The Origins of the Mediterranean Diet

During the past twenty years, a significant number of people in different countries around the world have turned their attention towards finding healthy diet regimens that are low in saturated fat and that include bountiful servings of fresh fruits and vegetable. Consequently, the Mediterranean diet has caught the eye of innumerable people who want to include healthy eating into their overall course of prudent living. In short, the Mediterranean diet encompasses foods and beverages that, when consumed in moderation, can work to lessen the threat of some serious diseases and can aid in creating the necessary foundation for a long, hearty lifetime.

The concept of the Mediterranean diet is derived from the eating habits and patterns of the people who populate the countries of Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Tunisia, Lebanon and Morocco. As a result, the Mediterranean diet actually includes a tremendous array of delectable food. In point of fact, if a person elects to adopt the concept of the Mediterranean dining scheme, or if a person elects to follow a Mediterranean diet regimen, he or she will have the ability to enjoy a remarkable assortment of scrumptious fare. 

The diet of the peoples that have populated the regions around the Mediterranean Sea actually have remained nearly completely unchanged for well over one thousand years. The history of the region is replete with examples of men and women living longer than similarly situated people who consumed alternate diets. Through the centuries, the people of the Mediterranean Sea region have enjoyed longer lives that people in other parts of the world at the same historical epoch. 

At the heart of the Mediterranean diet are foods and beverages that are indigenous to the geographic landmass surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. In short, the development of the Mediterranean dieting and dining pattern initially developed by providence. The people of the region naturally and understandably ate those foods and drank those beverages that readily were available in and around their homes. 

The Historical Elements of the Mediterranean Diet Scheme 

As mentioned previously, over the centuries, the diet of the peoples of the Mediterranean Sea region has remained essentially unchanged. The Mediterranean diet consists of the bountiful consumption of a number of healthy food items including: 

• Fresh fruit 
• Fresh vegetables 
• Low fat nuts 
• Whole grains 
• Monounsaturated fat 

In a similar vein, the Mediterranean diet utilized by people for generation after generation excludes or limits certain food items that have been deemed harmful in recent scientific studies. These less than desirable food items include: 

• Saturated fats 
• Red and fatty meat 
• Rich dairy products 
• Fatty fish 

The Historical Effects of the Mediterranean Diet Scheme 

As has been alluded to earlier in this article on the history of the Mediterranean diet regimen, the people who inhabit the region have a demonstrably lower rate of heart disease and related ailments that oftentimes have a direct dietary connection. With the advent of scientific studies that have correlated the incidence of health problems with a poor diet, the positive effects of the Mediterranean diet have become self evident. 

Research over the course of the past two decades has conclusively demonstrated that the men and women who populate the Mediterranean region are afflicted with heart disease and similar ailments far less often than people in other regions of the world. The experts who have conducted these studies have concluded that there is a strong likelihood that the diet scheme that is common in the Mediterranean region is responsible for maintaining the good health of the people who live in that corner of the globe throughout the past one thousand years.