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This food guide pyramid section is the 3rd part of the Mediterranean diet pyramid series. It's a practical guideline with examples, tips and suggestions straight from the Mediterranean. This Mediterranean food guide pyramid aims a giving you an accurate idea of the traditional Mediterranean diet so that you can incorporate it into your life. If you need it, here's the first part of the Mediterranean food guide pyramid.
3. Eat moderately groupLean meat The lean meat we refer to in this group is meat with little or no fat of young mammals like veal or lamb, and cuts of pork with no fat. There are countless Mediterranean recipes with lean meat that you can incorporate into your Mediterranean diet. Because families were large and making ends meet was generally difficult, meat was eaten in small amounts. I am positive that this is why the Mediterranean peoples were so healthy. Sadly, even in the Mediterranean basin, now people tend to eat too much meat. This is something we all should try to keep in mind: Eating small amounts of meat is best. Pastries Broadly, pastries are eaten in the Mediterranean diet in many different forms, sweet or savory, for breakfast, tea or as snacks. Indeed, in its various forms, pastries are extremely popular in the Mediterranean. Some delicious examples are: the Lebanese thyme pastries, Catalan fried pastry-like bunyols, Turkish borek, or Majorcan calzone-like cocarrois. Chocolate Good chocolate is finally being recognized as healthy. It is very energetic and it's very rich in magnesium, an essential mineral for our heart and nervous system. On the gastronomical side, authentic chocolate tastes gorgeous. Until not so long ago Catalan of all walks of life ate thick hot chocolate every day for breakfast —without feeling guilty, I can assure you that. So, apart from the occasional indulging in chocolate, common sense tells us that, in moderation, chocolate is a healthy food. Finally, this food guide pyramid based on the traditional Mediterranean diet can't accept industrial cheap chocolate. Cheap chocolate contains little or no cocoa and it's more like junk food. Clarified butter Good Clarified butter is used next to olive oil throughout the Arabic Eastern Mediterranean for cooking. It's a healthy fat similar to Indian ghee with a high smoke point, thus suitable for cooking and frying too. You can make your own ghee at home or buy it from specialized shops. I guess I am one of the very few Western Mediterranean that regularly uses clarified butter in the kitchen, not to mention incorporating it in a food guide pyramid based on the Mediterranean diet. My favorite cooking fat is still olive oil, but samneh or smen, as it is know in Arabic, is an alternative and you need it for certain Mediterranean Arabic food recipes. By the way, Egyptians use more samneh than olive oil. Clarified butter can be useful for lacto ovo vegetarians and for those who are not used to olive oil and don't tolerate it well. My experience tells me that some Northern Europeans and perhaps some Americans don't like the smell or taste of it. So, as a way to get used to healthy olive oil, you can even mix ghee and olive oil in the same cooking pot. I do it sometimes with good results, one tablespoon of each one, following the Catalan cuisine tradition that mixes olive oil and lard in certain dishes. Cheese As French know very well, eating cheese is a gourmet's pleasure and a good source of proteins. French have shown that you can eat cheese often but in moderation and not have the heart problems associated in other countries with eating dairy products. If you find cured cheese difficult to digest, stick to fresh and white cheese or try organic cheese. It's better to eat a tiny little bit of a natural cheese that lots of a very processed one. Butter As everyone knows, the Mediterranean diet uses butter much less than olive oil. Still, in the Mediterranean mountain regions where it's colder, like the Catalan Pyrenees or Northern Italy, butter has a stronger presence in the kitchen. Broadly speaking, the Mediterranean peoples don't consume butter heavily as a spread on bread. We use olive oil and tomato instead like in the Catalan bruschetta recipe. Butter is used in some doughs, pastries, confectionery and some sauces. 4. Eat a little group | Top | Mediterranean diet recipes home |
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