What foods are included in the typical Mediterranean diet?
Mediterranean eating is focused on simple cooking and includes all the foods you already eat, just in different proportions. The diet is plant-based in nature, with a heavy emphasis on fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, beans and olive oil. Eggs, dairy, poultry and fish are consumed regularly, but the portions are smaller than typically consumed in a Western diet. Meat makes only an occasional appearance, and it’s usually added in small amounts to make sauces, beans and pasta dishes more flavorful. Refined sugar and flour and butter and fats other than olive oil are consumed rarely, if at all. Mediterranean eating also typically includes moderate consumption of red wine. One of the key components of Mediterranean eating has to do with the elevation of the meal as a social event. Meals are consumed at leisure with family and friends. “One of the basic tenets is the enjoyment of food, and respect and pleasure of food,” says Nicki Heverling, program manager for the Mediterranean
