Mediterranean Diet
Mediterranean diet is the next one I'm going to talk about because it still is constantly-- it's the number one ranked diet. It is super common,and basically came from all of those countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. The ideas is that they really live longer, healthier lives. This was pre-COVID,so I know there's a lot of stuff happening over there now. But they live longer, and they have less cancer and heart disease than Americans. So the idea is they're really eating, it's more of a lifestyle as well. And so you go and get-- if anyone's gone or has relatives, and you're in Europe,and you pretty much go out and get what you need to eat for the day or for one or two days. You're not mass buying food for a week or a month. So the benefit claims would be weight loss, heart and brain health, cancer prevention,diabetes prevention, and diabetes control. This next slide was created by Oldways, which is a not-for-profit. And it basically put-- so if anyone remembers that food guide pyramid of yesteryear, it really-- so if you think about at the bottom of this is really about being physically active and enjoying your meals. There's a social component. All these Mediterranean countries, they really have a main meal. It's a way to connect with family, and this is what people do. You might go for a walk. Notice the soccer, so obviously this is a Mediterranean diet pyramid. Then the next part upis all of the foods. There's so many foodson here to really focus on and think about. So your fruits, your vegetables,your grains, olive oil, beans, nuts, legumes,seeds, herbs, and spices. And I think herbs and spices,especially the herbs part, isn't always mentioned in any diet. People always think the only way to flavor your food is with salt.So there's pepper, there's a whole bunch of spices. And now with some turmeric,and I think all the curries, and Indian food is-- there all these beneficial properties-- cinnamon, turmeric. And so a lot of people are now thinking, oh, it's really good,it has really good anti-inflammatory benefits, let me just start taking it in pill form instead of trying to get some of these things naturally via diet. So fish and seafood is in here. As you work your way up the pyramid though, the areas get smaller. So the idea is you're supposed to have fewer of those and more of what's at the bottom. What's off to the left is water. Water is the most important nutrient you need, more so than food. And so you need to make sure you're drinking water. And wine is here because, realistically, most of the Mediterranean countries have wine. The other thing with wine is there are antioxidants in grapes, and so one alcoholic drink a day can be beneficial for heart health. But it doesn't mean one drink a day is one bottle a day because that really defeats the whole purpose and the benefits of the antioxidants in the wine. So the bottom line is there is really good diet variety in the Mediterranean diet, really good flavours of the food. And it is an nutritionally sound diet, meaning you're not going to be open to lots of varying vitamin and minerals efficiencies.
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