9 Healthy Foods from the Mediterranean Diet

From: Eating Well

By: Lisa Valente, M.S., R.D.

Are you looking to eat better? Healthier?

Did you doctor recently express concern over your diet?

This article by Eating Well, should be helpful.

It provides some healthy food options.

Key ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine include olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables, protein-rich legumes, fish and whole grains with moderate amounts of wine and red meat. The flavors are rich, and the health benefits for people choosing a Mediterranean diet, one of the world's healthiest, are hard to ignore—they are less likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol or become obese. If you're trying to eat foods that are better for your heart, start with these nine healthy ingredients of Mediterranean cooking.

1. Broccoli Rabe

To be Italian is to appreciate dark leafy vegetables, especially this earthily bitter brassica that pairs beautifully with bold ingredients like sausage, anchovy and hot pepper. Like other cabbage family members it's a nutrition superstar, providing plenty of vitamin C, potassium, calcium and fiber as well as carotenoids and cancer-fighting indoles and isothiocyanates.

2. Chickpeas

Eaten daily, combined with grains and starches, beans provide high-quality protein along with folate, calcium, iron and zinc. They also offer benefits like healthy, filling doses of fiber (both soluble and insoluble), phytates and phyto­sterols; studies suggest beans may help manage diabetes, prevent colon cancer and reduce heart disease risk.

Click here for FULL article and the remaining 7 foods.

If you would like to learn more about creating healthy lifestyles & more, contact Millie Snyder at 304-541-6146.