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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Patterson, R. E., Flatt, S. W., Newman, V. A., Natarajan, L., Rock, C. L., Thomson, C. A., et al. (2011). Marine Fatty Acid Intake Is Associated with Breast Cancer Prognosis. The journal of nutrition , 141 (2), 201-206.
As the Western world experiences increasing occurrences of certain diseases, society is focusing not only on finding the source of this phenomena but also on finding a solution to the problem. In his essay “Escape from the Western Diet”, Michael Pollan places the blame on the Western diet, arguing that people need only to change their eating habits in order to prevent many chronic diseases. While the author makes a compelling argument, his usage of logical fallacies, his questionable credibility, and his apparent bias weaken his point; nonetheless, I agree with his overall surmise that the western diet should be improved.
For some time, scholars and writers have continuously debated as to what constitutes or defines the idea of healthy eating, mainly because of the increase in the number of people diagnosed with ailments associated with bad eating habits. It has quickly become the forefront of issue, particularly in the United States. In recognition of this on-going debate, this composition seeks to compare and contrast two well-known authors concerning how we think about and consume food. In Michael Pollan’s discussion, “Escape from the Western Diet,” he discusses the negative sides of nutrition science, including conflicting theories surrounding the elements of healthy food consumption and why solutions are essential for the Western diet and lifestyle. “Escape from the Western Diet,’’ is among the articles that talks about the eating habits of individuals in the society. In the article, Pollan points out not only the numerous conflicts concerning what types of diets – including carbohydrate-based, the inclusion of omega-3s, other nutrition-specific needs - that are believed to directly affect general health or specific illnesses, but also how western nutritionism compares to other countries diets affect longevity outcomes. In the end, Pollan suggests that the United States must seek solutions that move towards more natural, unprocessed, plant-based lifestyles that ensure that individuals are making what they consume a primary
Some of the dietary data from the parts of the Mediterranean has given many different nutritionists and scientists the best possible data about what foods people should be eating and what foods they should try to avoid in general. The healthfulness of this particular eating pattern isn’t just something new like some of the newer diet fads that are around. In fact, this particular method is proven by more than 50 years of research as well as hundreds of years of civilization research focusing in on medical documents. The basics of the Mediterranean Diet plan include the following rules and regulations on your
How does a person increase their chances of heart disease, stroke and peripheral artery disease all in the same way? By having increased cholesterol levels (Wedro, 2014). It is estimated that 71 million Americans have high cholesterol, and of those, only one-third of them have it under control (CDC, 2011). A reduction in LDL cholesterol has been shown to decrease the prevalence of strokes and heart attacks. That being said, it has also been shown that cholesterol levels above 200mg/dL put an individual at twice the risk for coronary heart disease than persons with levels 180mg/dL or less (Mann, 2014). There are numerous risks associated with high cholesterol, luckily many factors that can help control it such as medications, exercise and nutrition (Filho, 2013). Exercise training has been supported to show improved changes in blood lipid panels (Greene, 2012). This paper is going to analyze the effects that exercise and diet can have on lowering total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, as well as looking into ways that can help to increase levels of HDL cholesterol. Maintaining cholesterol in the recommend range has been shown eliminate 20,000 myocardial infarctions and 8,000 deaths each year. Saving money is not as important as life saving tactics, but studies suggest that controlled cholesterol could reduce billions of health care costs that are related to elevated cholesterol levels annually (CDC, 2011). Elevated cholesterol levels are associated with limited access to health care; therefore looking into areas of lifestyle changes for health care benefits that are low cost and effective would be valuable (CDC, 2011).
Wardlaw, G.M. and Smith. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. 5th Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp 85, 2004.
The diet of any culture is important to consider when looking at the lifestyles of others to fully understand how they live. The basic diet of the Jewish is termed koshe...
One may be surprised by how many common products include palm oil. It’s in a wide variety of items, and with over fifty different names, many are unaware of what palm oil is. The reason everything includes this oil specifically is because oil palm
Palm oil is the leading edible vegetable oil by production volume. It is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of a wide variety of products that are used globally every day, such as chocolate, soap, and cosmetics. It is also a common cooking oil in many countries, notably in Asia, and is used in other industries, including livestock and, increasingly, biofuels.
Looking at the Ghanaian diet, they are foods most dominant with starch or have a higher starchy level. They are usually eaten with an accompaniment which serves as the source of protein which may be in the form of a sauce or a soup. Such foods include; banku and okro, fufu and soup which could either be chicken, groundnut or kontomire soup, kenkey and grounded pepper, ‘yo-ko gari’ and beans stew, kpoikpoi (maize mix), yam, cassava, boiled or fried plantain, gari f)t), tatale, omutuo (rice balls) and waakye.
Most Americans do not care enough to take a look at the nutritional values of the food that he or she is consuming. That is why America has the highest percentage of obesity in the world. This is a serious problem because one in every three adults is obese, and one in every six children is obese. There are many factors that go into the regular American diet, but most of those factors are not appealing nor is it healthy. Americans put way too much processed food into their daily diet. Some would say that other countries diets superior the American diet because of nutritional values that it carries. Other countries have proven that an active lifestyle is a huge element in the average weight of the country. There are many things that Americans could change about their diets and lifestyle that would help them to become healthier.
Together with the accessibility of the food in the south of Benin and its affordability, my region’s diet is equal to the Mediterranean diet. The reason why it is not superior to the Mediterranean diet is that it does not contains enough nutrients to guarantee a long life expectancy.
Food is very essential for survival and as such, an average a person consumes a controlled regimen of food and water to sustain good health. The Ghanaian is not easily accessible as compared to the Spanish diet, however it is still superior to the Spanish diet because it is affordable and very high in nutritional value. The Spanish also practice the Mediterranean way of eating by the people in the Mediterranean region (Spain, Greece, Crete, Italy etc…) but has now spread to other parts of the world. Some major ingredients in the Spanish diet include: omega-3 oil, parsley, Ham, cheese, sausages, pork, beef, legumes, nuts, garlic, bread, red wine and a lot of citrus fruits. Also, major ingredients in the Ghanaian diet are sea foods, dairy products, rice, maize/corn, soybeans, beans cassava, yam sweet potatoes, cocoyams, eggplant, okra, palm oil, garlic and rice.
In the book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan explores the relationship between nutrition and the Western diet, claiming that the answer to healthy eating is simply to “eat food”.
Olive oil is a fat, produced from the fruit of olive trees. Olive trees are very slow growth and can only grow in some regions, but it hasn 't been a problem to not cultivate olives, since many people throughout the world are involved in the production of olives to produce olive oil. The cultivation of olive trees began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor and spread from Iran, Syria and Palestine to the rest of the Mediterranean basin. Olive oil is an expensive oil that has been consumed for many years and has become one of the most popular because of the variety of uses in cooking and health benefits.
Saturday: breakfast: milk (250 G), chocolate (10 G), sweetened cereals (65 G), clementines (100 G); lunch: escalopes of turkey with mushrooms (200 G), salad (30 G), vinaigrette (3 G), small Swiss (100 G); snack: brioche (35 G), milk (200 G); to dine: shoulder sheep and potatoes (190 G), cheese (40 G), bread (40 G), sorbet (100 G).