Tag: mediterranean diet

Vegetarian-friendly religions

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 10 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas 

The well-known Mediterranean Diet recommended for optimal heart health calls for eating very little meat. Here in Canada, although our meat consumption is steadily decreasing according to Statistics Canada, we still average about 23.4 kilograms (about 52 pounds) of red meat per person per year. That puts us well behind the United States, Hungary, and Australia in total meat consumption.

But if you break it down into types of meat, people in Denmark eat more pork than anybody else in the world, Hong Kong leads chicken consumption, and, to nobody’s surprise, the Argentinians eat more beef.

So a heart-smart vegetarian in Buenos Aires might feel quite outnumbered, but elsewhere on earth would be among the majority.  An Apple A Day recently took a unique look at international vegetarianism and came up with some widespread religion-based connections.  Continue reading “Vegetarian-friendly religions” →

Mediterranean Diet: it’s all Greek to me

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

food woman pizza hands

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

The heart-healthy Mediterranean diet is not actually a diet – at least, not in the Celebrity-Endorsed, Bestseller-List, Miracle-Weight-Loss, Before-and-After-Photos, Dr. Oz-Featured, Fad Diet sense of the word ‘diet’.

In fact, according to The Journal of Nutrition, even the term ‘Mediterranean diet‘ (implying that all Mediterranean people eat the same) may be misleading.  The countries bordering the Mediterranean basin have different diets, traditions and cultures. The Mediterranean diet could more accurately be called the ‘Greek diet’, or – even more accurate – the Greek diet before 1960. Continue reading “Mediterranean Diet: it’s all Greek to me” →