CURVENETICS CAFÉ

NUTRITIONAL ADVICE

WELCOME TO THE CURVENETICS CAFÉ

Hi! I'm Russell Rose, co-founder of Curvenetics and nutritional advisor at the Curvenetics Café. At Curvenetics, we believe that if you want to stay in great shape and be healthy you need a combination of exercise and good nutrition.

We set up the Curvenetics Café as a site where you could pick up some wise eats info set out in a relaxed and easily digestible sort of way. We'll be bringing you some of the latest healthy eating news from the London area as well as some of the interesting advances from around the globe. Today, it's the very healthy Mediterranean diet...

THE GREAT MEDITERRANEAN DIET

Robust and healthy, delicious and exciting, The Mediterranean diet is hardly a new fad... it's been around for centuries.

Golden olive oils, rich red wines, brightly coloured fruits and vegetables and sumptiously tasting fish are just a few of the life-giving dietary ingredients enjoyed by Southern French, Italians, Greeks and Spanish.

BUT WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT IT..?

Well, according to researchers, these Southern Europeans get much less heart disease and cancer than the majority of their British counterparts.

SO HOW IS IT THAT THE MEDITERRANEANS WHO SEEM TO SMOKE A THOUSAND CIGARETTES A DAY AND LIVE TO A HUNDRED DO IT..?

The answer it seems is not just the type of foods they eat but the proportions they consume them in.

What is known is that the Mediterranean diet is hugely richer in fruit and vegetables. Whilst we struggle to down an average of two servings per day they happily eat five.

The payoff for the Meds is that they up their fibre to avoid colonic diseases and boost their antioxidants such s vitamin C, vitamin E and betacarotene, the chemical warriors that fight against atherosclerosis and genetic mutations that can cause cancer.

AND WHAT DO BRITS DO...?

Traditionally, Brits tank up on saturated fats in processed and fried foods raising blood cholesterol levels that are a risk factor in heart disease. Mediterraneans in contrast drive their bodies on olive oils high in monounsaturates that actually help to keep cholesterol levels down.

Key components of the Mediterranean diet that can help your nutrition become healthier.

• Pulses and fish to provide protein
• Pasta, bread, rice and potato accompanired by lots of veg for complex carbo-foods
• Red wine for flavanoid antioxidants
• Olive oil for antioxidant vitamin E
• Tomatoes for antioxidant lycopene
• Garlic for allyl sulphide that actually has similar properties to modern drugs that break down clots and helps keep blood at the right consistency
• Onions for the antioxidant quercetin
• Fatty fish such as tuna, salmon and sardine that are rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids that inhance the immune system and helps prevent blood clotting
• Red pepper for vitamin C and a great storehouse for betacarotene
• Figs that are loaded with fibre, carotene, calcium and iron. Eat them fried or served fresh with nuts, cottage cheese and parma ham
• Ricotta, goat's and cottage cheese that are quite low in fat but good sources of protein, calcium and vitamin A
• Wholegrain breads that are rich in B vitamins and fibre. The insoluble fibre helps food pass through the gut helping prevent constipation, diverticular disease, appendicitis, haemorrhoids and cancer of the large bowel.

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Copyright © Tracy and Russell Rose Productions Ltd. All rights reserved.
Revised: August 19, 1999.