The Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet should not make you fat, as it is based on the consumption of extremely simple and not very elaborate products. The foods that characterize the Mediterranean diet are:
- Crude cereals and derivatives
- Leguminous plants
- Seasonal vegetables
- Seasonal fruit
- Fishery products, especially fish
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Red wine
- Sea salt
Less frequent:
- Meat
- Egg
- Milk and derivatives
Almost absent:
- Saturated fat from seasoning
- Highly sugary foods
- Fatty meats
The strong point of the Mediterranean diet is constituted by the high nutritional content of molecules useful for the correct functioning of the organism; among these we remember: dietary fiber, lecithin, vitamins (all), mineral salts (all, including iodine), antioxidants (polyphenols, lycopene, anthocyanins, etc.), polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (omega 3, 6 and 9) etc. It is therefore possible to define the TRUE Mediterranean diet as a healthy and balanced regime.
Many of the contemporary eating styles have drawn inspiration from the food composition of the Mediterranean diet, adapting it in a questionable way to the needs of the modern sedentary man, or rather by reducing or eliminating the most energetic foods in the diet: cereals. A striking example is the Zone diet, defined by Barry Sears himself (to the general dismay of followers and antagonists): “the" evolution of the Mediterranean diet "[Porta a Porta - 7.12.2011 - Title: Meat, pasta or herbal tea?].
