This is my first post after 1 year of world traveling….I visited Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Greece. It’s impossible to understand but I’ve got 20 pounds more.

I need i diet and here some inspirations:

A typical daily Mediterranean diet menu has three courses. Instead of piling everything in one plate you eat one thing after the other, thus you eat slower and digest better.

Very often, you add a simple salad dish at the beginning, as a side dish or accompaniment. Most Mediterranean still eat like this even if they don’t go home for lunch.

Take Barcelona, for instance. It’s a big city full of people with busy lives. Still, most people manage to eat a three-course lunch at home or at one of the many average restaurants offering a daily menu that costs from 9 to 15 euro.

Other people who like to eat well prefer to cook in the weekend and freeze the lunches for the five days of the working week. In the Mediterranean basin most people can’t conceive to have a sandwich for lunch on work days as some do in Northern European countries or North America.

Kids that stay at school for lunch also eat a three-course meal. Schools publish the menus so that parents know that their children eat properly.

By following the Mediterranean Diet you will be able to avoid the frequent hunger pangs and increase your metabolism.

Source: http://www.revolutionhealth.com

Here, in descending order of importance, are the keys: * A moderate amount of alcohol (usually wine) * A small amount of meat * Lots of vegetables * Lots of fruits and nuts * A high ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats * Lots of legumes How much grain, dairy products people ate didn’t seem to make much difference in terms of mortality. The authors suggested that this might be because grains and dairy products are broad categories of foods, where different products can have different health effects (skim milk versus ice cream, for example).

Fish consumption also didn’t seem to have much of an effect — perhaps because fish plays a small part in the diet of the population included in the studies, which could make its health effects difficult to detect, the authors wrote. Previous studies have suggested that the Mediterranean diet – which includes many of cereals, vegetables, fruits and olive oil, moderate consumption of fish and alcohol, and few dairy products, meat and sweets – reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome. The study involved 1224 people aged between 55 and 80 years at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

Source: http://allmediterranean.onsugar.com

Homemade pizza preparation instructions

Cooking time: 30 minutes.
Preparation time: 90 minutes.
Rising time: 3 hours.

1. Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the dry yeast and the salt, and mix well.
2. In a large cup, mix the 1/2 cup of olive oil and the 1/2 cup of lukewarm water.
3. Make a small well in the middle of the flour and add the olive oil and water mixture.
4. Knead the flour mixture by hand for 10 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth, and until the olive oil gives it a nice golden color.
5. Place the dough in the same bowl, cover with a towel, and allow it to rise for 3 hours in a warm place with no draught.
6. Preheat the oven to 200ºC, and roast the whole vegetables.
7. When the vegetables are well roasted, peel them.
8. Cut the peppers, and eggplants into long strips, and the onion into rings or strips. Finely chop the tomatoes.
9. When the dough has risen for 3 hours, stretch it with a rolling pin. Give it an oval form like shown in the picture.
10. Oil a cookie sheet, adn sprinkle some flour on it. Place the oval shaped flour on it.
11. First spread the onion over the whole homemade pizza dough. Second, distribute the tomato. Third, distribute the pepper strips like shown in the photo. Fourth, place the aggplant strips in between the pepper strips. Finally, place the herrings or the sausage.
12. Drizzle olive oil liberally over the whole homemade pizza toppings. Use a cruet or olive oil dispenser if you have one.
13. Bake the delicious homemade pizza for 30 minutes. Here you have it, a delicious Catalan coca.

Source: http://www.blogtolose.com

I think that everybody of us know that to prevent flue and colds you should:

* Drink plenty of liquids. Water and fruit juice
* Eat Garlic that contains an agent called alliin which acts as a decongestant.
* Drink a lot of Lemon juice and Red Orange juice to increase your vitamin C intake.
* Eat foods full of Vitamin C like Citrus fruits, Potatoes, green peppers and strawberries.
* Eat honey to stop cough

Here the foods to not eat with fever:

* High-fat
* High-sugar junk foods
* Skipped meals
* Lot of caffeine
* Dairy products
* Excess salt

Other to these well known rules I’d like to suggest you some foods and plants typical of the Mediterranean region that could help you prevent and defeat fever, cold, Bronchitis, Cough and Sore throat.

Source: http://community.wegohealth.com and http://www.foodservice.com

When you think of Italy bike tours , thoughts turn to activities such as skiing and bicycling.

As for cycling, there are many cities where you can do a bicycle tour. The choice is wide: from riding in the gondolas of Venice to visit the Roman ruins. The main things that most tourists note about Italy is that while travelling by bike, you can visit historic sites and once in a lifetime spots for making memories.

To best organize your vacation by bike, plan well ahead of schedule in order to see the best sites that Italy has to offer.

The 2 most important areas to visit are Lake Garda and Tuscany.

Lake Garda is located mainly in the northern region of Lombardy (It is also spreading in the neighboring regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto).

The Lake Garda is the Italy’s largest alpine lake (30 miles long and up to 10 miles wide).

Here you can eat typical Italian food and drink fine wines.

Another major area where ride with your bike is Tuscany.

Tuscany is located in the center – north part of Italy, there are many things you can do such as ballooning, wine tasting, hiking, museums, and specialty shops.

It is a land rich of beautiful vineyards and rolling hills. During the ride, you can pass castles and winding roads of sand.

If you like cycling, you can book a day trip with a private guide that will take you through the southern Tuscany to see its beautiful countryside.

If you want to make the most of Tuscany avoid hotels and seek a beautiful house or a farm.

Thanks to Dinesh_valke

According to Wikipedia:

Phytochemicals are plant or fruit derived chemical compounds. “Phytonutrients” refer to phytochemicals or compounds that come from edible plants.

They perform many functions:

• Acts as antioxidants
• Keep the blood vessels healthy and stronger
• Prevent platelets from becoming sticky and accumulate
• Bloc enzymes that increase blood pressure

You can find some of the key phytochemicals an all fruits and vegetables.

Thanks to: Valjk

Most part of these fruits and vegetables belong to the so called “Mediterranean Diet“.

The most importants are:

Carotenoids: beta-carotene, lutein and lycopene. They protect against the attacks by radicals. Carotenoids are pigments responsible for the color of many red, green, yellow, orange and found in fruits and vegetables.

They are found in:

• Apricots
• Grapefruit
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Pumpkin
• Spinach
• Sweet Potatoes
• Red peppers
• Tomatoes

Flavonoids: Resveratrol, anthocyanins, the cantonment, hesperidin, tangeritin. They are commonly seen in foods rich in vitamin C.

Flavonoids are found in:

• Apples
• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Oranges
• Pears
• Garlic

The ellagic acid, protect ourselves by lowering cholesterol. He also potent antioxidant.

It lies in:

• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Corinth

Allium compounds that protects the immune and cardiovascular system. It’s found in chives, garlic, leeks, onions and scallions.

You can have a more clear view in the Mediterranean food chart here