Vegetables: The heart and soul of the traditional Mediterranean diet

Do about a heady minestrone full of shiny Zucchini and carrots, green beans and pumpkin, fragrant garlic and onion and cabbage plump chips goes out to dinner? Or you may prefer a simple pizza topped with Ruby Red and mottled fresh basil tomato sauce? Perhaps the hearts of artichokes and tomatoes stuffed with chopped onion, cilantro and a rainbow of Bell Pepper chopped, Moroccan-style, are more your speed. Gazpacho of tomato and pepper cooled, anyone? A Greek Salad of Eggplant with tomato, red bell pepper and oregano. Or maybe just a simple antipasto does grilled vegetables, marinated olives and ratatouille?

Fresh and abundant in the Mediterranean region, vegetables and herbs give a traditional kitchen Mediterranean uch of its character and flavor, not to mention its beauty and vibrant colors. The traditional Mediterranean diet is heavy on vegetables, of course, is not surprising, taking into account the Mediterranean garden-friendly climate. Traditionally, many people in the Mediterranean makes your life in farmland. Others simply grew to feed their families.

What would vegetables without cooking Mediterranean classic? Eggplant parmesan cheese and Provencal vine tomatoes stuffed with leaves and spinach and cheese pie vegetables provide the people of the Mediterranean with variety, color and flavor without the high cost of meat-based meals. But vegetables, much more that it seems to offer low-cost meals for people eating in large quantities in the Mediterranean. Many of the benefits of the traditional Mediterranean diet is undoubtedly due to the high proportion of fresh vegetables.

Many studies have examined the protective effect of the consumption of vegetables-etable against certain chronic diseases. Some have found an inverse association between vegetable and fruit consumption and the risk of many types of cancer, especially cancer of the upper respiratory and digestive tract, lungs, stomach, pancreas, and cervix, and ovaries and colon cancers.

Could the consumption of vegetable in the Mediterranean be linked to lower rates of chronic disease? Mounts of evidence to support this theory, even if evidence does not directly involve the Mediterranean. You don't have much time, researchers Kristi Steinmetz, Ph.d., R.D. and John Potter, M.D., Ph.d., had collected more than two hundred people and animal studies that looked at the consumption of plant foods and cancer rates. In fact, it seems to be a food consumption of strong relationship between plant and cancer rates.

The researchers could only speculate that cancer can be a resulting disease a diet devoid of sufficient amounts of plant foods. Human bodies, are apparently able to maintain and even restore your health when plant foods make up the majority of the calories in the diet. But it is no surprise that people studying the State of health and cooking for people who live in the Mediterranean.

High vegetable consumption seems to have a profound effect on the appearance of other chronic diseases, not just cancer. The risk of heart disease, arthritis, degeneration macular (loss associated with the age of the view due to the progressive degenera­tion of the macula, part of the retina), cognitive impairment related to age (such as Alzheimer's disease and other forms of de­mentia) and other age-related health problems can be reduced as it increases the consumption of vegetables.

In addition to reducing the risk of chronic diseases, re­search suggests that once arises the chronic disease, certain components in vegetables can slow or even reverse the progression of the disease. This process takes place by of­fering perhaps a boost to the immune system, as well as help in the fight against free radicals damage cells. Ultimately, research on many fronts suggests that a diet focused on plant rich in vegetables as well as fruits and whole grains, can add quality and quantity at your age.