Highly Popular Mediterranean Diet

You have tried many diets to lose weight or burn fat but no one of them has helped you. Then you should try the highly popular Mediterranean Diet. The Mediterranean diet might be right for you. This diet program incorporates the basics of healthy eating.

Want to live a long time? When you prepare dinner tonight, go heavy on the vegetables, skip the meat, and enjoy a bit of wine. Mediterranean diet offers you a long and healthy life.

Based on the eating habits of residents of the Mediterranean region this remarkable Mediterranean Diet gives you the choice to enjoy wholesome and tasty food and yet loose weight.

The major update in the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid is gathering plant foods in a single group to emphasize their health benefits. Let's look at the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.(below)

What are benefits of the Mediterranean diet?

A 2007 study conducted in the United States found that both men and women who consumed a Mediterranean diet lowered their risk of death from both heart disease and cancer.

There are many reason to follow the Mediterranean Diet:


1. Rich in anti-oxidants
2. Prevents heart and cardiovascular diseases
3. Reduces the risk of cancer  (especially breast and colon)
4. Reduces the risk of diabetes
5. Reduces Hypertension and infarct risk
6. Protects from Alzheimer’s disease
7. Reduces the risk of chronic bronchitis and emphysema
8. Has anti-inflammatory properties
9. Reduces blood pressure
10. Improves life span and the quality of life
11. It’s convenient (It’s based on easy to find and cheap foods)
12. It’s tasty
13. Ideal for sport lovers (balanced, rich of vitamins and minerals)
14. It’s amusing!
16. It can help you to achieve your weight loss goals
17. It can resist depression.
19. It can help you to nurture healthier babies
20. It can help you to lower your risk of heart disease

What are key components of the Mediterranean diet?

1. You do more exercises and eat your meals with your family and friends.
2. You eat recommended a generous amount of fruits and vegetables.
3. You consume healthy fats (olive oil and canola oil)
4. You use herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods.
5. You drink red wine (in moderation).
6. You eat fish or sellfish at least twice a week.
In addition, the latest studies show, eating a Mediterranean diet and increasing physical activity levels can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Differences Between Italian Diet and Mediterranean Diet

Mediterranean diet is always known for its healthiness. We can place Italian food into the “Mediterranean dietary group”. Don’t think that Italian kitchen only consist of pizza and pasta! This part of the article is aiming to give some information about the simple Italian diet and typical Mediterranean diet which is similar. Foods can differ but the dietary principles are similar: it’s a balance of simple and complex carbohydrates, proteins and non-saturated (also some saturated) fats. The difference from the Northern European diets is that, there is a heavy reliance on complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits. But the use of olive oil is common in both diets.

Italian people consume fruits and vegetables more than American or English people do. And salads have a special place in their dining table. Salads and vegetables are overwhelmed with sauces and cheese.
Well, what Italian diet includes? What should we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Here is an example list for each meal.

Breakfast: Italian breakfast is not so much rich. The only goal is to limit our calorie intake. A standard breakfast consists of cereals and toast with fruits. As you see the Italian breakfast is not so complex.

Snack: When the middle of morning arrived, you feel some signs of hunger, don’t you? Here is good options for these kind of times: a cappuccino, cornetto at the bar, an orange juice or succo di frutta with a toast or pizzetta or tramezzino.

Lunch: Clasically pasta and a salad with fruit can be a good choice. But you can also try baked fish with potatoes or a light meal dish with a tossed salad or some vegetables. And fruit comes at the end of the meal.

Afternoon snack: A yogurt or some fruit can be a light and good option.

Dinner: In most families, dinner is the major meal because of the working conditions. The important part about meal is not eating too late. Because your body needs time to digest the meal before you go to bed. I usually cook a one course dinner followed by a salad or vegetable. Sometimes I make "pasta e fagioli" (pasta with navy beans) or a soup with fish and vegetables. During the weekend, I might have friends over and in that case push to create a two-course meal like pasta or rice followed by meat or fish, then followed by a salad or vegetable. All this is followed by fruit and is a mandatory following to the Italian etiquette.

What are the common foods and flavors of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid?

These are the foods and flavors commonly used for the Mediterranean Diet. (To see the foods and flavors, please  move the cursor over a food group from the menu.)

The Seven Countries Study & Mediterranean Lifestyle

The value of eating Mediterranean style came into focus in the 1960s. Mediterranean diet is one of the diets among the others that have been the subject of more medical research.

The Seven Countries Study was the first research examining the relation among diet, lifestyle and the rates of heart attack and stroke in contrasting populations. It was published in book form in 1980.

This study was enrolled in 15 population samples located in seven different countries. The countries that participated to the study were Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece, Finland, Netherlands, U.S.A. and Japan. The research showed that Greek and Japanese men had far lower rates of cardiovascular disease than men from the other countries, with the Greek subjects from the island of Crete having the lowest rate of all. One of the important things that the research and thirty years of follow-up reports showed was the relationship among weight, body mass, heart disease and obesity is complex. However, this study also showed the importance of the fat used in the diet. The research showed that the type of fat in the diet is more important than the amount, and that the use of monounsaturated fats - particularly olive oil - is correlated with a lower risk of heart attack and stroke. The twenty-year follow-up report showed that 81% of the difference in coronary deaths among the seven countries could be explained by differences in the average intake of saturated fatty acids.