At the start of a new year many of us set resolutions for ourselves and try to make a concerted effort to stick to them, especially if they involve doing things that will affect our health positively such as changing our diet or increasing our daily exercise.
To that end, I'd like to recommend that our readers consider eating a Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet was first discovered in the late 50's when a comparative dietary study of seven countries was conducted and it was found that the people on the Greek island of Crete had the lowest heart attack, stroke and mortality rates. Believe it or not, this famous Seven Country Study was one of the first times that diet was linked to health. Since then, the Mediterranean diet has been the subject of countless studies and continues to be associated with a wide range of health benefits.
In fact, a recent analysis, reported in this month's Kaiser e-newsletter, Partners for Health, of more than 1.5 million healthy adults demonstrated that "following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk of overall and cardiovascular mortality, a reduced incidence of cancer and cancer mortality, and a reduced incidence of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases." Can a diet do all that? You'd be surprised. Apparently, the answer is yes.
The Mayo Clinic's website says that the Mediterranean diet is also good for improving cholesterol and blood sugar levels as well as overall blood vessel health. Google it and see for yourself. I hope you give it a try for at least 30 days and let us know what difference its made for you in how you look and feel.
Oops, one more thing that I should mention: for optimum results, you'll need to include 30 minutes of exercise each day.
As always, we've got lots of good articles for your review this month, so have a look and see what interests you.
Shirley Cohen
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