Mediterranean Diet
Mediterranean diet
ABOUT MEDITERRANEAN DIET
Mediterranean cookery is an ideal example of balanced and various meals. Medical researches proved that with the help of this Mediterranean diet people can adjust healthy and balanced nutrition eating fatless meal and more nutrients. Also you will start to loose weight and besides, the level of cholesterol will be decreased. Mediterranean diet is based on fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil, the quantity of meat is very low. It was made on the base of traditional meal of people living near Mediterranean Sea.
Mediterranean diet is not used for weight loss and it can’t be called hard. At the same time it gives possibility to choose healthy products without animal fats, sugar and canned food rich in our daily menu. The basis of mediterranean diet should become the basis of your daily meal. It means excluding canned food, eating frozen dinners or in MacDonald’s, all hard dishes of Britain cookery.
Mediterranean diet consists of: – 60% of carbohydrates (cereals products, macaroni, and coarse grinding bread); – nearly 30% of fats (olive oil mainly); – nearly 10% of proteins (meat, fish, and cheese). In Mediterranean diet there no limits in dish choice and quantity of products eating. The main thing is recommendations for proportions from different products given more freedom to meal choice. You may choose by yourself what you eat today or tomorrow. Also there are no strict terms for food intake as well as diet duration.
MAIN MEDITERRANEAN DIET PRODUCTS
- Cereals and macaroni. Bread, macaroni and rice – the basis of Mediterranean cooking. They have lots of carbohydrates and little fat and this leads to good health.
- Fruits and vegetables. Eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible but not less than 3 portions per day. The most useful vegetables: tomatoes (both fresh and cooked), salads, spinach, lemon (as well as lime and other citrus fruits), garlic, various herbs (thyme, oregano, parsley).
- Olive oil. All food should be cooked on olive oil, use olive oil for salad dressings, spread bread with it instead of butter. Olive oil is very useful because it contains monosaturated fat, which decreases cholesterol content in blood and increases host defenses.
- Fish. Eat more fish (cook some meat in special occasions together with cereals and vegetable). Try to eat fish instead of meat no less than 4 times per week. Use such sorts of fish like white turbot, fresh or smoked salmon, tunes, mackerel, sardines, trout.
- Beans. Beans are the main ingredient for Mediterranean salads and soups, try to add them to each dish.
- Vine. It’s allowed to drink red and white vine (1 glass of 125ml per day for women and 2 glasses – for men)
- Meat. Eat lean meat from 2 to 5 times per week. Choose the leanest pieces of pork fillet, veal cutlets, turkey, rabbit, chicken, and beef. And remember: one portion shouldn’t be more than 100gr! Eat red meat from 1 to 3 times per week to fill up iron content in organism. Beefsteak and roast beef are always better than entrecote containing mote fat.
- Eggs. From 2 to 4 eggs per week.
- Milk products. This is irreplaceable ingredient of your menu. Refuse from whole milk, milk desserts and cottage cheese and eat natural yogurts and curdled milk. The daily norm should be no less than 2 yogurts and a piece of cheese.
TYPICAL MEDITERRANEAN DIET MENU FOR ONE DAY
1st option – a piece of fresh bread or cereal – for breakfast; cooked or raw vegetables – for dinner and supper. You may combine raw vegetables with cooked, for example – fresh salad and soup.
2nd option – breakfast: several fruits, some fresh bread, a glass of fruit juice or water. Lunch – salad with tune, anchovy and olives, dressed with olive oil, several glasses of water. Dinner – large sweet pepper stuffed with rice, minced meat, tomatoes and herbs, dressed with olive oil and backed. Salad and fresh bread. One glass of vine. Supper – fresh fruits, possible to drink a cup of tea or water.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MEDITERRANEAN DIET
. 1) Mediterranean diet gives possibility to choose from great number of different and useful dishes. 2) Each restaurant has Mediterranean cookery dishes, so eating outside won’t be a problem.
3) The main diet aim is healthy nutrition and less – the weight loss
4) Most dishes of Mediterranean cookery could be easily made as many products are eaten fresh. Especially easy is to cook macaroni.
5) Mediterranean diet is useful for blood pressure and cholesterol content decrease in blood. But many people trying it confirm it helps to decrease arthritis pain. May be this is so because of high fat acids content as vegetable oil and cod-liver oil.
6) Although the mditerranean diet doesn’t help to loose too much weight, it helps to form a habit to healthy nutrition and this relieve from extra kilograms once and for all.
7) if you’re waiting for quick weight loss, you will be disappointed – you will loose extra kilograms very slowly with mediterranean diet.
Lots of medical researches were made to find out whether Mediterranean diet helps to prevent such diseases as infarction and cancer. They were based on the fact that Mediterranean has less diseases of cardiovascular system than any other people in the world. We don’t know if what researches are true or false, but we know for sure one thing – it is safe for our organism. Using Mediterranean diet not just like a diet but like the way of living, will help you to lead healthy way of life and to prevent various diseases, to loose weight and feel yourself comfortable enjoying life as it is.
