9 Foods You Should Eat: Recipes from the Mediterranean Diet List

To be Italian is to appreciate dark, leafy vegetables, especially this earthily bitter brassica that pairs beautifully with bold ingredients like sausage, anchovy, and hot pepper. Like other cabbage family members it's a nutrition superstar, providing plenty of vitamin C, potassium, calcium, and fiber as well as carotenoids and cancer-fighting indoles and isothiocyanates.

Recipes: Spicy Garlic Broccoli Rabe (pictured)
Pasta with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

Eaten daily, combined with grains and starches, beans provide high-quality protein along with folate, calcium, iron, and zinc. They also offer benefits like healthy, filling doses of fiber (both soluble and insoluble), phytates, and phyto sterols; studies suggest beans may help manage diabetes, prevent colon cancer, and reduce heart disease risk.

Recipes: Gingery Chickpea and Tomato Stew (pictured)
Tomato-Coconut Soup with Spiced Chickpeas

Beloved for its toothsome texture and neutral flavor that takes up sauces beautifully, eggplant gives meaty satisfaction to a cuisine in which meat traditionally makes rare appearances. While not a nutritional powerhouse, eggplant contains some fiber and potassium; chlorogenic acid, a compound concentrated in eggplant skin, may have antiviral and cancer-fighting properties.

Recipes: Lemon Cilantro Eggplant Dip (pictured)
Eggplant Lasagna

Related: Oh-So-Elegant Eggplant Recipes

Nut trees are almost as common as olive trees in Italy. Nuts are savored as snacks, ground into sauces, and sprinkled on salads. They're loaded with heart-friendly monounsaturated fat; they're also rich sources of protein, fiber, vitamin E, folate, calcium, and magnesium. Nut protein is also high in arginine, an amino acid that helps maintain healthy blood vessels.

Recipes: Glazed Carrots with Hazelnuts (pictured)
Hazelnut-Chocolate Spread

Related: Heavenly Hazelnut Recipes

Prized since antiquity (original Olympic winners were awarded jugs of it), olive oil is imperative in Mediterranean cookery, especially when it comes to preparing vegetables. It's rich in monounsaturated fat and (in extra-virgin types) antioxidant polyphenols; many believe its wide use throughout the Mediterranean explains much of that region's low heart disease rates.

Recipe: Classic Olive Oil Vinaigrette (pictured)

Related: Top 10 Rules for Purchasing Olive Oil

Fresh, roasted, or dried and ground into complex sauces and pastes, peppers add color to Moroccan dishes as well as good nutrition: All types are rich in vitamins A and C, fiber, folate, beta carotene, and vitamin K. Red peppers also deliver lycopene, as well as lutein and zeaxanthin — protective against macular degeneration.

Recipes: Grilled Peppers (pictured)
Beef and Rice Stuffed Peppers

Wherever Mediterraneans live close to the sea, seafood is a staple protein in their diets; any and all kinds of shellfish and fish are celebrated, often several in the same dish. While fattier types like tuna supply heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, lean specimens like shrimp, squid, and sea bass provide ample protein, niacin, and selenium.

Recipes: Zesty Shrimp with Chimichurri Rice (pictured)
Spicy Shrimp Sliders

It's hard to believe these now-ubiquitous orbs weren't native to the Mediterranean region (grazie, Columbus); they're staples in every cook's larder — fresh, canned, and in paste form. Tomatoes are packed with vitamin C and lycopene, a heart-protective antioxidant that may also help prevent some cancers (particularly prostate). Plus they're versatile enough to enjoy every day.

Recipes: Tomato Salad (pictured)
Chunky Tomato-Red Pepper Soup

Related: Savor the Flavors of Summer with These Tomato Salads