Dario Giugliano, M.D., PhD., professor of Metabolic Diseases at the Second University of Naples, Italy.

Read a small sample from The Mediterranean Diet, Origins and Myths.

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Subjects covered in The Mediterranean Diet, Origins and Myths.

Chapter 1: The Mediterranean

• The Mediterranean habitat
• Grain, oil and wine: the winning triad
• It all begins in Crete
• What is the Mediterranean diet?
• The origins

Chapter 2: Ancient Egypt

• Dining with the Pharaoh
• Eternal life with food
• Along the Nile
• Fishing in the land of the papyrus

Chapter 3: The daring Phoenicians

• At the Phoenician table
• Dining in Carthage
• Black ships

Chapter 4: The Greek world

• Dining with the gods
• Crete, the happy island
• Sparta, the austere cuisine
• Feasts, symposiums and guests
• The cuisine in literature

Chapter 5: The mysterious Etruscans

• Dining with Lucumons
• The feasts
• Hunting and fishing

Chapter 6: Rome, caput mundi

• Dinner with Lucullus
• Garum
• The art of bread making
• A feast in Pompeii
• Christian agape

Chapter 7: Grapevines

• A gift from Dionysus
• Long live the grapevine
• Wine traders
• The Roman villas in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius
• From the vineyard to the table

Chapter 8: The olive tree

• The legend of the olive tree
• Olive oil in ancient times
• The art of making oil

Chapter 9: Exercise and body care

• The palaestra
• The games
• Balnea, vina, Venus corrumpunt corpora nostra, sed vitam faciunt

Chapter 10: The food pyramid

• Food geometry
• The base of the pyramid
• Not all carbohydrates are the same
• Vegetarians
• Ten suggestions on fruit and vegetables
• Milk and dairy products
• Fats and oils
• Meat and fish
• Principles for eating well: the thirteen commandments

Chapter 11: A word from science

• Radicals, better bound than free
• Antioxidants, the natural ones are better
• Homocystein: the revolution
• Does wine make good blood?
• Oleum, ad antiquo
• More tea, please
• Another look at menopause
• Exercise and poor habits
• Nutriceuticals, what are they?
• A lesson from centenarians

Chapter 12: Health and diet

• The triumph of taste and color
• Diet and health