I have read about the benefits of a mediterranean style of eating. It seems to stress lots of fresh fruits and veggies, fish, chicken?, olive oil etc.
My question is in two parts:
1- Is their anything else I should know about foods that would fit into that catagory?
2- what do they eat for breakfast?
When I was in Greece and Turkey we had cheese (Kasseri and Fetta), olives and bread for breakfast. This was the custom wherever we went, whether it be a hotel or private residence.
1 - a nice glass of red wine once in a while
2 - coffee and a croissant/a muffin/ a few cookies
nope, I´m not making fun of you, but that´s what they have for breakfast in Italy and Spain, while Greece and Turkey are more on the salty side, as antechinus said.
Not really what you´d expect from a healthy diet, but I guess the olive oil and fish make up for that… you could go with just fresh fruit, though, if you´re trying to eat healthy.
And red wine, when drunk moderately, is actually supposed to be good for your heart and arteries. (Well, they have it with lunch and dinner…)
And most of them laugh their heads off when they hear of the supposedly healthy “mediterranean diet”…but then again, lots of fish and seafood, chicken and veggies can´t be bad for you, and it tastes great!
ad Q1 - there´s fat fish and lean fish, “blue” and “white” as it´s called in Spanish, but I don´t believe that distinction exists in English. Anyway, go for the lean types. Don´t deep-fry them. Only cook or steam the veggies slightly, so they don´t lose their vitaminss. Try to use unprocessed food. Use brown rice instead of white. And try to get hold of some of their wonderful cheeses!
Mmmhmmm… this is making me hungry… 
I’ve lived the majority of my adult life in Italy (hence my user name) and breakfast is strong coffee (occaisionally with grappa depending on the drinker) and a croissant. They eat a big lunch, pasta, maybe a meat and a vegetable. Then dinner is lighter at home unless you go to a restaurant and then they still have first and second course or pizza.
I think the key is olive oil, garlic and lots of fresh vegetables. BUt another key comonent that isn’t often mentioned is exercise. Contrary to movie representations, there aren’t many fat Italians.
That’s one thing I noticed in my trips to Italy - I’d have been hard-pressed to find a fat Italian person. Everyone seemed to walk a lot, even elderly people.
I don’t know what any Italian restaurants in Canada might be like, but in the US, many of their dishes have been “Americanized” - huge portions, drowning in sauce and cheese, lots of meat. You may eat heartily in restaurants in Italy, but there isn’t the tons of cheese and the huge cuts of meat, at least from what I saw.