Open Blog 2

Mediterranean Eating

A few weeks ago, Patricia Moore-Pastides, President Pastides’ wife, visited our class. She came to discuss healthy eating habits and how a Mediterranean diet can be offer a variety of health benefits. This is because it includes many basic essentials to the human diet that Americans often do not include in theirs. She emphasized the fact that limiting meat consumption is good for one’s diet. People do not need to cut out meat entirely by any means, but it has been proven that Americans consume a much larger portion of meat in their diets than recommended. She also made a great point in saying that a healthy diet does not necessarily constitute an expensive diet. Ingredients such as rice and beans can be purchased at a very low cost and the proteins in them can replace proteins consumed through eating meat. While this is true, it is still difficult for many Americans to abide by a strictly healthy lifestyle. Fruits, vegetables and organic food in general are more expensive than processed food. Educating oneself in making the right decisions while shopping and selecting food is also expensive and time consuming. The most difficult part for some is simply adjusting one’s personal eating habits.