Guest Author: Valery Fortie is the national awareness coordinator for the preservation of the Italian healthy eating traditions board.
People from all around the world are developing more and more health issues, due to being overweight. There is a knowncorrelation between heart problems and obesity, but people do not heed the warnings. These illnesses being left untreated or unmanaged, is a leading cause of premature death all around the world.
Being overweight leads to a variety of diseases and illnesses that attribute to poor health. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, clogged arteries and diabetes are just some of the health issues an overweight person may face. These health problems can also lead to a stroke. Strokes can be deadly or lead to severe debilitation.
It is a known fact that lycopene, a compound found in tomatoes, can help lower cholesterol. Dr. Andrew Carson, a senior lecturer at Birmingham University, has asked for further research to investigate the compound.
People who have been following the Mediterranean diet are much healthier than the average person. The Mediterranean diet includes a lot of tomatoes. The hope is to use lycopene as a way to lower a person’s cholesterol. The current medications used to manage a person’s cholesterol are very expensive, and not always effective. Lycopene would be much
cheaper, and save millions of dollars in medical costs.
The Mediterranean diet can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. The diet is simple and easy to follow. It involves using herbs and spices to flavor food, instead of salt. A high salt diet can lead to high blood pressure. Using healthy fats like olive oil and canola oil to cook food. The Mediterranean diet calls for a very small amount of red meat.
Meats like fish and shellfish are used in place of red meats.
Raw fruits, vegetables, pasta, rice and nuts are a big part of the Mediterranean diet plan. These foods can help lower the bad cholesterol levels and reduce high blood pressure. A woman can cut her chances of having a stroke by as much as 40%, just by following the Mediterranean diet. The diet itself is full of tasty food, and does not restrict any particular foods. It is simply using healthier food to cook or flavor the food you would normally eat. The diet also allows for an occasional glass
of red wine with your meals.
About the Author
Valery Fortie is the National Awareness Coordinator of Mediterranean book.com. She is also the blogger behind its directory of news focused on healthy eating ways to prevent high blood pressure pain to live longer and better.
Mediterraneanbook.com is a non profit blog founded in 2004 to preserve the Italian Healthy Eating Traditions and inform consumers on duty in all healthy eating fields.
Who doesn’t enjoy a grilled cheese or a plate of mac’n'cheese? The problem is that most foods we enjoy the most are creamy, cheesy and oh so very fattening.
Here are some healthy twists to my favorite comfort foods.
Grilled Cheese
Try a cheese toast instead. Take a piece of whole-grain bread with a piece of cheese on top inside the toaster oven. Leave it in there until the cheese bubbles and then add some spices or veggies.
Macaroni and Cheese
Forget the store version, the best makeover to this dish is by making it at home.
Use whole grain pasta, non-processed cheese and dice up some vegetables.
Apple Pie
One slice of apple pie can have as many as 750 calories-and that’s not counting the meal that you had before dessert!
Use whole-wheat pastry flour to add fiber and lower the saturated fat by replacing some of the butter with canola oil to make the worst part, the crust, a little healthier.
Pasta, olive oil, tomatoes and fresh basil are the basics to delicious Italian cuisine. In this video WatchMojo.com sits down with Roger Costa from Weinstein & Gavinos to learn everything there is to making traditional and delicious Italian meals.
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