What Is The "Mediterranean" Diet?

Mediterranean diet is a generic term based on the typical eating habits in the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. Elements include dairy products, fish and poultry being more common than red meat; fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds; use of olive oil; wine consumed in low to moderate amounts.

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The Mediterranean has been shown to lower risk of obesity and is also linked to the prevention of cancer, diabetes and heart disease " in other words, the big killers. This traditional diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, whole grains and olive oil, while reducing saturated fat, refined sugar and processed foods.

In countries as Colombia, there are an increasing number of followers of this nutrition pattern. It is true that in some of these places, genuine virgin olive oil is expensive or difficult to find. In these cases, this vegetal fat is being replaced by avocados, a fruit of incredible properties that offer practically the same health benefit as the olive oil.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids - All oils have a relatively low level of omega-3, with canola oil having the best value of 2.3 grams per tablespoon and olive oil the lowest or even negligible amounts. The relatively low levels of this fatty acid are not surprising because in nature omega-3 occurs in low levels in plants.

The Med diet, unlike the average American diet is low in refined sugars. Substitute sugary snacks with fresh fruit for your sweet hit, along with a load of vitamins and fibre. Dried fruit is also packed full of vitamins, but watch portion sizes as this is an easy way to consume a lot of calories. You wouldn’t normally eat five fresh apricots, but you could easily eat ten dried halves without a second thought. The Med diet is not just a diet, but also a lifestyle. In the Mediterranean, families traditionally sit down together and eat a relaxed meal.

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The higher the score, the greater the adherence. The researchers also analyzed the geographical distribution of Mediterranean diet adoption across the U.S. AMERICANS ON THE WEST AND EAST COASTS ARE THE MOST LIKELY TO EAT THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET, WHICH IS LINKED TO LONGEVITY AND WELLNESS. The average MD score was 4.36, and almost half (46.5 percent of participants) closely followed the Mediterranean diet.

Monounsaturated Fats - With respect to monounsaturated both olive oil and Canola oil have a significantly large proportion of these fatty acids. On the other hand the monounsaturated fatty acid content of soybean oils and corn oil is very low. As a percentage of the 4 combined fats within the oils, this translates to roughly: - olive oil …………. Olive oil and Canola oil contain the most monounsaturated fatty acids, about 75 percent and 62 percent, respectively. Soybean and corn oils contain significantly less monounsaturated fatty acids at only 25 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

The creators of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid based their recommendations on the food traditions of Crete, certain areas of Greece, and southern Italy in part because those regions had very low rates of chronic diseases and long life expectancy. They also correlated the food consumption patterns from those areas (using data available from 1960), with data on nutrition revealed by new research and clinical trials. Unlike any other food pyramid, the Mediterranean Diet included wine as part of a healthy diet.

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