Ep 018 The Mediterranean Diet - Why It’s Ranked No 1 for 7 Years in a Row
In Episode 018 of the Wholly Well Journey podcast, we dive deep into the wonders of the Mediterranean diet, hailed as the #1 overall diet for an impressive seven consecutive years by US News.
With its unparalleled ranking in categories from diabetes to heart health, and its reputation for being the most family-friendly and easiest-to-follow diet, we explore what sets the Mediterranean diet apart from the rest.
Read more about what to eat on the Mediterranean diet.
Learn more about implementing healthy eating habits through 1:1 coaching:
5 Key Takeaways on the Mediterranean Diet
Emphasizes whole, plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, beans, nuts, legumes, and seeds, with a preference for fresh and locally sourced options.
Incorporates moderate amounts of fish and seafood, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, recommending consumption at least twice a week.
Prefers poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt in moderation, while red meat and sweets are consumed sparingly, focusing on natural sugars and lean protein sources.
Is not just a diet but a sustainable, lifelong eating pattern that values the quality of food and the pleasure of eating, aiming for overall health rather than temporary weight loss.
Highlights the importance of enjoying meals with family and friends, indicating that the diet is also about fostering strong community bonds and a healthy relationship with food.
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References
Image Source: America’s Test Kitchen
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Show Transcript
Note: Podcast transcripts are automatically generated and may contain spelling and grammatical errors.
018 Why the Mediterranean Diet is #1 for Seven Years in a Row
US News recently ranked top diets. And yet again, the Mediterranean diet ranked number one overall diet for the seventh year in a row. And not only that, but it ranked number one in six other categories as the best diet for diabetes, for heart health, for bone and joint health for healthy eating. Easiest to follow and the most family friendly. So, what is it about this diet that makes it so popular not only in this ranking, but with nutritionists and registered dieticians?
Well today, we're going to talk about not only what makes the Mediterranean diet effective, but also what makes it unique amongst other healthy eating plans or diet and weight loss programs.
And we're also going to talk about what it is and how you can do it for yourself.
Welcome to the Wholly Well Journey podcast. I'm your host, Stephanie Hodges. Join us for weekly faith based conversations on holistic health to uncover practical tips for how to thrive and apply biblical wisdom to our busy modern lives. From fitness to food to fasting, we're here to discover what it means to have a healthy spirit, soul, and body.
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So I recently ran into a friend who had lost about 30 pounds. It was a really noticeable weight loss difference. And when I asked him how he did it, I was braced thinking it was probably going to be keto diet or one of those types of popular diets right now. But he said I've been doing the Mediterranean diet.
And I was so happy to hear that mainly because I know that that's a sustainable, long-term eating pattern that you can go back to again and again.
And see what's really the problem with a lot of the most popular diets. Isn't that they're ineffective, but it's that they're not sustainable long-term. And I'm thinking things like the keto diet, the Atkins diet, a lot of these, low carb, high protein, or high fat eating plans, keep coming back around because truthfully they are effective in helping you lose weight. But sometimes they also carry some side effects and they neglect important other aspects of your nutritional health, for example, like not getting enough fiber. Or not getting enough of the nutrients that you need from healthy carbohydrates, from carbohydrates, from nature, from plants and fruits and vegetables.
But the biggest issue is people usually are going on those diets to lose weight. And it's only a temporary change and it's also so dramatic and so extreme that it's not something that they can live with. And so then you find yourself going into that yo-yo cycle of on again, off again, dieting. Well, let's talk about the Mediterranean diet and I wouldn't even so much call it a diet.
It's more of a Mediterranean eating pattern. It's an eating plan.
The definition of diet is what a person customarily eats. So it's not inaccurate to call it a diet. But I would say the primary motivation for going on this Mediterranean meal plan isn't to lose weight, although you can lose weight on it, but it's about overall health. And that's why nutritionists liked this one so much, because it's not just focused on weight loss.
It's focused on what nutrients does your body need to be nourished to be healthy. and so when you think about a lot of other diets they're named after a person, you have, you know, Atkins, diet, or south beach diet or Ornish diet.
