainly that bile is designed to break down animal fats, and that while the body can handle some olive oil and some avocado, those plant-derived fats should not be the primary fat in anyone's diet. Italians and Greeks, he notes, have conditioned themselves over what he estimates as approximately 1,200 to 1,300 years to tolerate olive oil as a dietary staple, but that adaptation does not make the oil appropriate or beneficial in his framework.

He describes olive oil as a highly acidic oil, and specifically distinguishes its acidic nature from the acidic nature of animal tissue, arguing that the body can transform the acidity of animal tissue in ways it cannot transform the acidity of plant oils. He states that olive oil will harden and crystallize to an extent in the body, though at a slower rate than other vegetable oils. He acknowledges that many voices, including Dr. Mercola, promote olive oil as beneficial for clearing cholesterol and supporting cardiovascular health, but he rejects this framing entirely, stating that olive oil is not an animal fat and that humans are built to eat animal fats.

The most specific claims Aajonus makes about olive oil concern its effects on behavior, mood, and neurological function. He says directly that olive oil is an irritating substance that constantly irritates the nervous system and body. He points to Greeks and Italians who use a lot of olive oil as temperamental and irritated, and says he keeps his Greek and Italian friends at a distance. He contrasts this with those same individuals when they are on his diet and no longer eating heavy amounts of olive oil, describing them as completely different people.

He references a scientist who studied people who ate approximately half a cup of olive oil per day, a quantity he notes some Greeks and Italians do consume. He reports that those individuals were the most irritable and had less intelligence, and offers the explanation that the oil would go and replace fat in the brain. He extends this observation to cultural patterns, pointing to the Italian mafia and what he calls Italian impassionment, the Irish and their alcohol, and states that the passion and lack of logic he associates with Mediterranean populations traces directly to heavy olive oil consumption. He adds that Italians who live on farms and are not eating all the olive oil, but are instead eating butter and milk, are very calm people and do not react in the same way.

He also observes that heavy olive oil consumption is associated with hardening of the arteries even in Mediterranean populations, contradicting the popular narrative that it protects cardiovascular health.

Aajonus raises a supply concern specific to olive oil. He states that there are not enough olive groves in the world to supply the current demand, estimating that all existing olive groves could feed perhaps 30 million people with roughly two quarts of oil per year. Because demand vastly exceeds this supply, he says producers are mixing olive oil with either non-vegetable oils or oils made from petroleum, which are then clarified and hydrogenated. His warning is that people purchasing olive oil believing they are avoiding hydrogenated oils are in many cases consuming hydrogenated or petroleum-derived oils that have been blended in. He calls this a trap.

When he does recommend olive oil within his framework, he specifies stone-pressed olive oil, noting that modern production favors machinery and speed over the slow stone-rolling process. He recommends dark or amber-colored olive oils and warns against green olive oils, stating that green olive oils will contain strychnine. He recommends the brand Oliflex from Portugal as his personal preference, and acknowledges that any organic, cold-pressed dark olive oil is acceptable. He also notes that olive oil should not be stored below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, unlike other fats which have lower storage temperature thresholds.

Despite his consistent criticism of olive oil as a primary dietary fat, Aajonus does allow for a limited role in specific circumstances. He suggests that after approximately six to seven months on his diet, a person might incorporate up to a cup of olive oil per week, taken in portions of roughly two ounces at a time. He recommends rotating it across different meats, having two ounces with red meat one day, two ounces with fowl two days later, and two ounces with fish two days after that, then repeating the cycle. He states that olive oil used in this way and at this quantity will help the body in ways he does not fully specify in the passages, but the emphasis is clearly on limited supplemental use rather than primary dietary fat status.

He uses olive oil in specific recipes, most notably the Carpaccio preparation, which calls for five tablespoons of stone-pressed olive oil per serving, combined with bay leaves, basil, garlic, red onion, and raw cheese, used as a marinade for thin-sliced raw meat. This recipe context does not contradict his general position, as the recipe is designed to make raw meat palatable and the olive oil functions there as a flavoring and sauce component rather than a bulk dietary fat.

On olives as a whole food rather than as an extracted oil, Aajonus's position is that olives are not really meant for humans to eat. He states they have a lot of strychnine in them and must be aged properly to remove it. He says they have to be processed in an exceptional way to be healthy and that knowing how to do this correctly is not something most people can manage. He notes that when olives reach the black stage, the strychnine-type enzyme is no longer present, so black olives are acceptable. However, even black olives are typically soaked in either salt water or a vinegar that he does not consider beneficial. His concession is that if someone craves them occasionally, five or six olives are fine, and that in some people olives have supplied a nutrient that was needed.