How To Chose The Right Diet

What relevance does this have to choosing the right Italian diet? The largest food group on the eatwell plate is the segment devoted to fruit and vegetables and it is on this food group that Italian food is mainly based - with some additions, namely the segment devoted to breads and pastas, which is the second largest segment. Basically, what the eatwell plate is telling us, when we focus on these two segments and apply it to an Italian diet, is that simple and complex carbohydrates are balanced. Applying this same principle to the other segments of the eatwell plate and the same thing applies. A smaller segment relates to proteins and dairy products. It is this self-same balance that is applied to Italian diets: a diet rich in fruit and vegetables, balanced out with complex carbohydrates in the form of pasta and breads, supplemented with portions of meat, fish and other proteins and bound together with unsaturated oils [olive oil].

While the amount of olive oil is perceived as high in an Italian diet, this oil is one of the unsaturated groups of oils which do not increase your body's cholesterol, unlike Western diets which are generally much higher in saturated fats which are well known to clog your arteries with plaque. Added to this the much higher consumption of fruits and vegetables generally, all of which are rich sources of antioxidants, especially tomatoes; it is hardly surprising that an Italian diet is considered to be a much healthier diet. Additionally, lutein and zeaxanthin play an important part in the health of the body and these are obtained in abundance from green leafy vegetables, sprouts and spinach. Tomatoes which also feature in Italian cooking is high in vitamins C and E, plus beta-carotene and carotenoid lycopene - all of which counter-balance the intake of olive oil in the Italian diet.