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The Sunshine Diet

Does every diet you try leave you feeling hungry and tired? Do you want to eat healthily without giving up satisfying foods? Consider the new GI plan

When you think of healthy eating do you think about deprivation? Do meals consisting of dull, tasteless food, usually involving either lettuce or lentils come to mind? Well thankfully, there is a much more positive way of looking at healthy eating. Experts now believe that a Mediterranean-style diet can have enormous health benefits. Would you turn your nose up at a tasty Italian pasta dish or a tangy Moroccan couscous? Probably not.

You've heard, no doubt, that people living in the Mediterranean regions have a much lower incidence of cancer and heart disease. The question is why? Sun, sand, sea and less heart disease and cancer - what exactly is it that our Mediterranean cousins are doing that we are not?

Within the Mediterranean area there are such a variety of cultures and cuisines, from Turkish to Italian, or Moroccan to Greek, so that it becomes very confusing as to what exactly a Mediterranean diet is. Here are a few of the basics:

For a Mediterranean- style diet try to:

• Build your diet from a strong base of grains, rice, pasta, potatoes, couscous and plenty of bread to boost your carbohydrate intake. Try to go for whole grain varieties
• Enjoy a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables full of anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals to protect against cancer and heart disease. These also add colour and flavour to your meals
• Limit the amount of red meat that you eat in favour of poultry, fish, pulses and eggs as protein sources. These options are low in saturated fats. If you are having red meat, spaghetti bolognese for example, try to eat more pasta and less sauce, the way the Italians do
• Don't forget to include a little cheese to increase your calcium intake. Just be careful to watch the portion sizes. Yoghurt with fruit and honey, which is often eaten as either a breakfast or dessert, is also a great calcium-rich food
• Place special emphasis on eating more fish, especially oily fish. This type of fish contains omega-3 fatty acids, which protect your heart against disease
• Pulses like peas, beans and lentils also provide plenty of fibre
• Opt for olive oil for cooking and for dressings - it's high in monounsaturated fats to protect your heart health
• Drink red wine if you do take alcohol. It contains anti-oxidant substances called flavenoids, which protect against both heart disease and cancer

National and international guidelines for the prevention of coronary heart disease recommend that the following dietary measure will help protect you against heart disease:

• Keep total dietary fat at no more than 30 per cent of your calorie intake
• Saturated fat intake should be below 10 per cent of energy intake
• Polyunsaturated fatty acid intake should be 7-10 per cent
• Monounsaturated fatty acid intake should be 10-15 per cent
• Intake of complex carbohydrates and fibre should be increased

The Mediterranean way of eating will certainly help you achieve these targets. Even so, experts aren't exactly sure why people in the Mediterranean have a lower risk of cancer or heart disease. It may be the higher intake of mono-unsaturated fats in the olive oil, it may be the higher intake if fish oils, both of which are heart-healthy. It may also be the anti-oxidants in the fruits and vegetables or in the wine. It may even be a combination of all of these factors. Other factors may also be important, like a higher level of physical activity. It's worth remembering that the high fat content of the Mediterranean diet from using a lot of olive oil, means that adopting it may increase the risk of obesity. Therefore, it's essential that this type of diet and a high level of physical activity do go hand in hand.

Meanwhile, if we can't have the sun, sand and sea here in Northern parts, well, at least we can have a taste of the Mediterranean...

Try the Med Diet now for FREE

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