The Mediterranean Diet-Love To Eat Mediterranean Foods

The Mediterranean Diet is a joyful way of eating that celebrates good Mediterranean foods while keeping a strong focus on flavor and the pleasure of the table. 

The Mediterranean Diet

However, this diet emphasizes more than just-food. It is thought of as a way of life. Traditionally, those living in the Mediterranean region have a culture that stresses healthful food, social gatherings, physical activities, and moderate consumption of wine. Unlike some diets, the Mediterranean diet does not have strict requirements.

Instead, most meals will include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and olive oil. Those who follow this diet eat nuts, seeds, and dairy products on most days and white meat, seafood, fish, eggs, potatoes, and legumes weekly. Sugar-sweetened beverages, added sugars, processed meat, and red meat are consumed sparingly.

The Mediterranean diet is considered a well-balanced diet in which many people have lost weight and kept it off. The Mediterranean diet may be the healthiest diet in the world. Rather than a strict meal plan, it's a way of eating that emphasizes enjoying whole foods and regular physical activity.

The idea is to eat nutrient-dense foods without counting calories or completely omitting any one food from your diet. The Mediterranean diet has been well researched that it has been shown to support good health, primarily heart health. But it’s about more than just eating healthy foods. The Mediterranean lifestyle also emphasizes physical activity, social gatherings, and relaxation.

There is tentative evidence that the Mediterranean diet lowers the risk of heart disease and untimely death. Olive oil may be the main health-promoting component of the diet. There is preliminary evidence that regular consumption of olive oil may lower all-cause mortality and the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and several chronic diseases.

There have now been thousands of studies done on the Mediterranean diet there's one coming out sometimes every day but at least once every week and the diet itself has been shown to help benefit with almost everything from the top of your head to your toes so anything from Alzheimer's dementia eye health skin health asthma of course lung disease cancer diabetes heart disease and obesity all of these things have been shown to be helped by the Mediterranean diet.

 

Where does the Mediterranean diet come in?

Italy, Greece, and Spain are countries surrounding the Mediterranean diet. Foods from this region are the main focus of the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the dietary patterns of Greece, Southern Italy, and Spain in the 1940s and 1950s.

In 2013, UNESCO added the Mediterranean diet to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of Italy (promoter), Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Croatia. It was chosen because "The Mediterranean diet involves a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols, and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and consumption of food."

 

The Mediterranean Foods

Mediterranean food is home to some of the world’s most loved and iconic dishes. Many also believe this diverse cuisine is the key to a healthy life. Today, 23 countries are classed as Mediterranean countries. The Mediterranean Sea helped the first great civilizations blossom. It was (and still is) the trading route that bound West Asia, Southern Europe, and North Africa. Across its waters, ships carried spices, recipes, and cooking techniques from one land to another. Despite this connection, it seems a little silly to lump the cuisines of Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Turkey, and all these other countries under the umbrella term “Mediterranean Food.”

All bring a unique range of flavors and techniques to Mediterranean cuisine. Essentially, you can split Mediterranean cuisine into three culinary regions. These are:

Eastern Mediterranean

Southern Europe

North Africa

Important ingredients of Mediterranean food are full of fresh vegetables, tender meats, and a wide range of tastes. Experts, however, have defined three core ingredients that all the different regions have essentially built their cuisines on olives, wheat, and grapes.

 

The Mediterranean Foods You Will Love To Eat:

 

Olives and olive oil

Olive oil is the primary source of added fat in the Mediterranean diet. Olive oil is the most used ingredient and the one that all Mediterraneans include in their recipes. Olive oil provides monounsaturated fat, which lowers total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol levels. Nuts and seeds also contain monounsaturated fat. It has been recognized many times for its beneficial health properties, but it is also an essential ingredient to create unique dishes with twice the flavor. It is also common to find the olives themselves in some preparations and salads, adding a very characteristic touch of acidity to the dishes.

Fresh Vegetables

You should base your diet on these healthy unprocessed Mediterranean foods having vegetables like tomatoes, broccoli kale, spinach onions, cauliflower, carrots, Brussels, sprouts, and cucumbers, etc. Fruits like apples, bananas, oranges, pears, strawberries, grapes, dates, figs, melon, and peaches, etc.

Walnuts

In Greece; walnuts are commonly paired with honey in a variety of sweets like baklava, etc. The protein, fats, and antioxidants in both the walnuts and honey make them a more nutritious treat than typical American desserts, and walnut with honey truly is a match made in heaven.

