Over the past few years, experts have been busy promoting the virtues of a Mediterranean lifestyle. Apparently, if we all live like Mediterraneans then we can greatly cut our risk of all sorts of chronic illnesses from cardiovascular disease to diabetes. Great, until I realise that I live in the middle of an overcrowded city, in a country that rains all the time, with little chance of popping out for a quick dip in the Med. So, does that mean that I can resign myself to a life of chronic illness? Well, not really. It turns out that many of the factors that make a Mediterranean lifestyle so healthy can easily be applied to our own lives: however far we live from the Côte d’azure.
The most prominent feature of the Mediterranean lifestyle is that they live to eat rather than simply eating to live. They take time to enjoy the food they eat, rather than simply wolfing it down. We can take a leaf out of their book by simply making sure we don’t eat on the go. Chewing our food and eating in a relaxed environment can greatly improve the digestion and absorption of the many vitamins and minerals that are so vital for our health. They also eat a wide range of fruit and vegetables every day, and this ensures a constant intake of powerful antioxidants and dietary fibre. The government guidelines of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day are there to try and help us achieve just this.
It has also been shown that the type of fats in our diet can greatly influence our health. This is where olive oil comes in. Olive oil is a monounsaturated fat that can help regulate cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease, and while some Europeans can get through bottles of the stuff every year, we just need to make sure that we swap some of the not-so-good-fat in our diet (butter, sunflower oil, margarine, lard) with a good quality olive oil to minimise the risk associated with other fats. Moreover, extra virgin olive oil also contains potent antioxidants, which are of further benefit to our wellbeing.
There are many other elements that are considered integral to the healthy lifestyle of the Mediterraneans; they eat more fish, and they tend to take more exercise, they drink a couple of glasses of wine most days (usually red), and they look at eating as a sociable occasion, coming together with family and friends to celebrate the food in their lives. All of these factors can easily be incorporated into our own lives, with relatively little effort. So rather than focusing on diets that make us cut out all the foods we love, let’s focus on putting good food back in, taking time to enjoy it and sharing it with our nearest and dearest, and chances are we can put ourselves firmly on the right track towards health, and look forward to living long, healthy and happy lives.
You can read from Tomm on his blog at http://thehealthfoodcompanion.blogspot.com/