Or the zone diet, and they're all branded they're named after a certain person or a certain entity. And I don't want to be really jaded about that, but what usually comes from that is selling books and selling products like maybe special bars or special protein powders or other types of products that go along with that person's particular diet and particular platform. Now that's not all bad.
I know there's sometimes people who've done a lot of research and they really have a strong, heartfelt belief in what they've uncovered about how to eat healthy, or maybe how to successfully lose weight. But when it comes to the Mediterranean diet, no one person owns this. No one person is going to profit off of people following this diet.
And that's why it maybe gets pushed to the back of the trendy bus, because there's just not really anything super exciting about it. And there's not a personality that's driving it. So you may be wondering, how did this come about? Where did this diet come from? And we do trace it back to scientists.
Ancel Keys. And in the 1950s, he did research. That's known as the seven countries studies. And he was observing how there's a link between lower rates of heart disease and populations in certain countries. And from that he actually was the first person to coin the term Mediterranean diet. Now, I know some people have some big problems with epidemiological studies like this, or like the blue zone. And epidemiological.
That means that instead of doing scientific research in a lab where you're controlling variables to test causes and effects, we're looking at general populations and then drawing some associations from them. This can't prove a cause and effect. Also a lot of times there's more confounding variables, for example, with the Mediterranean diet or other blue zone diets.
It's about much more than just the food that people are eating.
It's also about the overall culture and lifestyle. So in these countries, again for Mediterranean diet or blue zones, They're also very active. There's a lot of walking. There's typically less stress or a different way of dealing with stress because community is very strong. Sitting down eating and enjoying meals together with loved ones with family, with friends is a big factor in how people are eating. The other thing is when we're talking about the Mediterranean diet and this research
that was initially done in the mid 20th century. We're not talking about the bleed that has happened, where a lot of processed foods. Fast food franchises and modern convenience foods. are really sweeping throughout the whole planet. And they're changing diets all across the globe.
But the original Mediterranean diet is one that is focused on whole plant-based unprocessed foods. And when we're talking about Mediterranean, I want to pause here and say that a lot of people in their mind, they think that's Italian food. So it's like, is this like a pasta and pizza diet? Well, no, there's more countries that are included. This includes not just Italy, but also Greece, Spain, France, and north Africa. And so traditionally people in these areas were relying on locally sourced, seasonal food.
And they lived close to the Mediterranean sea.
So fresh fish and seafood was a big part of their diet, which we'll talk about more in a minute, specifically what to eat.
But first. I want to talk about three big differences between the Mediterranean diet. And other diets or meal plans that are more focused on weight loss. Like I shared in the beginning, I have a friend who's lost a significant amount of weight on the Mediterranean diet and many other people have as well. But it's more of a by-product of long-term sustainable habits. And so the research that was originally done was looking more into the link between cardiovascular disease and this eating pattern. And so not only are you looking at losing weight, but you're also looking at health benefits that extend to your cardiovascular health longevity mood. Weight loss is just one component of all of this bigger picture of health. And truthfully, I say this a lot, but the same habits that are going to lead you to weight loss are the same habits that are going to lead you to overall health. And so it really goes hand in hand.
It's very closely mixed, but there can be a lot of benefit in focusing mentally, not just on the weight loss aspect. but on the nutritional quality. That it's centered on nutrition, not restriction. So when a lot of other plans, you're going to be counting your calories or counting your macros. And some of those diets are more concerned about getting a high protein intake or a diet like keto is going to keep protein, moderate, and then focus on high fat and very low carbohydrate.
And so for a lot of people that can get really obsessive to be constantly counting every calorie, every gram of carbs that you're eating. And you're starting to think about food as a process. And trying to get all those numbers balanced rather than sitting down and actually enjoying the food that you're eating. And that can really foster some unhealthy diet mindsets and people when you're constantly counting the calories and the macros, but the Mediterranean diet on the other hand is really focused on the quality of food you eat.
It's what you eat and that's again, why nutritionists love it so much because their focus more, not just on controlling weight and balancing out all of those numbers, but on nourishing your body with the vitamins and minerals and the great nutrients that it needs, so it can thrive and be healthy and prevent chronic disease.
And. Even to help with cognitive health
and to promote longevity.
The second one, as I mentioned is that it's not focused around a person or selling products.
There's not a platform behind the Mediterranean diet.
