The Magic Behind The Mediterranean Diet

Have you heard of the Mediterranean diet?

The Mediterranean diet has gone mainstream as more and more research continues to come out about the health benefits it seems to provide. Recent research has suggested the Mediterranean diet can help:

• Reduce Cardiovascular Disease
• Improve Metabolic Health
• Assist In Losing Weight
• Reduce Risk Of Cancer
• Reduce Risk Of Diabetes
• Improve Cognitive Health
• Increase Longevity

If you read through that list, it pretty much covers nearly all of the conditions that most people suffer from today. It sounds like the Mediterranean Diet is pretty much universally good!

Below are the general guidelines for implementing a Mediterranean diet:

• At every meal
  • 1-2 servings of fruits
  • 2 or more servings of vegetables
  • 1-2 servings of whole grains
  • 1-2 servings of olive oil
• Everyday you would have
  • 1-2 servings of nuts, seeds or olives
  • 2 servings of low fat diary
  • 6-8 glasses (1.5-2L) of water
• Weekly you would have
  • 2 servings of white meat
  • 2 or more servings of fish
  • 2-4 servings of eggs
  • 2 or more servings of legumes
  • 3 or less servings of potatoes
  • 1 serving of lean red meat
  • 1 or less servings of processed meat
  • 2 or less servings of “sweets”
• Throughout the week you can have “wine in moderation”

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/mediterranean-diet-pyramid-today-science-and-cultural-updates/70359644D12A038AC003B935AA04E120

Regardless of your own dietary beliefs or preferences, the one thing we can say about this diet is that it’s a long way away from a standard Western diet. It ticks the box of the single most important thing you can do to improve your diet…it removes highly processed food!

The other thing I notice about this diet is that it emphasizes fruit and vegetable intake.

Is that universally healthy for everyone?

No. There are some people who won’t tolerate the vegetables due to gut issues and others may not be metabolically healthy enough to handle the fruit intake. That said, when you consider where the average Westerner is coming from in terms of diet, moving closer to a diet that promotes the consumption of fruits and vegetables is going to be beneficial for most people.

As a side effect of the vegetable and fruit intake the Mediterranean diet also tends to include a decent amount of fiber.. Fiber intake has been associated with a number of health benefits, including weight loss and cardiovascular health and metabolic health..

The emphasis on fish intake means that you will likely also be increasing your Omega 3 intake.

Why are Omega 3s important? They are an essential fat that your body cannot produce so you need to consume it through food. Omega 3s help maintain cell structures, are important for brain, heart, skin, eye, and joint health, play a crucial role in the development of fetuses, help fight inflammation, and can improve your mood and behavior.

The average American has an Omega 3 index of 5%. The optimal level is 8-12% so consuming more seafood for the average person would be quite beneficial in reaching that level.

The other notable characteristic of the Mediterranean diet is that it tends to be low in saturated fat. Saturated fat is one of those topics that is hotly debated in the nutrition space. The traditional belief is that saturated fat intake can increase cholesterol and high levels of cholesterol can lead to cardiovascular disease. Recently though many people have been challenging that long held belief as there has been some evidence to show that cholesterol levels are not the sole predictor of cardiovascular disease.

Whether saturated fat does or does not increase cholesterol and whether “high cholesterol” leads to cardiovascular disease will continue to be debated. However the one thing we can say is that low saturated fat intake is unlikely harmful from a health perspective. So there is no downside to eating low saturated fat and there could be some potential upside for some.

While I think there are a lot of positives when it comes to the Mediterranean diet, there are a couple of things I would be cautious of with this diet.

First is protein intake. While fish intake is encouraged, other sources of animal protein are limited. At a maximum of 2 servings of white meat, 4 eggs, and 1 serving of red meat a week, getting adequate protein from animal sources is going to be hard to do. The inclusion of legumes and some low fat dairy can help add some additional sources of protein, but even with the inclusion of those it might be challenging for some to get all the protein they need.

To hit your protein requirements following a Mediterranean diet you would likely have to get some amount of protein from plant sources (since those are virtually unlimited). I am not saying it would be impossible to do. With some amount of animal protein, plus dairy and legumes, you have a pretty good base for some amount of protein. You just need to probably take the extra step of also looking into plant proteins as well.

The other piece of this diet that I will take issue with is the moderate wine consumption. It is ironic to me how the diet has specific recommendations about servings of everything else, but when it comes to wine they use a vague term as “moderate”. When does wine consumption cross the line from moderate to excessive? I think some people may take advantage of that vague recommendation to their detriment.

It is also important to note that while diet gets a lot of attention, it is not the sole dictator of health. If you have been reading my content for any period of time you know diet is just one component of health. Physical activity, sleep, stress, and social connection also play a critical role in overall health.

Keeping that in mind it is important to realize that the Mediterranean diet is consumed within the context of a Mediterranean lifestyle…which tends to also be very different from a Western lifestyle.

People within the Mediterranean tend to consume their meals in social settings. They don’t sit in their room watching TV eating their Mediterranean diet. Instead they take the time to prepare these foods fresh, with friends and family. Food preparation in itself is a social activity. Then they all sit down together and enjoy a meal together, with plenty of conversation, laughs, and smiles.

People in the mediterranean also tend to be physically active. If you have ever been there you will see a lot of people walking, gardening, riding their bikes, kicking the football (soccer). In general, physical activity is built into their culture more than it tends to be in other parts of the word.

Taking time to rest is also part of their culture. Stores close in the middle of the day, people take naps, they take long coffee breaks. When they take vacation, they disconnect, they don’t answer emails or slack messages from colleagues when they are off from work. Schools, work, and businesses open later in the day allowing them to get adequate sleep.

Foods tend to be purchased fresh from local suppliers and people tend to eat what is in season. There are less packaged foods and foods from far away places.

All of these cultural aspects of Mediterranean lifestyle go a long way to complementing the diet. In fact all the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet may have a lot to do with the lifestyle in which the diet is consumed.

Overall I think the Mediterranean diet would be a great diet to follow if you enjoy that way of eating and the types of foods it promotes fits your needs and preferences. I think you have to be mindful of the amount of protein you are consuming and making sure you are not falling short. I personally would consider bending the rules on animal protein consumption if I was to follow the diet, but if you don’t want to do that you can certainly hit the protein you need with a combination of animal protein, legumes, dairy, and plant protein.

I also think that eating a Mediterranean diet but sticking to a Western lifestyle of no physical activity, high stress, poor sleep, and no social connection will negate many of the benefits provided by the diet itself. Ultimately it’s the combination of diet and lifestyle that provides optimal health so incorporating aspects of the Mediterranean lifestyle in addition to the diet is a must in my opinion.

I think the magic behind the Mediterranean lifestyle and diet is that it eliminates ancestral mismatches and brings us closer to how we were meant to live. The Mediterranean diet and lifestyle is a good option to model a healthy lifestyle after however it’s not the only option. The key is to address these ancestral mismatches in a way that you can sustain. That is what my content is all about, so if you want to discover more ways you can work towards building optimal health sign up for my newsletter using the form below.