The Mediterranean diet is widely believed to be the cleanest, healthiest and most balanced diet in the world, associated with good health and long life.
In the latest study on the benefits of this diet, researchers at Italy’s Neuromed Institute found that those whose diets most closely replicated the Mediterranean were significantly less likely to die from any cause than their peers who did not. Their research, published last week in the British Journal of Nutrition, looked at data on almost 12,000 people and found that the Mediterranean diet could be a powerful protective shield for the body. In addition to its potentially life-prolonging benefits, a study published last summer in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that eating like a Mediterranean also appears to protect against some of the mental declines that come with age.
The people from Talana in Sardinia have often been held up as a living example of the diet’s benefits. With nearly 10 times the centenarians per capita as the United States, Talana is home to the world’s longest-living men. Many myths and hypotheses surround the Sardinian ‘secret’ to a long life, but most attribute it to the simple but revered Mediterranean diet of beans, vegetables, grains, and little meat.
You don’t have to live in a small town in the Sardinian mountains to reap the same health benefits. The Mediterranean diet was inspired by the eating habits of the southern part of Italy, Greece, and Spain back in the fifties. It is almost universally agreed that it is a balanced and healthy diet, even being recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO after Italy formulated the proposal. If your diet consists of industrial food - processed, refined and rich in saturated fats - you are turning away from the fundamentals of this way of eating. Pasta and bread shouldn’t be made from refined white flour but whole grains, rich in fibre and with a low impact on blood sugar. Instead of combing grocery store aisles for miracle diet ingredients, consume vegetables, fruits, and protein. Rather than relying on faddy trends and unsustainable eating habits, the Mediterranean approach relies on the quality of natural products, seasonality and the freshness of ingredients. It promotes health from the inside out.
In the same way that the Mediterranean diet promotes health from the inside out, the nutrient-dense ingredients are deeply beneficial when applied topically too, benefiting you from the outside in. We, too, believe in skin health and longevity rather than faddy, quick fixes. Our ingredients are grown on our organic farm at Verdura Resort in Sicily to traditional standards, free from chemical enhancements, and we take advantage of what the seasons have to offer. It is 230 hectares of the very best Sicily has to offer and it allows us access to a level of freshness and quality unparalleled in cosmetic manufacturing. Verdura’s produce sits at the heart of our skincare line, diffusing the very essence of Mediterranean wellness into every bottle. This is why Irene Forte Skincare is the Mediterranean diet for your skin!
