Mediterranean Diet - Make Your Own Using Locally-Grown Food

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You know already that the Mediterranean Diet is tops -- it's shown to be the healthiest way to not only lose weight but maintain your health for life. However, if you believe in the founding principal of The 100-Mile Diet -- that it's best for both you and the world around us if you try to eat food that's produced locally, or at least somewhat nearby -- it makes eating Mediterranean pretty hard, especially for folks like me. I'm from Canada, and while we do grow a lot of great things there, olives are definitely not one of them.

Fear not, says a group of foodies from my home country -- eating stuff that's grown in our cold climate is just as good for us as sourcing out food from over the Atlantic, and it leaves a smaller ecological footprint to boot.
Think about it -- the Mediterranean Diet is rich in whole grains, healthy fats and lots of fresh fruits and veggies. We've got delicious blueberries and raspberries growing in our own backyards, healthy add-ons like flax growing in our prairies, loads of cold-water fish from our lakes and oceans, a strong meat and dairy industry and an incredible selection of fresh produce (have you been to your local farmers market lately?) Plus, we've got a fabulous wine industry -- throw in a few more hot days, a couple of volcanoes and a handful of European tourists in Speedos and we're pretty much the Greece of the Americas.

OK, it's a stretch, I know. But the point is this: We (and I mean everyone, not just Canadians here) tend to focus on what other cultures have that we want, but when it comes to healthy eating, we have all the ingredients we need right at home. As David McInnes of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute points out, "When Canadians walk down the (supermarket) aisles, they should be thinking about not only good-for-you foods that are available from other regions, but we should be thinking about good-for-you foods from here in Canada." Now that's what I call food for thought.

Another reason to incorporate the principles of the Mediterranean Diet? It may help ward off dementia.