Healthy eating from a Mediterranean diet that is composed of a lot of vegetables and olive oil have extreme health benefits based on research.

The Department of Veterans Affairs have read about a Mediterranean diet that composes of plants and olive oil is a form of healthy eating. They ordered Hanna Bloomfield to conduct a research on it and if it should be recommended to millions of patients.

Healthy eating using a Mediterranean diet was researched by Bloomfield, who is a chief of staff for research at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System and professor at the University of Minnesota. Bloomfield used 56 previous studies on the topic of healthy eating and analyzed the data.

Healthy eating was found to not require a specific formula, but the diet does compose of a mixture of popular dishes in the Mediterranean area. Bloomfield found out that it required a simple task to meet two criterias.

Healthy eating required a decrease in fat intake and an increase intake of more of the seven different components: having high ratio of monounsaturated to unsaturated fat, which is obtained by using olive oil, high fruit and vegetable intake, legumes, grains and cereal, red wine, moderate dairy intake, and low protein intake with increased fish servings. Bloomfield's data showed that people who follow this diet has a lesser chance of dying early.

Healthy eating not only decreases the chances of heart disease, but also benefits those with breast cancer and type 2 diabetes. Bloomfield stated that people need to take a lot of fat for healthy eating, but does not apply to all kinds of fat, there are exceptions.

Healthy eating with monounsaturated fats found in olive oil or canola oil means that it should not be  limited from a diet. It can actually make a person feel fuller than eating carbohydrates, Consultant 360 reported.

The idea of eating low fat diet means healthy eating is a misnomer. It might have led people to take larger amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates causing obesity. This year, the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans removed their recommendation of consuming less than 30 percent of fat and replaced it with a warning on saturated fats found in meat and dairy.   

The study on healthy eating did not produce enough evidence to recommend the Veterans Affair to push through with the diet on their patients, but may have strong enough evidence for physicians to inform their patients about healthy eating with monounsaturated fats, VOA News reported.

Healthy eating using the Mediterranean diet still baffles researchers why it is good for the body. Some theorize that healthy eating with olive oil can lower cholesterol and weight or have a high concentration of antioxidants in the diet.

Healthy eating is associated with a study of people with greater adherence to the high fat diet have longer telomeres, which are responsible for longevity of cells.