Choosing the right diet can be an incredibly difficult experience. There are so many diets out there, and many of them are restrictive or don’t provide the long-lasting changes you might want to see regarding weight loss and heart health. This is the problem with fad diets; they aren’t always a lifestyle change. 

When choosing a diet, it’s important to look at your new diet as part of your new lifestyle. Making long-term changes is the best way to better your health for your entire life. Instead of trying something new to lose weight and then going back to your old ways, trying something like the Mediterranean Diet, which transforms your approach to eating and food, is a much better choice. 

What is the Mediterranean Diet? 

The Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) is based on the lifestyles of individuals who live in Mediterranean countries like Greece and Italy. Scientists learned of the diet’s benefits in a study after World War II. Ancel Keys, the primary researcher for the study, learned about the link between high-fat, high-calorie diets and heart disease. In the 1950s, he then learned about the low rate of heart disease in Southern Italy and determined this lesser rate was due to diet. 

Individuals who follow the MedDiet focus on plant-based foods and healthy fats. With this diet, you don’t have to follow strict guidelines or pay as much attention to calories. Because the whole diet is more healthy, if you follow the diet, you will also be healthy! 

Diet and nutrition experts break down the diet into categories based on how many servings per day or week individuals should eat of that respective category. 

Eating a Mediterranean Diet 

Eat At Every Meal. Include foods like vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and olive oil at every meal. Olive oil is important to the MedDiet and should be your primary source of healthy fat. For even better results, choose extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Loading up your plate with delicious fruits and vegetables shouldn’t be hard, but if you do not incorporate many fruits or veggies in your diet, then you may want to be creative. Searching for vegetarian dishes (and Mediterranean dishes) is a great way to do this. 

At Least Three Servings Per Week. Tap into protein sources like fish, seafood, nuts, legumes, and beans. These are important sources of nutrition in a Mediterranean diet, especially since this pattern of waiting calls for limiting the amount of red meat (more on that later). While you should eat at least three servings of foods from this category per week, you can always add more. It won’t hurt! 

Limit to 1 Serving Per Day. This is where things might start to be challenging, especially if you follow a more traditional American diet. Limit foods such as poultry, low-fat dairy, and eggs to one serving per day. If you increase the amount you eat from the first two categories, this shouldn’t be too difficult. However, cutting out dairy, eggs, and poultry is difficult for many Americans. Instead of jumping in cold turkey to the MedDiet, work on making easy, sustainable swaps. If a typical breakfast includes nonfat Greek yogurt and two eggs, maybe try switching from Greek yogurt to something like a vanilla chia pudding made with almond milk and topped with fresh fruit.

Limit to 1 Serving Per Week. The MedDiet asks individuals to really limit their intake of red meat, sugary drinks, and sweets. This is a key part of the diet and likely the hardest to follow. The American diet is full of red meat, which has a negative impact on heart health. In addition, sugary foods can increase inflammation in the body — and are high in calories. Instead of traditional sweets, try making something new without sugar or using maple syrup or honey. Instead of red meat, start gravitating towards beans, legumes, fish, and poultry as better options. 

See How You Progress on the Mediterranean Diet 

Whenever you start a diet, it’s important to keep track of your progress. Since we usually start a diet with a goal in mind, we need to celebrate all of the successes along the way. 

By following the MedDiet, you will see changes in your body. Tracking those changes with a tool like ZOZOFIT is the best way to see the full picture of your health. ZOZOFIT’s body scanning technology creates a 3D mesh of your body that you can view on your phone — complete with real-time measurements and body fat percentage data. As you continue with the MedDiet take regular scans and see how you’ve changed with the ColorMetric and Side-by-Side Comparison features.