The Mediterranean Diet

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Somerset Maugham said that “To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day”. “To live anywhere in the world you should eat at least three times a day” is probably close to the truth as well. What people eat and drink in countries close to the Mediterranean Sea is called the Mediterranean Diet. To compare this Mediterranean Diet to a typical Diet from the south of Benin, it would be correct to say that the Benin Diet is equivalent to the Mediterranean Diet because although the nutritional values are lower in the Beninois diet, it is cheaper and easier to find than the Mediterranean diet in the southern region of Benin. This paper is going to compare the diet of Benin to the diet of the Mediterranean from the nutritional values, the availability and the accessibility perspectives.

The Mediterranean diet emphasizes vegetables, fruits, legumes and grains. It also contains small amount of chicken and fish. Most fat comes from unsaturated olive oil and nuts. There are few sweet and meat. In combination with moderate exercise and not smoking, the Mediterranean Diet offers a scientifically researched, balanced, and health-promoting lifestyle choice. (HealthFitnessRevolution, 2013). The Mediterranean Diet is a balanced diet full of a variety of foods and can be followed easily. Key characteristics of the Mediterranean diet include one to two daily glasses of red wine for men and one glass for women. This difference in quantity of wine is due to the body mass, which is generally superior for men than for women. The characteristics include also many fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, beans and whole grains eaten daily; weekly consumption of meat, poultry, eggs and olive oil and monthly consumptio...

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