And it's really developed to how we apply it in the U S. To not just be based on that research from the 1950s, but also taking into account just a very balanced and holistic view of nutrition and what a healthy eating plan would really look like.
The third thing I would say about the Mediterranean diet. Is that this is a lifelong eating pattern. It's not a temporary weight loss diet. This is something that once you learn these principles of how to eat in this way, You can do it forever,
because it's about enjoying the foods that you eat and eating good quality foods. Now, we're going to talk about what you actually eat on this Mediterranean diet. And I have two resources I'm going to link to in the show notes. One is a Mediterranean diet pyramid. It's just a good visual and it is not the same food pyramid that you grew up with in the nineties. just a great visual representation of what the Mediterranean diet looks like. And then the other one is a recipe book that I personally have that was recommended to me by a nutritionist that I highly respect from America's test kitchen. And so those are two things that will really help you. If you want to go about implementing this meal plan for yourself.
And first, I just want to give a quick overview of the foods you'll find in the Mediterranean diet, it's fruits and vegetables. Whole grains. Olive the oils and healthy fats, beans and legumes. Nuts and seeds. Herbs and spices. Fish and seafood. Poultry eggs, cheese and yogurt. And meats and sweets. And I'm giving those in the order from what would be at the bottom of the pyramid, what would be the bulk of what you eat and going all the way up to the top.
I want to take a second to interject here about health and wellness coaching. Because as you listen to this podcast, you may be a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of information and thinking. It all sounds good, but how am I actually going to implement this in my life? Well, that's where health and wellness coaching is so vital for helping you to stay accountable and also to come up with a realistic plan that works for you.
We talk through your personal vision and values what your health goals are, and then determine a realistic plan that will help you get there week by week. You can go to stephaniec hodges.com
to see more about our health and wellness coaching options.
Now I know that just talked about this being a great long-term eating pattern. That's one where you can really enjoy the food that you're eating. But it is a little bit of a shift from what we're used to actually it's a pretty big change from what the standard Western diet is, which is full of a lot of processed foods, a lot of high sugar foods.
This is really much closer to a whole food eating plan or a clean eating type of meal plan. And so it starts, of course, with fruits and vegetables. And yes, you can eat those vegetables and fruits. That would be most common on a Mediterranean diet, but you should also take into account. Eating what's local to your area. Eating what's seasonal in your area.
What's fresh. It might be in the summer berries and stone fruits like peaches
but a good thing to always keep in mind here too. Eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. We all fall into patterns of eating the same things all the time. And sometimes there's vegetables that we like and vegetables that we really don't like. But if you can continue to challenge yourself to try something new, it really adds a lot to the variety of your meal plan
and then that adds a variety of nutrients into your diet. And so there's antioxidants that are in colorful fruits and vegetables
Plays such a big role in the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect on the body. And then also being a great source of fiber, which is good for your gut health.
Another thing would be whole grains. And again, in the standard Western diet, we tend to eat the same types of what we would consider a carb based to our meals. It would be like rice or tortillas with Mexican food and chips, which are actually a processed food.
Maybe some potatoes and rolls and pasta, but one of the things that really struck me about this cookbook that I'm recommending is the variety of foods and recipes that it has in it. So for example, When you look in the rice ingrain section, it's not just giving you rice dishes.
There's also other whole grains like barley and Bulger. And farro and things that you wouldn't normally consider when you're doing your meal planning, but as you start to experiment with some more of these Mediterranean recipes, you'll find new favorites that you like, and you will really appreciate the variety of not just having rice or potatoes with every meal.
Now the next part that is actually still within the base layer of this food pyramid is Olive of oil. So olive oil, another great source of monounsaturated fats would be avocados and avocado oil.
These are good sources of healthy fats. We're not talking about the fats that we get in fried foods or in chips or in. A heavy cut of meat. But these monounsaturated and polyunsaturated healthy fats. Are actually good for your heart. They're good for your system. So when you are looking at the types of oils that you're using, you do want to make sure that you're using a pure olive oil, not just a vegetable oil or some of those others that are actually not high. , in the right kind of fats, but they're high in inflammatory omega six spots.
And this meal plan is not necessarily a low fat meal plan because they do use a lot of olive oil in the cooking. And that's a good thing because it's very satiating. It makes that food tasty and also very filling for you.
