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In an age when the debate rages over the right balanced diet that leads to longer, healthier lives, and the expanding waistline of most of the Western world, Cretans sit back and smile contentedly over their dietary tradition and achievements.

The eating habits of the people of Crete, with one of the highest life expectancies anywhere in the world, at around 80 years, and one of the lowest incidences of heart and other chronic diseases, hail from antiquity and seem to be just the recipe. Following scientific research and statistical analyses since the 1960s, the Cretan nutrition and diet has been proven to promote health and longevity. 

In a comparative study of health patterns of the people of several developed countries, which began in 1960 by the scientific and public health communities of 7 Western countries, including the US, 700 Cretan men from the countryside went under long term medical observation. So far this group has had the lowest percentage of deaths caused by heart attacks and various forms of cancer.

The study has also shown Cretans to have the highest life expectancy: when, in 1991, 31 years after the launch of the study, the Department of Public Health of the University of Crete conducted a medical checkup of the group, about 50% of the original sample of Cretans were still alive, while among the other 6 participating countries there wasn't a single survivor, including the rest of Greece! Scientists strongly believe that the cause of these remarkable health patterns is the Cretan diet.

Until recently this diet was simple and wholesome: olive oil, which counted for about one third  of daily energy needs, and also cereals, principally bread, vegetables, and fruit. To a lesser degree, cheese, milk, eggs, fish, and a little red wine with every meal. Things have changed somewhat as modern life has invaded the island and commercial and financial pursuits have contributed to contemporary life in urban Crete starting to resemble life in other urban areas of the world. Still, people here make a point of using organic ingredients, including free range animal meat, and Cretan food taverns still draw the majority of diners.

Taking into account the pace and amenities of contemporary life, traditional Cretan eating habits need not be confined only to this beautiful Aegean island. For those who wish to try to embark on a healthier eating regimen, with proven results of longevity and low incidence of disease, the 15 key "rules" of the Cretan diet can be summarized as follows:

1. Try to use only locally produced, minimally-processed, and in-season ingredients. 
2. Use only olive oil as cooking and eating fat.
3. Try to get to like eating wild greens, raw or boiled. The leaves of beet roots and broccoli could be good substitutes for the wild greens usually found in Greece.
4. Consume legumes, like beans, lentils, and fava, as Cretans do during religious fasting periods (Easter, August 15, etc), to substitute for protein.
5. Eat fruit for dessert.
6. The main sources of meat should be free range poultry and baby goats or lamb, throughout the year, and pork in the winter.
7. Goats and sheep in Crete are free range, to this day.
8. Fish and seafood should be a major protein source.
9. Spices are to be used sparsely.
10. Everyday bread must contain at least two different kinds of flour: wheat and barley.
11. The main sweeteners should thyme honey and molasses, not sugar.
12. Dairy products are more prominent in the Cretan diet than either meat or seafood. Eat yogurt. Do not eat processed cheese.
13. Snails are a major source of protein in Crete, more than anywhere else in the world.
14. Herbs are drunk, not used as cooking spices.
15. Drink a glass or two of red wine with every major meal. It is good for your arteries and brings out the flavor in the food.

Perhaps the most important feature of the Cretan diet is its abundant use of organically grown, extra virgin olive oil. More than anywhere else in Greece, Cretans enjoy their "ladera" ("cooked in olive-oil") dishes, such as their veal casseroles and their okra dishes. The cultivation of olive trees in Crete has been documented as far back as 3000 BC, and the island, like most of the rest of Greece, is covered with olive groves. It feels like every Cretan family has an olive grove somewhere, which yields the annual supply of olive oil. Like the rest of the Greeks, Cretans will boast of their olive oil being "their own", meaning from their own trees.

The visitor to the island of Crete is strongly advised to at least sample the local cuisine. You will find it light, delicious, and more interesting and, even, exciting than traditional Greek fare. Some typical Cretan recipes include zucchini with eggs ("sfougato"), snails with zucchini and garlic ("hohlii"), veal casserole in a clay pot with pasta, meat pie, lamb with artichokes, and chicken with okra.