Mediterranean Diet

Some of the fame associated with the Mediterranean Diet has to do with the apparent longevity of people living in specific areas at the Mediterranean countries.

The diets that contain references to the Mediterranean are have been made with the same principles as apparent in the diets referenced to the Mediterranean area.

However, the concept of a diet with Mediterranean roots is truly a wide one, consisting of many types of approaches to dieting.

Some of the diet programs have been modeled after the studies made on the effects of certain types of diets modeled in the Mediterranean fashion.

According to cheshire-med.com, the 1993 the Harvard University School of Public Health and Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust had a conference on the Mediterranean diet, which laid much of the groundwork on current Mediterranean Diet programs.

That conference was held with reference to the studies that described the dietary traditions of the people from the Mediterranean area (Creete, Greece, Southern Italy and Northern Africa) possibly responsible for the low rates of chronic disease.

One of the results of this meeting was the Mediterranean Food Guide Pyramid (you can see it at cheshire-med.com).

Common Characteristics of Mediterranean Diet Programs

However wide the definition of Mediterranean Diet may be, there are some general characteristics for a diet based on the Mediterranean tradition. These characteristics include:

Specific use of Olive oil and total fat

low to moderate consumption of dairy products

restricted use of poultry, fish, and red meat

wine (in moderation)

keeping active physically

To read more about the available studies on the diets with Mediterranean origins, you should take a look at some of these resources:

postgradmed.com/issues/2002/08_02/curtis.htm

chd-taskforce.de/oliveoil/

my.webmd.com/content/article/67/80070.htm?z=1671_00000_0000_ep_03

Much of the studies surround one particular foodstuff, such as the use of olive oil in the diet.