My family and I are mood eaters. We usually only eat food that we're in the mood for. However, every once and a while, we'll plan a month long menu and be fanatical about following it. It's nice because it takes the guess work out of dinner which, let's face it, can be a monotonous undertaking. Without the menu, my wife and I are always asking each other what the other one wants for dinner. Before we realize it, it's 7:00 and we're just then sitting down to eat with the kids.
So when we plan out our menu, we like to add a little variety. For several months, we looked at the Mediterranean Meal Plan. My entire family enjoys this part of our menu planning because we know it's healthier and it tastes really good (as a general rule).
Well, there is some belief that the Mediterranean Diet may be beneficial for people who smoke. The diet is rich in vitamins and anti-oxidants; so the supposition is that many of these chemicals and nutrients may provide a protection against the physiological and biochemical tissue changes that occur in smoking related illnesses like lung cancer and cardiopulmonary/vascular disease.
Vardavas, et al from the university of Crete in Greece published an article in Public Health (2011 Jan. 27) called "Does adherence to the Mediterranean diet have a protective effect against active and passive smoking?". In the study, they conclude that there is evidence in the literature which indicates at least a partial relationship between the health benefits found in the Mediterranean diet and smoking morbidity/mortality. Ultimately though, they state further research is necessary before any conclusive statements about this relationship can be adopted by the medical community.
What it comes down to though, is adopting a healthy lifestyle, which includes smoking independence and making healthy food choices. I do not think the author is proposing "continue smoking, as long as you eat healthy". Rather, there is an obvious connection between disease and smoking that comes through as clear as crystal in their article.
