Health benefits of mediterranean diet

Introduction

For thousands of years, people from Mediterranean coastal region enjoys diet of fruits, olives, vegetables, fish, and whole grain bread dipped in the olive oil, together with a glass of domestic wine, while in the same time getting enough of physical activities. This was and is their way of life, and their life is really long and healthy one.

Recently, in the last 50 years, as awareness of importance of diet has risen, scientist and doctors study health benefits of Mediterranean diet, and the conclusions are really stunning; Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest you can find, and it reduces risk factors of various diseases and disorders significantly.

Also studies shows that Mediterranean diet, being low carb and high in monounsaturated fats like olive oil, is much more efficient for weight loose, that low fat one is.

What makes Mediterranean diet so healthy?

It is not just one thing, but the dietary pattern that Mediterranean diet follows; limited amounts of protein per day, plenty of plant foods (as much as pound per day), and very little saturated fats. The Mediterranean diet also emphasizes fresh, minimally processed and local food, like nuts, seeds, plenty of vegetables, fruits, olive oil, legumes, cereals, pasta and whole grains, together with lesser amount of poultry, eggs, meat and diary.

It is important to remember that Mediterranean lifestyle is not just wine and food; they also have a plenty of daily physical activities. As for American typical diet, it is much richer in saturated fats and calories, and American does not exercise enough. Results are self evident; rates of obesity, heart diseases and diabetes type 2 are among highest in the world.

Also Mediterranean diet can help protect against cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart diseases and many more, according to experts. Mediterranean type of diet is natural and as, such, can not be replaced successfully with supplements. They say that it is not the food itself, like olive oil, but combination and interaction between all those foods in Mediterranean diet that produce best results.

You can try to embrace the Mediterranean style of eating and the way of life yourself. With regular daily exercise, you can also try to combine a healthy daily diet for you and your family based in Mediterranean one. That means that you can try to introduce smart selection of various foods. You may choose whole grain breads, starches and cereals together with low fat poultry, fish, low fat diary, legumes, lots of vegetables, olive oil and nuts.

If you appreciate alcohol, couple of glasses of wine per day is recommended.