Traditional
Mediterranean Diet

Growing evidence demonstrates that a traditional Mediterranean diet, or a modified Mediterranean diet, is beneficial to health, with hard evidence for a cardio-protective effect from heart disease. Results from recent investigations provide a strong biomedical foundation for the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet.

The good stuff in the traditional Mediterranean diet (or technical components of the food groups represented in a typical Greek meal) include:

1. High monounsaturated/saturated fat ratio


2. Ethanol consumption at moderate levels (mainly wine)


3. High consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains


4. Moderate consumption of milk and dairy products, mostly in the form of cheese


5. Low consumption of meat and meat products

The Mediterranean Culture

The Mediterranean culture integrates the past and the present. Many of its modern aspects can be traced to the ancient past. It is not uncommon to have olives and bread for breakfast, and then eat lunch in a fast-food restaurant.

The Mediterranean basin has been, for millennia, a crossroads of people and civilizations. Here, for 5000 years, boats, carriages, people, and merchandise, as well as creative ideas and religions, have converged.

Indeed, the climate in the region and the wonderful culture have molded the hot, dried components into a balanced ecosystem for which the traditional Mediterranean diet is only one, but highly visible, manifestation.

Modified Mediterranean Diet

Someone said once, "Although different regions in the Mediterranean basin have their own diets, it is appropriate to consider these as variants of a single entity, the Mediterranean diet." -- From these variants comes the modified Mediterranean diet.

You don't want to modify this diet too much, or you can lose some of the beneficial aspects. However, if you add in a few foods that you enjoy (in moderation of course), you can still get many of the benefits that this diet offers.

The prevalent ingredient in the traditional Mediterranean diet is olive oil. Other essential components of the Mediterranean diet are wheat, olives, and grapes and their derivative products. Total fat may be high, around or in excess of 40% of total energy intake (as in Greece), or moderate, around 30% of total energy intake (as in Italy).

In all instances, however, the ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats is much higher than in other regions of the world, including northern Europe and North America. The Italian modified Mediterranean diet is characterized by higher consumption of pasta, whereas in Spain fish consumption is particularly high.

As an example of a typical greek modified Mediterranean diet, consider the following meal:

1) Meat, with visible fat on it, but not greasy.
2) Wine -- the adults, at least
3) Lots of bread with the grains still visible
4) Fruit
5) Wonderful fresh vegetables -- often with cheese
6) Lots of legumes

Many people prefer a modified Mediterranean diet. This way they can still get the health benefits of this diet, but at the same time enjoy other foods as well. Just make sure you don't drastically change the diet too much, or you can lose many of the health benefits.

One complaint we often hear about both the traditional and modified Mediterranean diet is hunger. Most diets will not work if you are hungry all the time. To combat this hunger, many people have had success with a weight loss supplement.

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More than the traditional Mediterranean diet on our nutrition and balanced diet page

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