What is the Mediterranean diet?
Is it even really a “diet” per se as in, “I’m going on a (temporary) diet“?
No, it’s not. But it IS a “diet” in the sense of being a way of eating… a way of life.
The Mediterranean diet is a very healthy dietary lifestyle that focuses on things like:
Olive oil
Unrefined grains
Nuts & legumes
Fruits & vegetables
Fish
Sometime back in the 1960’s, scientists discovered low rates of heart disease and certain types of cancers in Greece, as well as other countries in the Mediterranean region.
At the same time, researchers from the Harvard Medical School of Public Health and the University of Athens Medical School began recruiting over 22,000 healthy adults throughout the Mediterranean region to participate in the research, keeping track of everything they ate.
They found the results to be amazing, showing huge improvements in heart health and longevity.
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The balance of healthy foods – the monounsaturated fat of olive oil and the high intake of fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes, and unrefined grains – were acknowledged as being the main source of the researchers findings; which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in June 2003.
Eating this type of diet, or close to it, can only benefit you should you choose to adopt this dietary lifestyle.
In fact, Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, a professor at Harvard Medical School and senior author of the aforementioned study, stated this…
“The closer you are to adhering to this diet, the more likely you are to live longer.”
I actually find it quite similar to the way that I used to eat when I was following a raw & living, plant-based foods diet; the main difference being the fact that cooked foods (including meat) are allowed with this way of eating as opposed to raw, uncooked (plant-based) foods only.
But it is a very clean, healthy way to eat… wouldn’t you agree?
So now that you know what the Mediterranean diet is, you can decide if it’s right for you and if so, begin to eat accordingly!
References:
The PureTrim® Booklet
The New England Journal of Medicine
