MEDITERRANEAN DIET
Greece,
Italy, Portugal, these are the countries which have encouraged the
establishment and development of the Mediterranean diet around the globe. The
beauty of this diet remains secluded in the numerous healthy benefits it
offers. Right from a person suffering from debilitating conditions like
Alzheimers to one having heart diseases.
This diet has proven effective in
reducing the complications of such patients, and incidence in healthy
individuals. These are the special advantages this diet offers-
-
Heart
diseases
After thorough cohort studies and meta analysis, research output
claimed the decreased incidence of cardiovascular disorders in individuals
adapting the Mediterranean diet. It has shown to lower the levels of
circulating LDL in the blood which is termed as * Bad Cholesterol * , and thus
is the advocated diet in certain high risk groups of heart diseases.
-
Diabetes
This diet manages to find it’s place in diabetics especially type two
diabetes, their efficacy again been proved by meta analysis
-
Cancer
Not so surprisingly, Mediterranean diet also has shown decreased incidence of
cancer especially the ones pertaining to the small and large intestines in
people consuming t his diet, thus effectively decreasing cancer mortality
-
Cognitive
disorders
Certain disorders such as parkinsons, alzheimer’s have been showed a
declining rate in incidence in populations following this diet chart. IF by any chance your grandma is a victim of Alzhemiers, ask her to try this diet out!
This magic
diet has shown certain deviation in it’s composition than the regular ones. This is one important reason why the Mediterranean diet has so much more to offer when it comes down to health and a healthier life style. Although
there is a huge variation of the Mediterranean diet amongst the people
following it to, the basic mainstay is constituted of the following components:
-
Virgin
Olive Oil
This serves as the source of fat in the Mediterranean diet. This
delivers a higher concentration of poly-unsaturated fatty acids ( PUFA) as
compared to the normal oil used in diet in other populations and thus can be
attributed to the decreased incidence of cardiovascular disorders in
populations who have adapted this regime of diet
-
Increased
weightage to consumption of fruits and dry fruits too
-
Moderate
intakes of sea food including fish( especially marine blue species ),prawns and
dairy products like cheese and yoghurt
-
Adequate
consumption of red wine amongst the non muslim population
-
Consumption
of poultry
-
Avoid
consumption of eggs, red meat, etc
-
Excess
consumption of bread and gluten rich products
That’s where
the difference is made, GLUTEN. High gluten consumption has shown an increased
incidence of coeliac disease in such populations. So, efforts are made to
reduce gluten consumption and slowly establish a gluten free Mediterranean
diet. That’s actually as good as asking a south india borne individual to stop
consuming rice at all, meaning; it’s not an easy task. But as the saying goes,
you cant have too good out of everything. That applies here too, some changes
are mandatory for making this magic diet, a truly perfect one!
