Thanks Maridadi. Some processing is vital. Traditional cultures always processed foods to make them more bio-available. For example, corn was always soaked in lime juice so the the vitamins can be assimilated.

When it crossed the Atlantic after the America’s were ‘discovered’ what failed to join the corn was this important detail.

As a result many poorer people in Europe became nutrient deficient in B3 (niacin). It causes a deadly disease called pellagra.

That’s because they gave up their more nutrient dense foods for corn but were not able to access the micronutrients without the knowledge!

Soy needs to be fermented traditionally in order for it to be eaten safely, many would say. This is how the Japanese ate it for centuries, but also not in the kind of quantity you get from a glass of soy milk etc. It was a condiment.

The Mediterranean isn’t a real diet. There are many hundreds of different diets in the Med area. Just think how many different cultures there are..

The term was made up by researchers really, it’s more full of stereotype than anything else.

So, when you consider how the Italians eat pasta; that’s also easy to stereotype. But, you can’t consider just one aspect of diet. Ask yourself, what else are they eating?

Things like pasta, as long as no allergic response is being experienced, are fine if the rest of the diet is full of nutritious goodness. Most traditional diets are!