The Mediterranean Diet is proven to be one of the healthiest diets on earth. In fact, people who follow this traditional (and delicious!) diet enjoy low rates of chronic disease and one of the highest life expectancies on the planet.
Here are the general guidelines of the Mediterranean Diet:
- Plant Foods: An abundance of food from plant sources, including fruits and vegetables, potatoes, breads and grains, beans, nuts, and seeds
- Fresh & Local: Emphasis on a variety of minimally processed and, wherever possible, seasonally fresh and locally grown foods (which often maximizes the health-promoting micronutrient and antioxidant content of these foods)
- Olive Oil: Olive oil as the principal fat, replacing other fats and oils (including butter and margarine);
- Total Fat: Total fat ranging from less than 25 percent to over 35 percent of energy, with saturated fat no more than 7 to 8 percent of energy (calories)
- Dairy: Daily consumption of low to moderate amounts of cheese and yogurt
- Fish & Poultry: Weekly consumption of low to moderate amounts of fish and poultry (recent research suggests that fish be somewhat favored over poultry); from zero to four eggs per week (including those used in cooking and baking)
- Fruits & Sugars: Fresh fruit as the typical daily dessert; sweets with a significant amount of sugar (often as honey) not more than a few times per week
- Red Meat: Red meat a few times per month. Focus on lean, grass-fed meat –and limit to a maximum of 12 to 16 ounces per month
- Activity: Regular physical activity at a level which promotes a healthy weight, fitness and well-being
- Wine: Moderate consumption of wine, normally with meals; about one to two glasses per day for men and one glass per day for women