Cretan diet habits have always been a matter of global discussion. It is sometimes characterized as a phenomenon. Scientists still try to figure out what is the big secret that still gives Cretans a long live and healthy life.

Hereby follow some tips for someone who wishes to try to follow and apply this diet, hoping to a healthier and higher quality of life.

Step 1: Choose simple and pure products of the area of Crete.

Step 2: Follow the recommendations of the nutrition chain that actually represents the image of the Cretan Nutrition regarding the quantity, as much as the quality.

Shortly:

• 1. Cook your food with love, using ingredients that do not cover one another.
• 2. Choose a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables.
• 3. Consume often fish and minimize the consumption of red meat.
• 4. Chicken, rabbit but also snails may be more often in your daily nutrition program.
• 5. Choose exclusively extra virgin olive oil, for cooking, and as an additional source of fat choose dry nuts and olive oils.
• 6. Dairy products should be daily in your program, contrary to eggs and French fries that should be minimized.
• 7. Legumes should also appear often in your weekly program either as a main course or as a sandwich main ingredient.

Step 3: Cook your food with love, adding ingredients that do not cover one another.

Every ingredient must be given his own chance to participate equally to the final taste result.

Step 4 Prefer low cooking temperatures, to avoid the destruction of valuable nutrition substances.

Step 5 Add herbs in every chance.

Some parsley over your grilled fish, a bit of thyme over the meat in the oven, plenty of fennel in your stuffed vegetables. What differentiates traditional food and gives it extra flavor are the fresh herbs that grow in the yards of the houses. Spices came later in Crete and were added to local cooking.

Step 6 Sit on your table with the company.

People love to share their food with family or with guests.

Step 7. Consume greens with any chance given.

Cretans love greens, it is a habit both nutritious but also tasteful. Olive Oil, which is the main ingredient of Cretan nutrition, makes the greens even more tasteful.

Step 8. Sweeten yourself without sugar.

The ancient Greeks loved fruits, especially the sweeter ones like figs and grapes. Additionally, they used honey, that they tried to make sure they would not miss it.

Step 9. Do not use much salt.

Anyway, food is already tasty due to the spices and herbs used, so you will manage to avoid arterial pressure.

Step 10. Be brave by combining materials.

Due to the harsh economic periods, the island has been through, Cretans have learned to combine materials that seemed not to get along with each other.

Step 11. Garlic and onion exist daily in the table of Cretans, and they consider them to be a medicine.

So do not skip using them cooked or raw, and benefit from their high nutritious value.

Step 12. Eat healthy between meals.

Prefer seasonal fruits and dry nuts, like almonds or walnuts.

Step 13. Cretans always knew the value of breakfast.

Even when the time was not enough they had to eat before they left home. That could be rusk, olive oils, or cheese, either sweet or sour. They would always combine with traditional Cretan Honey, and pies with wild greens.

Step 14 There should be a measure of everything. From cultivating and respecting the environment until the quantity of the portion. Everything stands behind a perfectly calculated balance that was depicted in every recipe.

Step 15 Knowledge is a powerful tool for every consumer. Food may be either a medicine or a poison, according to a Cretan old saying. It depends, on everyone, to seek and find the supreme food for one’s diet.

Step 16 The Cretan diet is timeless. If you want to know and benefit from its advantages you have to develop a long-living relationship.

Step 17. Do it because you want it not because you have to…