Mediterranean diet

Mediterranean diet is a nutritional model inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of the countries of the Mediterranean basin, particularly Greece, Spain and Italy.

The Mediterranean Diet has long been touted as the world’s healthiest eating regimen. According to a research, people who eat a so-called Mediterranean diet are as much as 70 percent less likely to suffer a second heart attack than those who follow a typical "Western" diet.

Overall, people following the Mediterranean diet most closely were 25% less likely to die during the study period than those who did not, suggesting that those closely following the Mediterranean diet end up dying later than those who do not.

Studies on Mediterranean diet

A recent study has once again confirmed that people who follow ‘the Mediterranean Diet’ live longer than other Europeans. In a recent study the diets of more than 22,000 people living in Greece were ranked according to how closely they adhered to the traditional Greek style Mediterranean diet.

During the 4 years of the study, it was found that the closer people followed the traditional diet the less likely they were to die from either heart disease or cancer, with slightly greater protection against heart disease than cancer.

History of Mediterranean diet

Even though the Mediterranean diet has gained common currency only in the 1990s actually the Mediterramean Diet was first exposed to the outer world by an American doctor Ancel Keys.

Mediterranean Diet is based on what from the point of view of traditional diet, mainstream nutrition is considered as a paradox: that although the people living in Mediterranean countries tend to consume relatively high amounts of fat, they have far lower rates of cardiovascular disease than in countries like the United States, where similar levels of fat consumption are found.

Working of Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet patterns include a high consumption of fruit and vegetables, olive oil and fish, bread and other cereals. The main factor the Mediterranean Diet is that it is rich full flavored foods.

Margarine or other hydrogenated fats leave foods tasting bland compared flavor fats like olive oil can impart to foods. People have to employ some form or potion management, if they eat foods that are consistently high in fat content, as calorie count of protein and carbohydrates are doubled by fats. Red wine is also consumed regularly but in moderate quantities

Explanation for using Olive Oil

One of the main explanations is thought to be the large amount of olive oil used in the Mediterranean diet; in contrast to the high amount of animal fats in a typical American diet. Olive oil lowers cholesterol levels in the blood, while animal fats tend to increase cholesterol levels.

Olive oil is also considered an antioxidant, so it can be effective in the fight against cancer. However, following the Mediterranean Diet can be a challenge. While 40 percent of one’s total calories are derived from fat, dieters can only eat small portions of red meat.

Explanation for using Red Wine

In addition, the consumption of red wine is also thought to be a factor, because it contains flavonoids with powerful antioxidant properties (this effect of the red wine is also called the French paradox, due to France's high red wine consumption).

Some people, who are strict followers of Mediterranean diet, might feel it as drastic. For such strict followers of Mediterranean diet, adding of seasonal vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, pasta and a few grains, to your diet wouldn't hurt.

Even fish and poultry are de-emphasized, as are milk and milk products. However, unlike other diets, the Mediterranean Diet allows you to eat a fair amount of bread and potatoes, and you can eat eggs as often as every other day. You can even drink wine in moderate amounts.

Fat

It should be pointed out that the Mediterranean Diet offers little in the way of saturated fat or trans fat. This means that dieters have to avoid certain oils as well as margarine, peanut butter, cakes and cookies. Dieters are also encouraged to cut the total amount of fat they eat each day.

Its better to stay away from processed foods, as they are the one that mainly causes over weight. The healthiest aspect of Mediterranean diet is replacement of all fat with Olive oil.

The characteristics of the Mediterranean diet are:

1. Olive oil used for cooking and dressings. Olive oil should be used as the principal fat, replacing all other fats and oils including butter and margarine.
2. A high consumption of fruits, vegetables, potatoes, beans, nuts, seeds, bread and other cereals.
3. Daily consumption of low to moderate amounts of yogurt and cheese.
4. Weekly consumption of moderate amounts of fish and poultry.
5. Emphasis on minimally processed and seasonally fresh foods.
6. Red meat a few times per month (12-16 ounces per month according to some recent research studies) .
7. One or two glasses of wine per day, normally with meals.
8. Reliance on local, seasonal, fresh produce
9. An active life style.

Mediterranean Diet Recipe

The researchers of Harvard and Oldways illustrated the traditional Mediterranean diet in a Mediterranean diet pyramid. The arrangement of pyramid is in the following way:

1. The daily physical activity is the base.
2. The next four layers are foods that should be eaten daily:
• Olive oil
• Cheese and yogurt
• Fruits, vegetables, beans, other legumes, and nuts.
• Bread, polenta, cous cous, pasta, rice, and other whole grains and potatoes.
3. The next four layers are foods that should be eaten weekly:
• Poultry
• Eggs
• Fish
• Sweets
4. Last is the meat, which fills the space at the top of the pyramid, which is recommended only on a monthly basis