Nutrition
Nowadays modern dietetics consider Mediterranean diet a way of life which offers longevity and good health. However, most of the surveys that have been conducted globally have presented Crete as the best and most typical example of Mediterranean diet. After they discovered that the residents of the island have the smallest mortality rate, the smallest index of death-rate caused by cardiovascular diseases and kinds of cancer, they began to search for the identity of the diet which gave (and still continues to give) Cretans these unique prerogatives of health!
The secret of good health and longevity is simple for Cretans. They eat whatever Cretan earth bears. Everyday consumption of olive oil, fruit, vegetables, greens, legumes, cheese products, kid meat and lamb, fish, rusk and bread, honey and molasses, wine and tsikoudia. All these compose the pyramid of the traditional Cretan diet.
Nutrition-General Information
excessive amounts of energy as well as 5 nutritious ingredients which are: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, micronutrients and vitamins. Usually, the rates of nutritious ingredients in a normal person are the following:
1. 50-55% of total calorie amount, carbohydrates (5-10% oligosaccharides and 90% polysaccharides)
2. 25-30% of total calorie amount, lipids (mainly unsaturated, of vegetable origin)
3. 15-20% of total calorie amount, proteins Since in everyday life we consume foods and not nutritious ingredients, the grouping of foods according to their nutritious ingredient content was considered essential. In our country the Nutrition and Food Association has grouped foods as following:
1. Meat group (meat, fish, egg)
2. Milk group (milk, dairy products)
3. Lipid group (oil, seed-oils, butter, margarine, cooking fat)
4. Bread group (bread, legumes, cereal)
5. Vegetables and fruit group
As far as nutritious substances are concerned, the average of calorie daily amount should waver from 2000 to 3400 for men and from 1600 to 2500 for women, depending on age, physique, kind of employment and physical exercise.
2. Milk group (milk, dairy products)
3. Lipid group (oil, seed-oils, butter, margarine, cooking fat)
4. Bread group (bread, legumes, cereal)
5. Vegetables and fruit group
As far as nutritious substances are concerned, the average of calorie daily amount should waver from 2000 to 3400 for men and from 1600 to 2500 for women, depending on age, physique, kind of employment and physical exercise.
Nutrition Guidance
School of Medicine has recently drawn up a set of nutrition guidance adapted to the needs of the healthy adults of Greek population, which may be summarized into the following principles:
- Eat as much as you need. Do not surpass the desired weight which is proportional to your height.
- Eat slowly, preferably at specific times of the day, without stress and with the company of beloved people.
- Prefer fruit or nuts to sweets as in-between-meals snacks.
- Prefer whole-wheat bread and pasta.
- Prefer water to fizzy drinks.
- Avoid fatty foods and salt.
- Healthy adults (apart from pregnant women) do not need food supplements (vitamins, micronutrients etc.) as long as they follow a balanced diet.
- Exemplary diet is the final end, but its adoption on daily basis can take place progressively.
Consumption of cheese products
Consumption of cheese products contributes to a balanced diet since cheese, as well as milk, provides the body with energy and nutritious ingredients which are necessary for the development of the tissues and especially the bones of the body. Cheeses contain great amounts of proteins and amino-acids of high biological sustenance, important lipid acids which form carriers of fat soluble vitamins (A-E-D-K), all water soluble vitamins of milk (vitamin B and vitamin C complex) and, finally, calcium salt which is vital for the skeleton’s development and proper function.