THE TERM MEDITERRANEAN DIET

This term was invented by the Americans at the beginning of the 60’s. Everything started at the end of the World War II when the American doctor, Ancel Keys, realized that some poor people living in the South of Italy presented a death rate for cardio-vascular diseases neatly lower than American people. The scientists hypothesised that this phenomenon was due to the food habits of the Mediterranean area: a wider epidemiologic research was carried on, this confirming this hypothesis and electing the Mediterranean diet as the best to prevent from cardiovascular diseases. We must add that the death-rate was inferior in Italy not thanks to the Mediterranean diet but only because the average life-expectations were lower because of the wide-spread poverty. The most positive thing of Italian food-style is that we enjoy a huge variety of high-quality food. This influences our life at table but not our health, as some say. Let’s see why the Mediterranean diet is not fit for us and why it can cause obesity. Quantity seems to be more important than quality; some think that if you eat pasta and bread every day, olive oil, a little butter, some vegetable and fruit , you are eating” Mediterranean” a correct diet implies the control of the body-weight; vague indications, with no accurate quantity- analysis cannot work, and they DO NOT work indeed. Nowadays it is clear that it is not sufficient to consume certain good food and eliminate some other bad to lose weight. Even if you have a correct food-style you can feed without bread, pasta and olive oil. Why should we insist on this kind of food if it is not necessary, then? Are pasta and bread only filling food? This is one horrible mistake some experts make because this food is not at the top of the list as regards satiety ,the biggest difficulty in the kitchen is to make pasta- dishes as filling. In a society where the key-problems are overweight and obesity, the most important characteristic is not the nutritional support but its satiety index; this element is often ignored by the experts.

THE CHALORIC SUPPORT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET
According to this diet men are supposed to consume 2500 kcal. and women are supposed to consume 2000kcal. The data collected during a four-year experience of the first calories-control now called Diet Manager show that these values are over- esteemed of at least 400 kcal, that is to say a dish with pasta and tomato a day: with such a bad mistake we can understand why it is difficult to keep fit.

GUIDE-LINES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET
These guide-lines, often confirmed by mass-media information, aren’t anymore trustful because they have been overcome by the new scientific discoveries. The division of macro- nourishing food of the Mediterranean diet( 60% carbohydrates, 25% fats and 15% proteins) banishes a food-style richer in fats and proteins, when there are many scientific experts that disagree with this trend( as the excesses of low-carbo diets!).