Since the people who live in the Mediterranean basin are healthy, someone came up with the idea of creating the Mediterranean diet.

The Mediterranean basin includes portions of Italy, France, and even the Sahara Desert – a generally mild winters with long, hot summers.

The most known form of the Mediterranean diet was created in the mid-1990s by a Harvard health professor named Walter Willett. The diet calls for regular physical activity, along with abundant plant food, fresh fruit as a dessert, olive oil, dairy products, fish and poultry, up to four eggs each week, red meat in small amounts, and wine.

The fat in this diet is controlled, only up to 35% of calories, saturated fat at less than 8% of total calories. It's considered a low-fat high dietary fiber diet. It became popular in the 1990's, but the Mediterranean diet has been around since 1945.

Whereas American diets rely on animal fats, the Mediterranean diet utilizes olive oil. Olive oil has many benefits such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar. Olive oil is also good for treating ulcers and for lowering the risk of many types of cancer. Red wine also adds to the mix in that it contains elements with antioxidant properties.

The Mediterranean diet is really a series of diets partially recommended by the American Heart Association.

The association is concerned about the high amount of fat in the Mediterranean diet. The heart association points to the growing problem of obesity in countries around the Mediterranean basin, which is a serious health concern. However, the American Heart Association does like the fact that most of the fat in the Mediterranean diet comes from olive oil, mono saturated fat, that doesn't raise cholesterol.

It could be that increased health in the basin comes from increased physical activity, rather than from diet.

A Google search is a great source of information on the Mediterranean diet.