The Mediterranean Diet Food Pyramid: It's Not Your Average Food Pyramid
The Mediterranean Diet is a nutritional model that was created after the way that people in countries like Greece and Italy eat. People started paying attention to it after it became well publicized that people living in that part of the world have a much fewer occurrences of cancer and other diseases.
First developed by an American doctor in the 40s, this way of eating has just only recently become noticed by Americans in the late 1990s. Better late than never. There are key differences between the traditional American diet and the Mediterranean diet that are worth noting.
It begins with the food pyramids. The US version is very different from the Mediterranean Diet food pyramid. First off, the Mediterranean Diet contains very little red meat. They do use red meat in their recipes, but not frequently, and in little portions. Fish also takes up a large portion of the Mediterranean Diet food pyramid, whereas the US Food Pyramid groups all types of meat together into one category.
What make up the main staple of Mediterranean fare are whole grain foods, like bread and rice, couscous, potatoes, and other such things. Another important part of the Mediterranean diet are fruits and vegetables. So are beans and nuts. That is one thing the two different food pyramids have in common. However, the recommended quantities are a bit different.
The traditional US food pyramid groups all the forms of protein into one category, which makes it hard to see what specific role each type of food ought to play in your diet. The Mediterranean Diet food pyramid keeps them separate.
This Mediterranean way of thinking and eating has finally been getting attention, because people have discovered that those who follow this diet experience incredibly low rates of diseases and cancer.
You'll find plenty of red wine being used in the Mediterranean Diet. Red wine has really powerful antioxidants, and it is part of just about every meal. The same goes for olive oil, which is used in Mediterranean cooking and is also known to have some antioxidant properties. Check out the Mediterranean Diet food pyramid and see how it can help you live a healthier life, where you can not only look better but feel better as well.
Get a Mediterranean body! Visit Mediterranean Diet Recipes.net for all the Mediterranean Diet resources, recipes and diet advice you will ever need.
- Candace Right
