The Mediterranean Diet

Land of sunny beaches and great diet

The Mediterranean, land of sun-drenched beaches, the French Riveria, Greek Isles, a country in the silhouette of a boot, and abundant culinary delights. Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Middle Eastern, North African, and

Moroccan are just a few of the unique cuisines that one can find in the region. The area has provided the world with olives, olive oil, lemons, tomatoes, garlic, and an array of cheeses and meats and spices that have enhanced meals for centuries. With such a wide variety ingredients available, after all there are over twenty countries that encompass the region, the area has developed one of the best, and healthiest diets in the world, aptly titled The Mediterranean Diet

            I stumbled upon this new way of eating during the early days of the pandemic. Being locked inside my apartment with nothing to do I figured it would be a great time to take up a new trade. Well, my options were knitting or cooking, I figured cooking would have some long-term benefits. Well so does knitting, but one can only have so many scarves and hats. Having no clue as to what to make, I set out on a quest for recipes through the age-old tool of Google. Italian is my favorite food, so I typed those little words into the search field hit enter and page after page of Italian recipes quickly filed the screen on my small laptop. There were recipes, stories on Italy, historical notes, and an array of other articles that led me down a number of rabbit holes, each providing different recipes, different educational tidbits on the country itself and other countries in the area. I have a tendency to get sidetracked, hence the reason why I ended up going in so many different directions while I was trying to find a few simple recipes.  There buried in the numerous pages was an article on the Mediterranean Diet, and since I can’t stay focused for too long, I was intrigues and started to read, and read, and read, and printed information and found other websites that were dedicated to the diet and the health benefit it provides. 

What is the Mediterranean diet? Well, it isn’t a “diet,” per say, well it’s not what most American’s think of when they hear that word “diet.” When most American’s hear the word diet their minds instantly go to a quick way of losing weight. After all this is what the diet books and marketing companies have pushed for years. When one looks at the true meaning of the word, a diet is the total composition of food one consumes. If one consumes nothing but high processed food, like McDonalds, sugar, cookies, cakes, etc, one’s diet would be considered a junk food-based diet. If one consumes healthy food, i.e. fresh fruits, grains, legumes and other non-processed food items, then one’s diet would be considered a healthy diet. The Mediterranean diet is just that, it’s a diet based on the consumption of non-processed foods such as grains, nuts, fresh vegetables, olive oil, fish, fresh meat and seafood as well as spices and herbs that can be found in countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea. Another key element of the diet is the way in which the food is prepared. Instead of using saturated fats that can be found in butter and other cooking oil, one uses olive oil. Instead of baking cakes and cookies which are high in sugar, one consumes fresh fruit, and nuts.

            Besides providing a variety of ingredients and some wonderful flavorful meals, this diet also provides some health benefits. Its lowers one’s cholesterol, blood pressure, ones energy increase as they aren’t consuming as much processed sugar, and yes, it does even provid the opportunity of losing weight, especially if one follows a regular exercise regime.  And in case you are wondering, yes these are proven health benefits. This diet has been studied and reported on by several top nutritionists throughout the United States and other countries. They all have all said that the above-mentioned results are the result of following the Mediterranean Diet. Which is why it has been named the top diet seven years in a row by U.S. News & World Report. Besides the health benefits one can get from following this diet, one also has a broad selection of food options to choose from. Once can make a dish from any of the three continents, Europe, Africa, or the Middle East, or thirteen different countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea. There are several websites dedicated to this diet and will provide recipes and further information on how to follow this diet and create some wonderful meals.

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important part of the Mediterranean diet: it prevents one from being attacked by Vampires! Garlic is one of the primary ingredient in most meals, which we all know vampires hate. So, if nothing else can convince you to change your diet, I figured this one might, after all who wants to be attacked by a vampire?