Start Making Your Diet Mediterranean With These 5 Tips

May is National Mediterranean Diet Month, which is a great time to learn why this eating pattern is ideal for our health and ways to add foods that are common to this eating pattern into your current routine. 

Now, the Mediterranean diet began in the 1950s when it was discovered that heart disease was not common in Mediterranean countries like it was in the United Stated.  The diet focuses on the traditional eating pattern of Greece, Italy and other countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. 

Research has shown that eating this diet has a strong connection to optimizing our heart health, protecting you against cancer and even living a longer life.  If you ask me, it sounds like it’s a good idea to try to incorporate some of these habits into your daily routine, right?

Here are 5 tips to start your journey on eating a Mediterranean diet:

• The Mediterranean diet focuses more on beans and lentils than red meat and even chicken.  They are a plant-based protein source filled with fiber and low in fat.  You can start by adding more beans and lentils into your diet by adding beans to a salad, trying hummus as a dip, adding peas into rice, or making bean/lentil burgers.

• Focus on 2 servings of fish per week.  Fish and seafood are filled with omega 3 essential fatty acids, which play a great role in our heart health and brain function.  Also, this is another excellent source of protein.  Try grilling salmon during the summer months ahead, adding shrimp to pasta or making a tuna fish sandwich for lunch.

• When it comes to our grains, whole grains all the way!  Ditch the white, pasty starches and focus on our whole grains like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta and brown rice.  These starches contain more fiber to keep you full and support your overall health.  Instead of cooking white rice, try brown rice.  Try making whole wheat pasta for the family, and if the texture isn’t the family favorite, try making half white pasta with half whole wheat pasta.  At least you will sneak some whole grain in the meal! 

• In general, fat gets a bad rep, but unsaturated fat is where it’s at.  On the Mediterranean diet, it is important to focus on cooking with olive oil but also add nuts and seeds into your diet.  Remember that our body actually needs fat, but picking the right ones is important. Moving forward, try cooking with olive oil instead of butter, eating trail mix or nuts as a snack or choose an oil-based salad dressing over a creamy one.

• This is a big one.  Increase your fruits and vegetables!  The goal to eating fruits and vegetables is to eat the rainbow or as many different colored items as you can.  Variety provides your body with different vitamins and minerals.  Try to add vegetables and fruits with every meal and as a snack too.  Try having a salad with dinner, carrying a banana, orange or apple along with you while you’re out and about as a snack, pick a piece of fruit as dessert over a cookie or piece of cake.

Now remember that this is only a start to following the Mediterranean diet.  If you want to dive further into this regimen, we can help! 

Happy May!

This blog was written by Amanda J. Stahl RD, LDN, co-founder of Simple Start Nutrition.  For more blog posts and nutrition information follow @simplestartnutrition on Instagram and Facebook.  Also feel free to contact us, by visiting our website (simplestartnutrition.com) to schedule an appointment to discuss your nutrition related needs.  We’re here to help.

References:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16037-mediterranean-diet

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/take-your-diet-to-the-mediterranean

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801

https://www.eatright.org/food/cultural-cuisines-and-traditions/european/make-it-mediterranean

https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/mediterranean-diet