Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean basin is an area that surrounds the Mediterranean Sea and has mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. This area includes areas of France, the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian peninsula, and the Balkan Peninsula. It also includes areas of the Sahara desert, and Africa. The people who live in the Mediterranean basin are healthy, so it was only natural to make a Mediterranean diet for others to follow.
Walter Willett, a professor, made the most widely known form of the Mediterranean diet. The diet calls for regular physical activity, along with abundant plant food, fresh fruit as a dessert, olive oil, dairy products, fish and poultry, up to four eggs each week, red meat in small amounts, and wine. The diet strictly control stout so that only a total of about 35% of calories come from stout. It’s considered a low-stout high dietary fiber diet. It has been around since 1945 when the version of the Mediterranean diet was first published Ancel Keyes who lived in Italy. But it did not become well loved until the 1990s.
The Mediterranean diet substitutes olive oil in place of animal fats used by many Americans. Olive oil is known to lower cholesterol levels in the blood, as well as blood sugar and blood pressure. Studies have shown that olive oil helps reduce the risk of many types of cancer as well as of ulcers. Red wine also adds to the mix in that it contains elements with antioxidant properties.
The American Heart Association recommends diets like the Mediterranean diet . But, the AHA frowns on the amount of stout allowed by the Mediterranean diet. They say obesity is a growing health concern in the Mediterranean basin. But, the American Heart Association does like the fact that most of the stout in the Mediterranean diet comes from olive oil, mono saturated stout, that doesn’t raise cholesterol. That’s a excellent thing for heart health, but healthier hearts in the Mediterranean areas may be more due to increased physical activity rather than strictly to diet.
A Google search is a fantastic source of information on the Mediterranean diet.
