As the old saying goes, we Italian people live to eat and sometimes, seeing certain people at the restaurant, this definition does not even seem too exaggerated. Yet the Mediterranean cuisine is considered among the most healthy and balanced in the world.
This diet had been abandoned during the economic boom of the sixties and seventies as too poor and not very attractive compared to other modes, in particular with the rich food from America, but now the Mediterranean diet is surely regaining, between nutritional patterns, the consumers’ interest. If pizza is the most famous Italian food abroad, Mediterranean cuisine is rather rich in flavor, healthy and tasty.
All models of the Mediterranean diet have in common a high consumption of bread, fruit, vegetables, herbs, grains, olive oil, fish and wine (in moderated quantities) and are based on a paradox (at least to the point of view the traditional nutritionist): people living in Mediterranean countries consume relatively large amounts of fat but, nevertheless, have lower rates of cardiovascular disease than the U.S. population, whose diet contains similar levels of animal fat. The explanation is that the large quantity of olive oil used in Mediterranean cuisine at least partially offsets the animal fat.
In these years there has been a big boom for the Mediterranean diet, made in Italy in the world with a record increase in the value of oil exports by 20 percent, wine by 6.4 percent, pasta of 3.2 cent, vegetables by 5.8 per cent, fruit by 3.2 percent and even in canned tomatoes, 1, 4 per cent, after years of stagnation.
Among the countries who appreciate the Italian table, Germany ranks in pole position followed by France, the United States and Spain while between made in Italy drinks and food the most requested abroad is wine, which is Italian best-selling product abroad, but significant market shares were also captured by pasta, cheeses, olive oil, canned meats and sauces that contribute to create the winning image of the national cuisine in the world.
Yet another triumph for the model of the Mediterranean diet, now valued by nutritionists around the world. The means of transport and advanced technologies sharply reduced the labor of man, at all levels. If the grandchildren of the farmers were willing to maintain the nutritional habits of the great-grandparents, obesity will become for the majority of them an inevitable goal. Fully resurrect those habits would not be a step forward, but valuing the general principles, such as frugality, is a recipe still valid today, without forgetting the indirect merits of the way of life and especially the ceaseless muscular industriousness of the people, in all age of their lives. The dietary pattern of Mediterranean diet is absolutely welcomed which, with its "healthy" foods, favors the proper balance of calories and energy expenditure receipts. However it will be good to reflect on the fact that no food, isolated from the dietary habits and lifestyle of each of us can make a healthy diet: the diet per se does not do miracles and to stay healthy, it will be good to keep in shape with regular physical activity.
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