Next step would be beans and legumes.
So one dish that comes to mind for me, when I think of Mediterranean food is hummus.
Hummus, miss which. We love with chips, but maybe we need to eat it with some more vegetables or just have it as a side dish to whatever else we're eating. But beans and legumes are such a great source of protein and fiber.
And as we're going to talk about in a minute, the Mediterranean diet has much less animal protein than what we're typically used to eating. Which doesn't mean that you need less protein. You just need to change the sources that you're getting it from. So that's where beans and legumes and nuts and seeds. Which we're going to talk about next are really important. If you're having a meal, that's more of a plant-based meal, like a salad or soup. Having some beans in that dish or lentils chickpeas. Peas.
Those are all good choices to make sure that you're filling up and you're getting the protein that you need.
And then the next one would be nuts and seeds, and they are a great source of protein, healthy fats and fiber. And those three things are what will really help you feel full and feel satiated on any eating plan. Protein healthy, fat and fiber. You want to remember that? Now you do want to watch your portion sizes and actually interject that.
But that's true of the entire eating plan. Overall portion sizes, just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And sometimes we don't know how to accurately estimate that from a visual standpoint. So in the beginning, you can start out by measuring what does a quarter cup of nuts and seeds look like?
And it may be more than you think, or it may be smaller, but that way that you know, that you're eating that right portion size. And you want to be careful here if you're stepping into trail mix, because a lot of trail mix has have a lot of dried fruit, which in moderation is fine, but that has a lot more sugar.
Sometimes it's not just the natural sugar of the fruit, but then they actually add more sugar into dried fruits. The other thing is there's a lot of really tasty trail mixes that have like Sesame sticks and roasted corn nuts. And they actually have a lot of added sugar in there too. Even if they don't have m&ms or another type of chocolate or candy. But you're looking for a pure trail mix.
That's just really the nuts and seeds.
And you have plenty of options here. There's almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil, nuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds. All of these are great and you can eat them alone or you can put them on your salad. You can put them on top of a whole grain bowl or even add them to your yogurt. And they're very nutrient dense.
Herbs and spices are worth mentioning here too, because those are ways that we can add more flavor. So, much of our food is covered in heavy sauces or it's covered in creamy sauces. And we're so used to that. Being a source of flavor, my kids put Chick-fil-A sauce on everything. It doesn't matter what it is.
They want to put Chick-fil-A sauce on everything. And although it's really tasty. It is not a natural form of seasoning. And so just encouraging, trying to experiment with some of those different, fresh herbs, like basil oregano, Rosemary and mint are really commonly used in the Mediterranean profile dishes. And then just other spices that you want to make sure you stock in your cabinet and you have on hand for when you're cooking up your recipes.
So the next category here is fish and seafood.
And fish and seafood are sitting in their own category on the Mediterranean food pyramid, and they should be eaten at least twice a week as part of the Mediterranean diet. And , in our world, fish probably means salmon or tuna out of the can. But there's so much more than that. And you might have not grown up eating a lot of fish, or you might not have a lot of fish accessible to you. But learning to get a little bit of variety in there is really important because you will burn out if you eat salmon every single week. And you're also missing out on a lot of other great options. So options for fish that are high in omega threes include salmon, mackerel, sardines, and trouts, and those are really good for your brain health.
Really good for your heart health. There's other seafood. That you can enjoy as well. Things like shellfish. Clams shrimp, mussels and oysters. And there's also lobster and crab, which is more of a luxury, but you might eat every now and then, and then you have your lean fish, like Cod haddock. And sea bass. And those are a great source of high quality protein as well. So fish is something again, you have to experiment. With cooking a big problem typically is over cooking. Your fish and then it gets dry.
So it takes a little bit of practice to get it right. And then just also mixing up the herbs and spices that you put on it to change the flavor profile a little bit, but again, fish and seafood. It's two times a week on the Mediterranean diet and it's replacing red meats and other sources of meat.
Next up going and notch higher on the food pyramid. Is a category where we lump in poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt. So dairy doesn't have its own standalone. Spot. And within this meal plan, it's something that's eaten more and moderation and more as a supplement to a meal.
