Is the Mediterranean diet as good as we thought?

I thought the brown sauce, at least, could be part of my five a day:
Cette sauce de haute qualité est un mélange de fruits orientaux, d’épices et de vinaigre

You mean to say they're not part of my 5 a day TriciaF?

what if it's Ribena, brown sauce and roast potatoes?

What was surprising was that the British eat far more fruit and vegetables than people in the rest of Europe - but are allegedly the fattest. Thinking laterally - do fruit and vegetables make you fat?

A lot of british families are "economic vegetarians" or almost vegitarians just because meat and two veg daily is beyond most young family's budgets these days. So on paper it looks like a higher veg based diet. But as it's all economically driven, it's about feeding families cheaply, and sometimes the cheap options are less healthy (yeah it is doable on a budget to be healthy, but not necessarily easy).

Most pizzas are vegitarian, chips are vegitarian, icecream is vegetarian

The "mediterranian diet" is based on traditional mediterranian foods - local and seasonal. Some meat but slow cooked so easier to digest with a LOT of veg and fruit in comparison, and fresh fish.

It's not based on modern diets of people living near the med. That's not what mediterranian diet means, so looking at health stats from med coast countries doesn't tell you anything about the effectiveness of the "mediteranian diet" because many people in those countries don't eat the traditional local foods daily

Do fruit and vegetables make you fat?
Possibly if you count tomato ketchup and orange cordial, and chips, as 3 of your 5

I agree about the extra work TriciaF, which is perhaps why many people seem to have abandoned it.

What was surprising was that the British eat far more fruit and vegetables than people in the rest of Europe - but are allegedly the fattest.
Thinking laterally - do fruit and vegetables make you fat?

Don't answer that one, it was just a musing on what could be a logical conclusion of the report - which proves one thing - one should never rely on statistics and reports, they can be made to fit any argument!

I agree with Mamie and Monica - the nations who live near the Med. in general seem to eat a similar diet to most British people.
We visited Greece back in the '70s and the women especially were very overweight - they ate mostly chip butties. And here in France people don't seem to cook from scratch much now, lots of pre-prepared supermarket meals and MacDos.
Our diet is near to the Med. diet and TG we keep well. It's cheaper too, just more work.

We went to Tenerife last year for the first time; the food in the hotel was excellent, lots of fish, seafood, good meat and loads of vegetables and salads at lunch and dinner. There was processed meat and sliced cheese at breakfast, but you could have a Continental or English breakfast anyway.
However, there was also quesillo for pudding (like a creme caramel) plus fruit and other desserts.
The quesillo was very tempting (well, not something I can resist!).

I think the difference is between the diet people around the mediterranean used to eat and what they eat now.

When we went to Majorca self catering over 30 years ago, we went virtually vegetarian. There were markets piled up with beautiful fruit and veg and the fish also was good, but expensive. The meat was not, which was why we lived, very well on vegetables, peas and beans, rice and pasta. DH's aunt was married to a majorquain and her meals were also the traditional idea of a mediterranean diet.

We are currently on holiday in Spain staying in a hotel. The meat, cooked and cold, is still unappetising, and anaemic sliced processed cheese has replaced local cheeses. I am not eating it. The fish is good, but meals are accompanied by rice, potatoes, pasta with very little in the way of additional vegetables. I cannot wait to get home and get back to my usual consumption of fruit and vegetables.

I do not think it is the advice about eating a mediterranean diet is wrong, it is just that people in countries around the mediterranean no longer eat it.

I've just returned from Sicily and we ate lots of aubergines, tomatoes, courgettes in olive oil, plenty of salads and cheese, fish and meat in restaurants, plus masses of fruit on sale everywhere. We did go to a pizza restaurant, and they asked us if we wanted chips whilst we waited, which plenty of young ones were scoffing, but there weren't many fatties in evidence. Mamie has a point, a mediterraneum type of diet is probably a healthy way of eating and not exclusive to specific countries. I do wonder tho' if all the processed meats eaten in southen Europe mean that stomach cancer rates are higher. Hope you're right about cabbage Anya, we've been eating it by the bucketload lately.

Ah no, it was Ancel Keys and Elizabeth David!!

The UN has recognised the diet as an endangered species. In 2013, Unesco listed the Mediterranean diet as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal.
from your link, thank you

I thought it was the marketing people trying to sell Olivio spread!!

Finland has been very successful in reducing heart disease, hasn't it?
Interesting article here
www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/02/mediterranean-diet-obesity-health-way-of-eating
Yes it is an American idea.
I think there are about 25 Mediterranean countries!

I noticed when we were in Finland (no, I know it's not on the Mediterranean ) that people grazed on bags of peas bought from market stalls!

I actually think it is just an artificial construct Jalima. Possibly an American one?
Nonsense, anyway. There is plenty of red meat eaten, plus anything that can be shot or trapped in some countries. Pasta and ice-cream in Italy, churros and hot chocolate in Spain, chips, baklava, patisserie etc.
I think the biggest difference that I notice in the UK is the ubiquity of sweet, fizzy drinks, the amount of cheap, processed food and the number of people grazing outside of mealtimes.

Mamie we are always been told that the 'Mediterranean diet' is the key to a long and healthy life - but, of course, the cuisine does vary enormously in all those countries.

Perhaps it was a marketing ploy to sell more olive oil!

I did read years ago that the cause of death is recorded as something more specific here, the rate of heart attacks is not necessarily lower but that it is recorded more precisely here as you say Stansgran.

My DF used to drink the cabbage water, he didn't make his 90s, but late 80s.

The Mediterranean Diet is rich in vegetables, fruit, peas and beans (legumes) and grains. It also contains moderate amounts of chicken and fish. There is little red meat and most fat is unsaturated and comes from olive oil and nuts. Having a small amount of red wine has been shown to increase the health benefits. 20 Jun 2016

The British must have been listening, though, as they eat more fruit and vegetables than anywhere else in Europe.
Perhaps it's the red wine

Who are "they" Stansgran?

DH is convinced that they generally record any death above 55 as dying from old age. Here greater precision is required.

When we were on holiday in Sicily earlier in the year, most of the people in the restaurants that we went to - the vast majority of them were Italian (the people not the restaurants) - were eating pizzas of all different sorts.

I think the "Mediterranean diet" is probably a pretty healthy way of eating it just doesn't bear any resemblance to the diet of the people who live around the Mediterranean.
For a start you would have to ask "where around the Mediterranean?"
Spain, Greece, Libya? Not exactly the same cuisine, is it?

The answer for longevity is cabbage, I'm convinced.

Where we lived before, up north, everyone seemed to eat cabbages by the bucket-load. And the village was full of nonagenarians. It did mean their houses smelled a bit like a school dinner canteen, but they were certainly lively and spry well into their 90s and beyond.

Probably not but I've never cared whether it was or wasn't anyway. It's just one of the eating fad/fashions we've been lumbered with over the last few decades.