Mediterranean Diet and your health

The Mediterranean Diet: The Key to Enjoying Food and Staying Healthy

Low-fat diets have proven to be too restrictive for many individuals, which is why the new Mediterranean diet has been deemed a great alternative. This diet, based on the results of a particular scientific study, is effective, all while still allowing individuals to enjoy the food they eat.
The Mediterranean diet focuses on an increased consumption of legumes, fruits, and vegetables. This is combined with a moderate to relatively high intake of fatty fish. According to a study conducted by the American Heart Association (AHA), this diet is effective in minimizing an individual’s risk of sustaining a heart attack and stroke.

Deemed a very flavorful diet, the Mediterranean diet requires that individuals consume a high level of unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, while reducing the amount of saturated fats, dairy products, and meat consumed. This diet demands only a modest consumption of alcohol. If any is to be consumed, wine is the healthiest alternative. This Mediterranean diet has shown to reduce the chances of becoming inflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

The results from the study conducted by the AHA were obtained by first gathering 202 heart attack survivors and dividing these people into three groups. Each group was to adhere to one specific diet type – a low-fat diet, the Mediterranean diet, or a doctor-recommended diet – for four years.

What the AHA discovered was that 83 percent of the group that was on the Mediterranean diet survived second heart attacks, strokes, and other heart-related illnesses. In contrast, only 53 percent of the individuals who were put on the low-fat and doctor-recommended diets achieved the same success.

Given these findings, it is clear that it is not simply just fat that causes heart-related diseases. Instead, it is the wrong kind of fat. Healthy fats – mainly, saturated fats – are actually good for the heart. The validity of this premise is evident in the low incidence level of heart attacks and strokes in the Mediterranean region, where olive oil, fatty fish, and nuts are major components of the daily diet.
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