This diet combines the traditional cooking styles of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The fundamental parts of the diet include the basics of healthy eating, a little wine drinking, incorporating olive oil, and limiting “bad” fats. With heart health in mind, The Mediterranean Diet discusses proportional eating habits, helps prevent certain diseases, and offers variety to those looking to properly manage weight and lengthen life span.

This diet is based on research that showed that a Mediterranean style of eating lowers cholesterol and reduce risk of heart disease and that Mediterranean people have reduced rates of heart disease, cancer and obesity. Originally, the diet was formed around the food patterns typical of Crete, much of the rest of Greece, and southern Italy in the early 1960s.

Benefits
• helps reduce heart attacks
• helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels
• reduces risk of further heart disease
• helps reduce cancer and obesity risk

Key Components
• Eating a generous amount of fruits and vegetables
• Consuming healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil
• Eating small portions of nuts
• Drinking red wine, in moderation, for some
• Consuming very little red meat
• Eating fish on a regular basis