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The Mediterranean Diet
I was recently asked to lecture to a group of culinary students about the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. The instructor asked me if I could fill an hour and I replied I thought I could fill most of the morning!
The Mediterranean diet is the poster child for healthy eating. The components that make it healthy are broken down into: Olive oil, Lots of fruit and vegetables, Consumption of beans and grains, Very little red meat, Eating fatty fish like anchovies, sardines, mackeral and tuna and Drinking wine. While all that is true, it is important to look more closely into what really makes the diet of people dwelling around the Mediterranean Sea so healthy. And it all boils down to fresh, seasonal, unadulterated and unprocessed.
First let's look at the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). It is
 | | 800 yr old Olive tree in Puglia |
cold pressed and unprocessed which maintains the polyphenols which are natural anti-inflammatories, and antioxidants that make it healthy. Olive oil that makes its way to our stores shelves labeled as "extra light" has all the nutrients processed out and cannot be substituted.
Fruits and vegetables are eaten when they're in season and at their most nutrient-packed best. Grapes have seeds, which are eaten and full of antioxidants. In America we don't like the seeds and so the grapes we eat will inherently have less nutritional value.
There are natural healing elements to seasonal foods that are widely accepted beliefs in the Mediterranean but considered "alternative medicine" in the US. Wild spring greens and nettles, artichokes for cleansing the liver, elderberry and licorice root are all food as medicine with wide-ranging health benefits.
The salt used is always local, whole sea salt, filled with minerals from the sea, imparting a luscious briney taste to the food. Heavily processed table and kosher salt tastes bitter and acrid and leads to imbalance and disease and has no place on the Mediterranean table.
 Fatty fish like anchovies, sardines and tuna are plentiful in the Mediterranean and easy to preserve with salting or canning in olive oil. They are filled with Omega 3 essential fatty acids and some of the most nutritious animal protein sources available. Eating farmed tilapia and salmon doesn't give you the equivalent health benefits.
Dairy products in most of these countries are made from raw, unpasteurized milk and have all the natural digestive enzymes and probiotics that make the cheese and milk so good for you.
The populations generally ate less meat because they couldn't afford it and as they become wealthier, more meat is added to the diet with a corresponding decline in health. This point is beautifully made in the movie "Forks over Knives", advocating less meat consumption for a healthier body.
 Following the Mediterranean diet of lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, adding grains and beans as protein sources over meat and eating sardines, mackerel and anchovies a few times a week is a great way to feel healthier. Buonappetito!
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