What does the Mediterranean diet consist of? What can you eat on the Mediterranean diet? Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Mediterranean diet expert Ale Zozos answers your questions and busts some big myths along the way!
The Mediterranean diet is a pattern of eating that focuses more on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, legumes, lean proteins from fish and poultry, good fats from olive oil, and some dairy, while limiting consumption of sweets and red meats.
To dig a bit deeper into the ins and outs of eating this way, I asked registered dietitian nutritionist Ale Zozos, who also comes from a big Greek family and has eaten this way from an early age, to walk us through what is included in a Mediterranean diet plan through a dietitian's lens (Ale is sharing her thoughts below as an expert in this field, all opinions are her own).
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To start, the Mediterranean diet is a plant-forward diet, which means it is high in plant-based foods. This does not mean you have to become vegetarian or go vegan to eat the Mediterranean way, it simply means you want to get more plant-based foods in your diet - think rainbow eating! Other important plant-based foods to eat on the Mediterranean diet include:
The CDC reported that the vast majority of Americans (about 90%) don’t get enough fruits and vegetables in their diets. So, just increasing your fruit and vegetable intake is a great place to start!
Once you get a solid foundation from eating more plant-based foods, fill in the gaps by consuming foods that provide good lean proteins, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, fiber. Eat the following in moderate amounts:
Defining The Mediterranean Style Eating Pattern
One of the things that happen more naturally when eating the Mediterranean diet is that we end up eliminating, or at least limiting, harmful processed foods. By getting more of the good stuff-- plants, lean proteins, and good fats-- we naturally reduce our intake of unhealthy processed foods that are high in sodium, refined sugar, and saturated fat - dietary patterns that when over consumed can lead to weight gain, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart problems.
No, we are not about to count macros here. Macronutrients are the nutrients we want to consume in the largest quantities and that provide us with energy (calories). There are three macros - protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Protein and carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram while fat provides 9 calories per gram.
Each of these macros has a place in our diets and it’s not in the “counting” sense you may previously have heard. It’s also important to note that every single person’s ideal range will vary and depend on sex, age, physical activity, height, weight, and body composition.
The Mediterranean Diet And Cardiovascular Health
As you can see, there are no definitive diet rules, just general guidelines and principles to help you get the most variety out of your unique Mediterranean eating plan. A balance of all macros is what makes the Mediterranean diet ideal for weight loss, glucose and lipid management, and the prevention of major cardiovascular events. Plus you don’t have to make everything from scratch or spend your savings improving your health. Sounds like a win-win to me!
Ale Zozos is Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and expert on the Mediterranean Diet who comes from a large Greek family and has lived the Mediterranean way since a young age. She believes nutrition education is the foundation to behavior change and knows that with accountability and SMART goal-setting, a Mediterranean way of eating can help her clients improve their clinical outcomes. She founded the Mediterranean Nutrition School - a platform for virtual nutrition coaching geared towards helping those with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, heart conditions, and weight loss.
We hope you enjoyed this guest post by Ale Zozos who shared her own expert opinions in this post. She is not affiliated with this site. Readers assume full responsibility for consulting their own qualified health professional regarding health conditions, concerns, or anything else before starting a new way of eating or diet
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I'm Suzy; born and bred right on the shores of the Mediterranean. I'm all about easy, healthy recipes with big Mediterranean flavors. Three values guide my cooking: eat with the seasons; use whole foods; and above all, share! So happy you're here...The Mediterranean diet is a phrase that’s been a part of the wellness world for years. It’s associated with Italy, Spain, and Greece, and we know it’s healthy. In fact, studies tell us it’s one of the healthiest and most sustainable diets out there.
The Mediterranean diet lifestyle is an ancient way of eating and living that has been followed by many for years. In addition to food and nutrition, it incorporates lifestyle factors that impact health and wellness — like activity, community, and purpose. Key components of this lifestyle include being active and enjoying meals with others.
From a food standpoint, the foundation of the Mediterranean diet is the daily intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts/seeds, and extra virgin olive oil. This diet is mainly plant-based and relies heavily on the intake of whole foods. Seafood, like fish and shellfish, is consumed weekly. Dairy products and poultry are to be consumed in moderation, from once a week to small portions daily. Finally, the top of the pyramid consists of red meats and sweets. As these foods fall into the smallest category of the food pyramid, they should be consumed occasionally, but not regularly. Outside of the food pyramid, water and red wine are listed. Make sure you stay hydrated, but also feel free to enjoy a glass of red wine a few times a week if you’re of age.
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If you follow a more traditional western diet — fear not! Although this may be a bit out of your comfort zone, it’s a sustainable lifestyle that you can work towards. Try not to sweat the small stuff, this way of eating is meant to be enjoyed!
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to savor meal time with your loved ones and implement the Mediterranean diet into your life.
If you are the type of person to go all in — these tips are a great place to start. For those of us a little more attached to traditional Western diets, try implementing these tips one at a time. Small changes can be very powerful, go at your own pace, and, most importantly, take your time and enjoy what you eat!
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Reviewed by Kelly Powers, MA, RDN, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who takes a holistic approach to nutrition and health. Kelly is a recipe developer with a food blog highlighting whole foods, simple and easy weeknight recipes, and her life in San Francisco. She’s the creator of Weeknight Dinners, a weekly meal plan program that helps users get back in the kitchen and feed themselves well.
Previous Previous how to improve your relationship with food Next Next how to turn your daily harvest smoothie into an actual mealIn 1953, not long before President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in office, the social scientist Leland Allbaugh published “Crete: A Case Study of an Underdeveloped Area.” The landmark analysis of the eating patterns of an isolated Greek population strongly suggested that a calorie-limited diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and olive oil and low in animal protein, particularly red meat, could lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes, decrease chronic disease and extend life.
Medical research over the last half-century has largely borne out this initial finding. Weight-loss fads and eating trends come and go, but the so-called Mediterranean diet has stood fast. “Among all diets, ” Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health concluded in an email, “the traditional Mediterranean diet is most strongly supported for delivering long term health and wellbeing.”
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Of course, even the Mediterranean diet can sound like just another trend — especially in our current political moment, when so many are dismissive of anything with a European flavor to it. Recent news doesn’t help, either: This past month a study on the diet, originally published in 2013 in The New England Journal of Medicine, was retracted, revised and republished because of errors in randomization. Some took this as evidence that the diet itself was suspect. But in fact the study, once revised, showed a similarly significant composite reduction in risk for heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular death.
Today, 65 years after Allbaugh returned from Crete, with modern America plagued by one of the highest obesity rates in the world and failing to meet life expectancy averages of almost every other developed nation, it’s worth circling back to the eating patterns of the ancients. For if the United States were to put itself on a Mediterranean diet, we would likely see huge improvements not only in human and environmental health, but also in rural economic stability. Here then are a few suggestions that might help us tip the scales:
Resist “landfood” meat (even if we really, really want it): When Allbaugh and his team recorded the dietary habits of Cretan households, most survey respondents listed meat as their favorite
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