Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet is one of Dr Hilary’s key priorities for a longer life. ‘Some people tend to think this means eating boring food,’ he says, ‘but of course it doesn’t, there are so many different ways of preparing and enjoying healthy food, and it means having smaller plates and smaller portions of better quality food without ever feeling stuffed. Fresh fruit, veg, plenty of fish—the Mediterranean diet or the Japanese peasant diet, it’s all the same: low in fat, not too much starch, high in protein, packed full of nutrients, and if you look at people who live on that type of diet, they do tend to come from a population that lives well into their 90s and into their hundreds.’
Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean lifestyle is attractive to us all, and so too is the food. There are some significant differences between the Mediterranean diet and what many eat in other parts of western world. This sunny cuisine varies from region to region; the diet is basically rich in fish, fruit and vegetables, grains and pulses, and olive oil. It’s a diet full of flavour and variety and for this reason it comes highly recommended by the NHS for all of us who want to live longer, healthier lives.
The Mediterranean diet traditionally includes fruits, vegetables and grains. For example, the people of Greece average six or more servings a day of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables.
Grains in the Mediterranean region are typically wholegrain and usually contain very few unhealthy trans fats, and bread is an important part of the diet. However, throughout the Mediterranean region, bread is eaten plain or dipped in olive oil—not with butter or margarine, which contains saturated or trans fats.
The Mediterranean diet emphasises:
- Eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts.
- Replacing butter with healthy fats, such as olive oil.
- Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavour foods.
- Limiting red meat to no more than a few times a month.
- Eating fish and poultry at least twice a week.
- Drinking red wine in moderation.
The advice is to switch to whole-grain bread and cereal, and begin to eat more whole-grain rice and pasta products. The Mediterranean diet typically includes a moderate amount of wine, usually red wine. The NHS recommends that men should not regularly drink more than three to four units of alcohol a day, while women should not regularly drink more than two to three units a day. To help you calculate, a 750ml bottle of red, white or rose wine (ABV 13.5 percent) contains 10 units.
The diet also recognises the importance of being physically active, and enjoying meals with family and friends.
What are the benefits?
Research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease. In fact, an analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults in the USA demonstrated that following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk of death from heart disease and cancer, as well as a reduced incidence of Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Small adjustments, big results
There’s no doubt that our average daily diet in the UK has improved greatly compared to, say, 50 years ago. Since then, the increase of travel, food knowledge, the pioneering cookery books by Elizabeth David, and the greatly increased variety of fruit, vegetables and other products, means that adopting a more Mediterranean style of eating is not going to mean a massive change for many of us today. If this is the case, our dietary adjustments can be small but significant, by: increasing our consumption of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, seeds, olives and olive oil; eating fish and shellfish at least twice a week; having a meat-free day; avoiding trans-fats and processed/convenience foods; reducing our salt and sugar consumption. (Sources: NHS ‘Choices’; Mayo Clinic; British Heart Foundation)
SEE ALSO: Dee Thresher’s Diet Tips
