We love it when folks call or email Oldways with questions about food and nutrition! Having the opportunity to chat with people and share our nutrition knowledge is so rewarding.
So, as we continue our month-long Mediterranean Diet Celebration, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to look back at some of the great Med Diet questions that have come our way over the years and share our answers on The Oldways Table to help shed even more light on the many benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. (Sneak preview: the Mediterranean Diet is affordable, delicious and nutritious!)
Q. Is the Med Diet vegetarian I’m not ready to give up meat.
A. While scores of studies (especially those from Loma Linda University) show the benefits of a vegetarian diet, the Med Diet is what we call a plant-based diet rather than a vegetarian diet. This means that most of its foods come from plants but there’s no need to give up meat. In the Mediterranean Diet, small amounts of good-quality meat are used as condiments beef sliced thinly on a salad, for example, or a kabob that mixes a little lamb with onions, peppers and tomatoes rather than serving a large piece of meat in the middle of the plate.
Q. Does the Mediterranean Diet include any other saturated fats beyond meat
A. Yes. Though saturated fat is low in the Mediterranean Diet, it’s not forbidden. Even olive oil, at the center of the Mediterranean Diet, contains saturated fat (about 14% of its total weight). Cheese and yogurt are also regular staples in the Med Diet, eaten in moderate but nearly daily amounts. Think of Med traditions: Fresh feta topping a Greek salad of ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, olives, etc. or small samples of local cheeses ending a meal in France. The cheese and yogurt in the Med Diet are quite different from some foods by the same name in todays supermarkets, however. Natural cheeses, including raw milk cheeses, are not the same as sliced cheese food, and traditional plain live-culture yogurt (no added sugar) is not the same as a commercial vanilla yogurt that may contain no live cultures and may have more than 5 teaspoons of added sugar in a six-ounce container.
Q. Wont eating pasta as part of the Med Diet make my blood sugar spike dangerously
A. No. As Oldways documented in its ground-breaking conference on Glycemic Impact in 2013, a diet heavy in foods with high Glycemic Index or Glycemic Load scores is indeed dangerous for health. Pasta, though, has a glycemic impact closer to that of intact grains than to that of bread or crackers, and is a part of traditional diets around the Mediterranean. Because of the structure of the starch molecules in pasta, it’s digested slowly, providing steady fuel instead of dangerous blood-sugar spikes. Plus, pastas partners on the plate vegetables, olive oil, beans, small amounts of fish or meat further pull down its glycemic impact, when eaten in moderate portions. While the glycemic impact of both returned and whole grain pasta is similarly low, whole grain pasta adds an extra bonus of more healthy nutrients.
Q. Is olive oil the main reason the Med Diet is so healthy
A. Olive oil has been proven on its own to be an especially healthy fat choice, with studies connecting olive oil consumption to reduced stroke and diabetes risk, among other benefits. That said, while olive oil is a key component of the Mediterranean Diet, efforts to pinpoint the superfood in the Med Diet have repeatedly shown that its benefits come from the interaction of all its healthy foods, working together. Its a great illustration of that old saying, The whole is greater than the sum of its parts or, put more simply, 2+2=5. Anointing certain foods as superfoods and others as demons keeps us from seeing the Big Picture of enjoying a wide variety of whole and minimally-processed foods.
Q. Wait! Isn’t all processed food bad for me
A. Food has always been processed, since the beginning of civilization. Before refrigeration, cheese and yogurt were ways of processing milk to extend its shelf life beyond just a few hours. Lacto-fermenting vegetables (think kimchi, sauerkraut and traditional pickles) allowed people to enjoy vegetables in the dead of winter. Bulgur and pasta are the original grain fast-foods ways of precooking wheat ahead of time so that it could be put on the table in minutes, with minimal use of fuel. Traditional processing generally makes foods more nutritious by addinggood bacteria while modern processing too often makes foods less nutritious. So look for the old ways of processing; they’re a key part of the Med Diet!
Q. What’s the science behind the Mediterranean Diet Can you prove its health benefits
A. The benefits of the Mediterranean Diet are more solidly documented than those of any other eating pattern. A nutrition expert named Ancel Keys first drew attention to the possible benefits of the Mediterranean Diet starting in the late 1950s. In the half-century since then, more sophisticated and modern research has uncovered some shortcomings of Keys original ground-breaking work, while at the same time solidly establishing his basic premise: that the Mediterranean Diet significantly cuts the risk of heart disease. Today’s research extends the known benefits of the Med Diet to a wide range of diseases and conditions, including diabetes, dementia, obesity, and overall mortality, when compared to outcomes of people eating a typical Western Diet. Although the Mediterranean Diet’s been center stage for I’ve decades and Oldways introduced the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid 20 years ago, its still relevant today, thanks to fresh research every month. Check out some of the research on the Oldways website.
Q. So is the Mediterranean Diet the best diet, overall
A. You might expect us to answer with a quick yes but actually, theres no single best or only way to eat. In fact, all traditional diets around the world including the meat-milk-blood diet of Masai warriors in Africa and the fish-meat-and-blubber diet of the Inuit in North America support health better than the typical Western Diet. The Mediterranean Diet is not the only healthy approach, its just the best-documented healthy diet in the world, because of the hundreds if not thousands of Med Diet studies that have been carried out by serious researchers. Its also prized because its so enjoyable and easy to stick to. Check out our recipes for inspiration, or order our Oldways 4-Week Mediterranean Diet Menu Plan book.
Q. My ancestors arent from the Mediterranean. Is the Med Diet still healthy for me
A. Research has shown that the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet can apply to people from around the world. (We’ve seen research from Korea and India, for instance.) The principals of the Mediterranean Diet fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish/seafood, limited meat, cheese/yogurt can apply to many different food traditions, just by changing out the spices and flavors.
Q. You’ve convinced me to Go Med. But isnt it expensive
A. The traditions of the Mediterranean Diet come from the food of country folks with limited means. Eating seasonal vegetables and legumes (beans) while cutting back on meat and processed foods can actually end up saving money in your grocery budget. The best way to control your food budget is to cook more often: it’s easy to fix a Mediterranean dinner for less than $2 per person, when you know a few cooking basics.
Q. Once last question. If I follow the Mediterranean Diet, will I still have to go to the gym
A. Being healthy is not just about what you eat. Lifestyle matters too. You could eat the healthiest diet in the world, but if you aren’t active, your body won’t be able to move nutrients into your cells and move wastes out. Stress and sleep matter too. New evidence is mounting that sitting all day is especially harmful, and that a full nights sleep is essential to health. But don’t despair if the gym isn’t your thing. Try dancing, bike-riding, kayaking or simple walking. Think about the joy of movement throughout the day.
Do you have questions about the Mediterranean Diet that we may not have answered Ask away, we are here to answer.
– Cynthia
Bernie 
