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Author:
Peter Carnes

Believe it or not, diets come and diets go. And some of them seem to go on forever!

There are low-carb diets, no-carb diets, negative calorie diets, high-protein diets, fat-burning diets, cabbage diets, vegetarian diets, raw food diets...

There's the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, the L.A. diet, the Personality diet… The list goes on and on.

Did you know that diet books and diet products are a profit-pulling business nowadays?

It's estimated that in the USA alone a staggering 33 billion dollars is spent every year on diet-related items.

By now you should know that the overwhelming majority of diets only work in the short term.

Here’s why:

You follow the diet, you lose a few pounds, you get bored, you lose interest, you stop following the diet, you put all the weight back on again....and you move on to the next trendy, flavor-of-the-moment fad, and the same old cycle starts all over again!

In order to lose weight, and stay slim and fit and healthy, it’s not enough to grab some special fad or flavor of the month and just add it to our lives like a new hair-piece or some latest fashion accessory.

No, what we need to do is change our lifestyle - permanently!

Have you ever heard about the Mediterranean Diet?

In actual fact, the Mediterranean Diet is a bit of a misnomer. It isn't really a diet at all: it's a way of life. There are literally millions of people today living around the Mediterranean and eating fresh local food that is good for their hearts and kind to their waistline and may even, if the latest scientific research is to be believed, actually prolong their lives.

Don't you think it might be a good idea to grab a part of this?

So... where do we start?

The foundation of the Mediterranean Diet resides in three things:

* fresh fruit and vegetables (including garlic)

* olive oil (particularly extra-virgin olive oil)

* a moderate intake of wine (preferably red wine)

Add to these some fresh fish and seafood and some lean cuts of meat, game and poultry and you have a "diet" that will protect your heart, enhance your general health and probably even extend your life - as well as reducing your waistline! What more could anyone ask for?

It is the combination of these three elements that is responsible for the long and healthy lives of people living in the southern Mediterranean area.

I suggest you spend a bit more time with your partner or family, eating healthy food and wine, rather than gulping down a ready-cooked meal that's probably full of salt and saturated fat, just so you can spend an extra few minutes at the local pub or bar!

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Peter Carnes is the webmaster at http://www.heart-of-provence.com/provence-light.html
Click above to discover tons of articles, recipes eBooks (plus a lot more stuff) for a healthy life-style.

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Copyright Peter Carnes - http://www.Heart-Of-Provence.com

| Article Keywords: Healthy Diets

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Healthy Diets... What Is Zone Diet? The Zone Diet is among one of the five popular diets of today. It was created by a researcher from MIT called Barry Sears. The diet is concerned with maintaining a balance of proteins and carbohydrates thereby keeping insulin levels steady. Barry Sears theorized that obesity is caused mainly through insulin imbalance and he found that most diets recommended a program which was low in fats and high in carbohydrates. This leads the body to produce an excess of insulin and the result is obesity. The goal of the Zone diet is to reach a level where the two hormones of eicosanoids and insulin are kept in careful balance. If you control these two in certain zones, your decrease the amount of fat in your body, increase blood flow, decrease inflammation, improve your mental and physical stamina and reduce your chances of having diabetes and heart disease. Under the Zone diet, you try to keep your portion of carbohydrate and protein to a ratio of four parts carbohydrate to one part protein. The protein should be about three to four ounces at one meal which is what the FDA and USDA recommend amount. For the carbohydrates, most your intake should be restricted to fruits and vegetables with a minimum amount of rice, potatoes, bread and other grains. Under this diet you should use monounsaturated fats such as safflower oil and olive oil and other oils that are considered healthy for your heart. According to Sears, the high carbohydrate diets encourage their followers to eat more car hydrates which increases insulin and in turn causes weight gain. Unlike the Atkins diet which requires its followers to maintain a diet high in protein without a thought to the fat content (which causes ketosis which can be unhealthy), the Zone diet strikes as optimal balance between carbohydrate,...