The Mediterranean diet is inspired by the eating habits of Greece, Southern Italy and Spain in the 1940s and 1950s. It's not based on what people in the Mediterranean eat today. It is not based on all of Italy's regional diets, which are very varied, but only on that of southern Italy. It is important to take these details into account because the country, Italy, as a whole, is undoubtedly one of the healthiest in the world today, despite not eating as they did in the 1940s and 1950s, nor do they eat the same foods in every region of the country. Most Italians don't follow the so-called Mediterranean diet: they barely eat fruits and vegetables and prefer to be filled with white bread, white pasta and pizza.
Italians eat a lot of bread and pasta, but they also eat lots of whole grains, beans, fresh fruit, seafood, lean proteins, lots of vegetables and, on special occasions, good local wine. There is evidence, although limited, that the Italian population no longer follows a Mediterranean dietary pattern. The ARIANNA project (Adherence to the Mediterranean diet in Italy) consists of a cross-sectional study based on surveys with the objective of obtaining greater knowledge about adherence to the Mediterranean diet and its main determinants in different age groups of the Italian population. A precision-based approach was used to calculate the sample size, taking into account the estimated proportion of subjects following Mediterranean dietary patterns.
Andy Luotto is an Italian American from Brooklyn who has owned and worked in restaurants in Italy for years. Recent scientific literature reports have demonstrated that Mediterranean populations, including young and adult Italian populations, are moving away from the traditional dietary pattern, such as dystrophy muscular. In fact, many who promote the Mediterranean diet believe that olive oil may be the main health-promoting ingredient in the Mediterranean diet. This experience exposed me to meeting the best Italian restaurateurs, chefs and food products found in Miami.
Numerous studies conducted by the American Heart Association have determined that the risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and better overall health are directly related to those who consume the traditional Mediterranean diet. In Italy, as in other parts of the Mediterranean, people cook, bake and fry their food in olive oil. Over the years, several international studies have shown that eating the way Mediterranean people have traditionally done it will allow you to live well and for longer because you eat in a balanced and complete way. Maybe the Italians from New Jersey, but all the Italians I know here in Rome follow the Mediterranean diet. A report will be presented to national policymakers, in order to provide them with the necessary tools to implement appropriate interventions to improve, if necessary, adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern in Italy.
The best news for diet-weary Americans or Westerners is that anyone can enjoy the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet without having to ban any food. A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reached a similar conclusion and found that the inhabitants of the Mediterranean “have rejected the Mediterranean Diet”. The Mediterranean diet is the legacy of millennia of exchange of people, cultures and foods throughout the Mediterranean basin. The peoples of the Mediterranean have always seen how their land and their lives are intertwined and there is a deep respect for food and the enjoyment of it, because both are born from the land where most of the products of their diets.
