Mediterranean Diet

The people of the Mediterranean region, particularly Greece and Spain, are very fortunate to live in an area where naturally healthy food is readily and cheaply available. The incidence of heart disease and cancer are lower here than anywhere else in the western world and experts now believe this is due in great part to what has become known as the Mediterranean diet.

The foods that grow naturally and abundantly in that region and have always formed a part of the local diet. Olives, avocados, oranges, lemons, garlic, wild asparagus, walnuts, almonds, tomatoes, artichokes, figs, pomegranates, cherries, strawberries, grapes, plums, spinach, broad beans, peppers along with many other of the more common fruits and vegetables.

These provide large amounts of vitamins, minerals and fibre along with a wide variety of antioxidants and phytochemicals, the importance of which scientists are only now beginning to recognize as they discover more and more healthful benefits of including these elements in Mediterranean diet.

All these foods provide a wide variety of nutriments which have an astonishing array of claims for improving our health such as lowering cholesterol, improving our immune system which thus not only fights infections but also helps to prevent cancer, increasing our metabolism, improving insulin sensitivity and thus lessening the risk of diabetes. It really has never been so true that you are what you eat. Certainly since moving to Andalucía and adopting the Mediterranean diet myself I have never been so healthy or managed to maintain my ideal weight so easily.

All in all most experts now agree that the Mediterranean diet is the optimum diet.

Browse our pages to see The Traditional Healthy Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, copy of Mediterranean diet, Mediterranean diet menu, modified Mediterranean diet and much more other information!