Healthy Hearts and Mediterranean Diet

2/27/2013 

So, a study has just been terminated early because the results were so obvious so soon. This does not happen often in research so we pay attention when it does. What was the news? The Mediterranean diet – quite high in olive oil, fresh fruits, veggies, fish and nuts—is so good for you that all of us, even people who already have heart disease, are demonstrably more healthy (fewer heart attacks, living longer) from the time they start the diet. The differences between those on the Mediterranean plan and not on it were “spectacular” in the words of one researcher.

How much olive oil? Four, yes 4, tablespoons daily on average. That’s a lot! Two quarts per month! I’m not suggesting you swallow it like medicine—just switch to using it in your everyday cooking. for some time I have been using it in nearly everything I do that needs oil – salads, sautéing meats and vegetables, the rare frying that I do (olive oil changes flavor if you get it too hot too long). I use it everywhere except in baking sweets.

Of course the rest is kind of not news—we’ve been told for a while about the benefits of fresh fruits & veggies. I’m a bit more flummoxed by the fish thing because I find myself weighing so many other factors every time I’m at the store– like how many neurotoxins (mercury, lead, cadmium etc) is in the species of fish I’m buying? Is the fish on an endangered list? Is the factory farm it’s produced at polluting the neighboring stream? And in the middle of land-locked Ohio –is it fresh? (Because I don’t care how good it is for me if it tastes like cat-food!) I buy fish of course, but I’m always in a quandary…

Bon appétit!

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