The Mediterranean Diet is a diet that involves eating large amounts of fruits and vegetables while at the same time piling on olive oil and cheese and eating lots of fish. It also contains red wine, nuts, seeds and salads.
And to the uninitiated, this can seem something of a confusing diet.
Sure, the salad and the fruits and vegetables make a lot of sense. But something that’s less obvious is how adding fats to your diet can help you lose weight.
Or wine? And why is there no obvious restriction in terms of the quantities you’re allowed to eat?
Let’s take a closer look and try to discover exactly what’s going on and how this diet works…
A Brief History
The Mediterranean Diet wasn’t invented to sell an ebook but is rather just the natural diet that people eat in Mediterranean countries. Right, away, this makes it a lot more practical and more appealing than some of the fad diets that are a little extreme in their recommendations.
For a long time, no one suspected this diet of being healthy. The olive oil and the wine contents were things that most experts at the time thought were bad for us.
But then they started to study statistics regarding the lifespans and health of people who lived in those regions. What they found was that eating this diet actually increased the lifespan and at the same time made diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer less likely!
The Science
So what is going on here?
Well, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. People who eat a Mediterranean Diet simply enjoy their food more than we do.
Many of us in the US and UK are guilty of viewing our diet as pretty much an inconvenience. We eat because we have to and we only really eat for fuel when we do.
We snack on junk food which includes Mars Bars and Coca-Cola. We gobble the food down, give it no thought and then wonder why we feel unhealthy!
On the other hand, the Mediterranean Diet involves creating delicious dishes using fresh fruits and vegetables, lots of fish and delicious cheese.
And as it turns out, fat actually isn’t bad for us! The right kind of fat is rather very good for us and when eaten alongside fruits and vegetables it actually helps us to absorb the nutrients for use around our body!
When you eat this diet, you learn to eat properly again and you learn to appreciate your food. This has huge impacts on your health and well-being and is something everyone should be encouraged to try!
