The way people eat in countries like Italy and Greece has had a nutritional model patterned after it. It is called the Mediterranean diet. People started paying attention to it after it became well publicized that people living in that part of the world have a much fewer occurrences of cancer and other diseases.

This way of eating has only recently been getting attention from Americans-- starting in the late 1990s in fact-- even though it was first developed in the 1940s by an American doctor. Better late than never. There are key differences between the traditional American diet and the Mediterranean diet that are worth noting.

The Mediterranean Diet food pyramid is very different from the US Food Pyramid. First off, the Mediterranean Diet contains very little red meat. Red meat is used in their cooking, but not often and in very small portions. Taking up a big portion of the Mediterranean Diet food pyramid is fish. The US Food pyramid, on the other hand, groups all the different meats into one category.

In Mediterranean fare, whole grain foods make up the main staple. That includes rice, bread, couscous, potatoes, and similar foods. Nuts and beans are another important part of the Mediterranean diet. So are fruits and vegetables in particular. This is something both food pyramids share in common, though the recommended quantities are fairly different.

The traditional US food pyramid groups all the forms of protein into one category, which makes it hard to see what specific role each type of food ought to play in your diet. The Mediterranean Diet food pyramid keeps them separate.

This Mediterranean way of thinking and eating has finally been getting attention, because people have discovered that those who follow this diet experience incredibly low rates of diseases and cancer.

The Mediterranean Diet includes plenty of red wine, usually very often in just about every meal. We know that red wine contains very powerful and beneficial antioxidants. Mediterranean cooking also uses a lot of olive oil, which is like red wine in that it, too, has its own antioxidant properties. If you want to look better and feel better too, it's worth looking into the Mediterranean Diet food pyramid.