/assets/images/provider/photos/2749849.jpeg)
The Mediterranean Diet: Is it Beneficial?
Don’t mistake the Mediterranean diet for a boring, restrictive weight loss plan. Yes, you can lose weight with the Mediterranean diet, and it’s one option considered as part of our medically supervised weight loss program at Aletheia Integrative in Lincoln, Nebraska.
However, weight loss was never its primary purpose. The Mediterranean diet intends to support optimal health and prevent chronic diseases.
As a primary care provider, Jaime Dodge, MD, considers each person’s unique health needs and discusses the choices that will help them stay healthy and active. For some, that may include following a Mediterranean-style diet, so let’s learn what that means.
About the Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet isn’t rigid or controlled. It’s an eating pattern of delicious, whole, nutrient-dense foods inspired by the classic foods consumed in countries such as Italy, Spain, and Greece (on the Mediterranean Sea).
Mediterranean-style meals are healthier than the typical American diet because they focus on plant-based foods and healthy fats.
The foods in the diet include:
- Plenty of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds
- Whole grains (limiting refined grains like white flour)
- Olive oil is the primary fat (but you can also use other plant-based oils)
- Moderate amounts of eggs and dairy products
- Proteins from seafood and poultry
The Mediterranean diet doesn’t eliminate red meat but recommends reducing it to an occasional meal.
Benefits of the Mediterranean diet
Let’s explore the top seven benefits of the Mediterranean diet:
1. Offers a balanced, sustainable eating plan
An eating plan can only improve and support your health when it meets your nutritional needs, and you can stick with it for the long run (sustainable). The Mediterranean diet excels in both criteria.
2. Works for weight loss
Weight loss is a challenge affected by emotions, lifestyle habits, hormonal imbalances, and your overall nutritional and physical health.
However, the foundation for weight loss is limiting calories, avoiding fad diets and empty calories, and eating nutrient-rich foods. That’s what you get with the Mediterranean diet.
3. Reduces inflammation
The Mediterranean lifestyle plan is rich in unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and plant-based biochemicals that fight long-lasting (chronic) inflammation.
Decreasing body-wide inflammation is vital because it significantly contributes to chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and certain cancers.
4. Supports gut health
The large intestine has trillions of microorganisms, including good and bad bacteria. Good bacteria have many essential roles. A few examples include:
- Digesting nutrients
- Strengthening the immune system
- Keeping harmful bacteria under control
- Breaking down toxins
- Maintaining a healthy gut
- Producing certain vitamins
- Influencing your response to hunger hormones
Good bacteria need dietary fiber to thrive, yet most Americans don’t get the recommended daily intake of 25-38 grams. The Mediterranean diet improves your intake by including fiber-rich foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans).
5. Lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease
We already mentioned that the Mediterranean diet is high in fiber, unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants. The Mediterranean plan also delivers more vitamins and minerals like potassium, magnesium, and calcium than the average American diet.
These nutrients are all crucial for a healthy heart and blood vessels, and they’re the reason the Mediterranean diet lowers the chances of developing heart disease.
6. Fights other chronic diseases
Just as the Mediterranean diet fights heart disease, its nutrients and fiber can also prevent chronic conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol.
Fiber eliminates excess cholesterol and prevents blood sugar spikes. Potassium and magnesium reduce blood pressure.
This balanced eating plan can also help control these conditions after they develop. Dietary changes alone can lower some people’s blood pressure and blood levels of cholesterol and sugar.
7. Strengthens the immune system
Your immune system needs many vitamins and minerals to stay strong and fight invading viruses, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens.
The best way to boost your immune system is with a daily meal plan like the Mediterranean diet that delivers the nutrients it needs.
Learn how the Mediterranean diet can help you
We’re here to explain the diet, answer your questions, and put you on the path to optimal health. Schedule an appointment today through online booking or by calling Aletheia Integrative.