The Mediterranean diet.

Scientific research keeps confirming the benefits deriving from food from the Italian food tradition. The results confirmed the Mediterranean as a good example of a great nutritional regime. Pasta, vegetables and oil, always on Italian tables, as well as pleasing the palate and sparking off cordiality, are in actual fact ideal from a nutritional point of view. The nutritional traditions of countries such as Italy, Spain, Southern France, Greece and some areas of Northern Africa, are considered by nutritionists the most suitable type of diet, with the advantage of covering all age’s groups without reserve.

                Italian Pasta

Olive oil, an essential element of the Mediterranean diet, turned out to be one of the most effective ingredients against the consequences of "bad" cholesterol. For instance, the Greek population, who has a millenary consumption of olive oil, is the people with the lowest cholesterol level in blood in the whole of Europe. Olive oil is rich of mono-unsaturated fat acids, anti-oxidants like vitamin E and phenol compounds and performs a deep cleaning action for the arteries. In Italy everyone healthily and regularly eat pasta in some form or other and nearly every village north and south has a pizzeria. But the variations from place to place are infinite, and as any experienced gastronome will insist, you have to travel to the place of origin to taste the foods and wines of Italy together at their authentic best.

Doctors and specialists alike nowadays agree in suggesting a diet that will optimally distribute the daily caloric contribution of the various types of nourishment. The variety of the Mediterranean diet is in itself essential to prevent so-called "well-being" disorders (thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, heart attack, diabetes, hypertension, digestive ailments, and obesity). This, translated into the Mediterranean diet philosophy, means that 55-60% must come from carbohydrates (cereals, pasta, bread), 25-30% from fats (olive oil, butter, lard) and only 10-15% from proteins (meats, fish, legumes such as beans, peas etc.). These proportions ensure a balanced diet: carbohydrates to supply energy; fats, if unsaturated acid fats, reduce LDL cholesterol, the "bad one" and increase HDL, the "good" one. Finally, proteins, only in minimal part of animal type. This is because the Mediterranean tradition is also rich of vegetal proteins, which aid in reducing cholesterol as well. If the advantages of a diet full of fruits and vegetables, contributing vitamins, fibers and mineral salts are common knowledge by now, perhaps not everybody knows of the benefits of aromatic herbs, garlic and onion, elements that help significantly in the reduction of fats and, once again, of the notorious "bad" cholesterol LDL.

When adopted with a little wisdom, the Mediterranean diet is also a superb compromise between "good eating" and keeping one's shape. It is a matter of a "diet-non-diet" unquestionably positive and healthy, when enjoying and balancing its variety of ingredients and, if completed by a lifestyle with adequate energetic consumption. Taste apart, the Mediterranean diet is easy to adopt because it allows you to experience a peaceful and gratifying relationship with food. An aspect that is not unimportant in a society as ours, with the media inducing us to live our relationship with food and eating in an increasingly guilty way. With the result of seeing pathologies like anorexia and bulimia grow in an uncontrollable manner. The Mediterranean diet, on the other hand, represents the perfect compromise between our taste buds' satisfaction and our psyche. What more could you wish for?