So in the true Mediterranean diet, as it would have been studied, poultry would have been eaten really in moderation. But for us after that fish and seafood category, it's probably going to be the next source of protein for most people. Eggs on the Mediterranean diet. It's recommended that you eat two to four eggs a week, which is not a lot for most of us. It's standard.
Omelet is going to have three eggs in it. But again, this diet is really about moderation. So eggs and chicken can be a great source of lean protein for you. Then there's dairy and you may be well aware that it's not as common to drink cow's milk throughout the world, as it is in America. But you can't have a little bit of dairy in the form of yogurt, Greek yogurt, and kefir, which is like a drinkable yogurt that has a lot of great probiotics in it. And of course all things in moderation, right?
So you may not be willing to completely give up certain things from your diet, but to consider a smaller portion.
Another recommendation in the Mediterranean diet is three ounces of cheese a week. Now one ounce of cheese is one serving of cheese. It's one slice of cheese. And so many of us are used to eating that at least daily. There's a lot of cheeseburgers and things like that to where we're eating a lot of cheese.
She's on tacos. She's on pasta dishes.
So from wherever you are, think about starting to be a little bit more moderate in how much cheese you take in. Popular cheeses on the Mediterranean diet or pheta cheese. It's great for salads. Parmesan cheese. Mozzarella cheese, if you have never tried fresh mozzarella, like comes like out of the deli section, it is so delicious. And then you can also look into other types of cheeses, like goat, cheese, or sheep, cheese.
The final category on the pyramid is your meats and sweets.
And this is at the top. It's the cap.
And it's what you eat most sparingly. So red meat would include your beef, pork, and lamb options. In the traditional Mediterranean diet. Those are eaten only a few times a month, maybe once a week. And within that preparing lean cuts and smaller portions, so that it's an enhancement to the dish. It's not the main course. Other processed meats, sausages and bacon and lunch meats are not eaten as much.
And when it comes to sweets, we're looking at more natural sources, less refined sugar, but fresh fruits,
ending your meal with maybe some fresh fruits like figs, grapes, or melons. Having a nut-based dessert or something like a rice pudding or yogurt desserts. Those are awesome options to enjoy that sweetness, But without the overload of added sugar. And that is one of the biggest issues in our standard Western diet is sugar is added to everything it's in our granola bars.
Like I said, our trail mix certainly in cereals. And so many of these processed foods that we're eating. So it takes a little bit of time to get your palette used to more natural sugar. But once you do, once you take out all the processed foods and your body has an opportunity to adjust. You'll find that those fresh fruits are a little bit of honey on something it's going to taste so sweet and so satisfying to you.
So after covering all these foods, you may realize this is going to be a little bit of an adjustment. If I take on this meal plan. And so I would always encourage you to take it one step at a time or maybe one meal at a time. And that can start by making different choice for breakfast each week. And then moving on to lunch and then dinner. Or you can start to take a principle and apply it across your meals.
For example, trying to eat more servings of beans and legumes in your weekly menu plan or trying to swap out one red meat meal for a fish or seafood meal.
Because a really big key with this is you're going to need to experiment with some new recipes and that can be overwhelming. If you're trying to sit down with the seven day meal plan and all at once, completely up end your diet. If you have kids, they may not be so happy. With new things and strange flavors that they're not used to, but if you can start to transform little by little. Bringing more of the whole fresh foods and taking out some of those processed foods. You're really going to see a big overall difference in how you eat.
And so I hope you'll visit our blog post on the Mediterranean diet and resources that we have that can help you with. Finding some recipes and looking at ways you can incorporate this meal plan, because I really do agree that this is one of the best overall diets that's out there. It helps to foster a healthy attitude and relationship with food while it also will help you lose weight and it will help you take care of your health.
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Holy Well Journey podcast. Please be sure to subscribe and you can also head over to holywelljourney. com to check out the show notes and the whole podcast library. That's also where you'll find information about our health and wellness coaching, which you can participate in online from wherever you are in the world.
Just a reminder and disclaimer that this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice or professional counseling. Please be sure to consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet or exercise plan or starting to fast. If you're interested in more information about fasting and spiritual disciplines, check out danielfastjourney.
com. Thanks for joining us on this journey to becoming wholly well.
