You’ve heard about it everywhere, its praises are sung by everyone from your physician to your favorite celebrity chefs, and recommended constantly as a sure-fire way to live a healthy lifestyle. But what exactly does following a Mediterranean diet mean?
As we always do - we scoured the scientific literature to give you tips and conventions researchers agree on that represent the pillars or a healthy Mediterranean Diet lifestyle.
5 Simple Ways to Live Healthier
1) Go 80% Plant-based with Fruits, Veggies, Legumes, Whole Grains, & Nuts.
The leading cause of death in The United States continues to be heart disease, which can be widely avoided through making smart dietary and lifestyle choices. A study by Oxford's Imperial Cancer Research Fund that followed 11,000 health conscious people with various diets for 17 years found those who participated in the "daily consumption of raw salad" experienced a 26% reduction in mortality from ischaemic heart disease. Just adding a handful of dark, leafy greens can be a monumental safeguard for your heart.
2) Choose a Variety of Plant & Lean Animal-based Proteins.
Balance is always better. In a study surrounding the impact of a consuming a diversified range of protein rather than primarily from animal-based sources found participants who consumed legumes 4 times or more per week experienced a 22% lower risk of Coronary Heart Disease and 11% lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with participants who consumed legumes less than once a week
3) Replace Butter with Olive Oil for Healthier Fat Intake
The PREDIMED study, a primary prevention trial including thousands of people with diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease found that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil or nuts and without any fat and calorie restrictions reduced the rates of death from stroke by roughly 30%
4) Choose Water, Avoid Sweetened & Sugary Beverages.
Our brains are comprised of more than 80% water, and every chemical reaction the brain conducts requires it. That being said, it's easy to see why living chronically dehydrated as many Americans do greatly impacts our daily lives. "A daily intake of 1·5–2 l of water (equivalent to six to eight glasses) should be guaranteed," to ensure hydration.
5) Alcohol? Absolutely! Enjoy a Glass of Wine Per Day.
The abundance of polyphenols found in red wine including the protective compound resveratrol, made by plants to defend against attacks by microbial threats, have been shown to "protect against a variety of diseases such as ischemic heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer disease, diabetes, inflammation and infection."
