High consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds provides the many different phytochemicals that protect blood vessels and guard cells against cancer-causing substances.

Now, studies show that olive oil may bolster each one of these benefits. A very important role has olive oil, which is an important monounsaturated fat source. More than half the fat calories in a Mediterranean diet come from monounsaturated fats, which doesn't raise blood cholesterol levels the way saturated fat does. Vegetable greens such as spinach, kale and broccoli, and some legumes and soybean products, are good sources of calcium and iron from plants.

Zinc good plant sources include grains, nuts and legumes. Shellfish are an excellent source of zinc, needed for growth and development. Mediterranean diet consumes dairy products, fish and poultry in low to moderate amounts, and just a little red meat, the richest sources of iron, is eaten. Eggs are consumed zero to four times a week, often in hand made pasta. From breakfast to dinner, mediterranean diet well balances the food properties our body needs to be healthy.

Breakfast is known is held more and more by the experienced nutritionists the most important meal of the all day. With the breakfast we get in fact the important nourishing necessary to face to the best the first part of our days more and denser of appointments.

Because of its extreme importance is absolutely wrong to miss it. A good day begins with a good breakfast, in which we have to include all the most important nourishing elements, first of all carbohydrates but also proteins, mineral salts and vitamins. With the breakfast we give back energy to our body after the break of the nighttimes rest.

The most proper foods for this first meal of the day are, first of all, carbohydrates (main “gasoline” of fast use for our organism) as bread, biscuits and cereals contain, but also proteins (from milk, yogurt etc…), mineral salts and vitamins from fruits and fruit-juices, and in small doses also fats, never to eliminate from our feeding. If the rule of a healthy breakfast is a must for everybody, its importance is absolute for children and sportsmen, who have to draw, from it, the nourishing more proper for their sport activities.

The Mediterranean diet has received a great deal of attention lately because it has shown promise in reducing the development of heart disease and cancer. Interest in the Mediterranean diet arose as scientists compared the health of people in various countries. They found that people in certain countries had lower rates of heart disease and cancer. Scientists think that there are many potentially healthy nutrients contained in the Mediterranean diet. These include omega-3 fatty acids, oleic acid, fiber, antioxidants, vegetable proteins, and B-vitamins. In addition, the diet avoids potentially unhealthy things like saturated fat and red meat.

Although the Mediterranean diet developed in Mediterranean countries and is still most common there, many people and sportsman, from other countries are finding that this diet is easy and enjoyable to follow.