Artichokes

The artichoke is a perennial in the thistle group of the sunflower family and is believed to be a native of the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. Today most artichokes are grown worldwide and are cultivated in France, Italy, and Spain, while California provides nearly 100 of the United States crop.

Pomegranates

The pomegranate is believed to be native to Persia and the Himalayas of northern India and is thought to be one of the oldest known edible cultivated fruits. Not surprisingly, pomegranates have a rich history in Mediterranean cuisine, particularly along the eastern Mediterranean.

Avocados

People who follow the Mediterranean diet look to consume good fats, such as monounsaturated fats. Avocados contribute six grams of naturally good fats for the recommended one-third serving of a medium-sized avocado, 50 grams, and five grams are from monounsaturated fats.

Shrimp Pasta

Fish and shellfish are not typically battered and fried in Mediterranean countries. Wherever Mediterraneans live close to the sea, seafood is a staple protein in their diets; all kinds of shellfish and fish are celebrated, often several in the same dish. While fattier types like tuna supply heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, lean specimens like shrimp, squid, and sea bass provide ample protein, niacin, and selenium.

Moussaka

Rich and fused with intense flavor, few Mediterranean foods console the stomach and delicious moussaka. This baked eggplant and ground meat casserole were made popular by Greek cuisine during the 1920s. However, its origins date much further back to the Levant. This region to the east of the Mediterranean Sea includes Turkey, Lebanon, and Israel, among others.

The traditional recipe mixes the juiciness of sauteed eggplant and ripe tomatoes with minced lamb. Nikolaos Tselementes, a French-trained Greek chef, was the man who made moussaka one of the most famous Greek dishes. His approach to layering moussaka is a widely used recipe today. Commonly, the bottom layer comprises layered eggplant and plenty of olive oil. The middle layer is the meat layer, pairing minced lamb with a range of delicious vegetables and seasonings. Last, a top layer of bechamel sauce, or white sauce, brings the whole moussaka together. Nikolaos Tselementes would prepare the three layers separately and then bake them together.

With Greece under Turkish rule, Tselementes’ inclusion of the classic French Béchamel sauce was his way of trying to rid the dish of Turkish influence. Moussaka is loved across the Mediterranean in a wide range of recipes. Filling and flavorful, it’s a dish for all occasions.

Moroccan Tagine

A Mediterranean dish with a rich history and a wide range of varied recipes, the Moroccan tagine is essentially a Mediterranean stew. The word ‘tagine’ however refers to the style of cooking, in a large and shallow pot over high heat, rather than referring to the ingredients.

Moroccan tagine covers a vast selection of recipes, both meat-based and vegetarian. The sweet and savory fusions make tagine so alluring. Moroccan tagine has wild and audacious flavors that often bend the mind. Bold, rich, and outrageously delicious, this is a Mediterranean food to add to the foodie bucket list.

Greek Gyro Chicken Salad

This salad is one of the star seedlings in Greek cuisine and also one of the most complete of all Mediterranean cuisine. Although very basic in terms of presentation, it can be served on a plate or inside pita bread, it is composed of the main groups of food essential to maintain a complete diet. Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, lettuce, chickpeas, and chicken, and the special touch of the dish will be provided by the tizatsuki sauce, which will serve as a link between the rest of the ingredients.

Couscous Salad

Couscous is another great ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine, being more typical of Moroccan cuisine although it is now used all over the world. A couscous salad will give us a complete meal full of flavor and contrasts. It is usually prepared with boiled couscous, fresh lettuces, dried or fresh tomatoes, cut black olives and feed a cheese. Asking you to also add some seeds such as sesame to further enrich the dish and make it more digestive. Of course, once all the ingredients are well mixed, they will be added a good amount of olive oil will give them.

 

Spiced Red Roasted Pepper Hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus is a really delicious variety of hummus very simple to prepare and with all the benefits of chickpeas and extra virgin, olive oil as its main ingredients, this simple sauce will serve as a snack or companion to multiple dishes.

 

In conclusion, Mediterranean cuisine is one of the best culinary options in the world being the same time tasty as healthy. If you want to improve your diet but without having to give up the good taste, Mediterranean cuisine is your best option. Eat in a way that works for you so adopt the principles you can and make it work and fit in your lifestyle.