How To Follow the Mediterranean Diet

How To Follow the Mediterranean Diet is something that a lot of people ask about.
The Mediterranean Diet is what researches say is a healthy way to eat these days.

How To Follow the Mediterranean Diet

Following the Mediterranean Diet is not as hard to do as you may think that it is.
The diet basically entails sticking to certain more natural foods while you avoid other foods.

I know that this sounds familiar.
Anyone who has followed any kind of a diet would probably agree that diets mean you generally avoid certain foods while adding more of others to your diet.

Here are some of the reasons why people choose to follow the Mediterranean Diet

Perhaps the number one reason is that experts say that the diet is good for the cardiovascular system.
That is, eating the foods recommended in the Mediterranean Diet can be good for your heart.

If you ask me, the heart is a pretty important, if not the most important, organ in the body.
Thus, it would be a good idea to take good care of it. Eating foods that support the heart is a good, and relatively easy, way to promote the health of your heart.

It can be as easy as seeking out Mediterranean Diet Recipes.

I will go further into the ingredients that you will see in these recipes later in this post.
However, you should know that Mediterranean Diet Recipes will include a lot of fresh fruit, vegetables, and olive oil.
You will also see a bit of poultry and eggs in the recipes for the Mediterranean diet.

This way of eating will also promote not eating certain foods.
Like any other diet that promotes good health, you can count out refined sugar.
Pretty much everything that is processed that should not be is on the not to eat list as well.

The average Mediterranean Diet Menu is a balanced one.

As I mentioned above, you will see fresh fruits and vegetables.
Along with that you will have poultry, such as baked chicken (not fried!).

What you will not see on the diet menu may not surprise you too much.
I have already mentioned avoiding the refined sugar that comes in desserts and beverages.
You should also avoid processed meats in your Mediterranean Diet menu.

Your Mediterranean diet food list will especially avoid one particular food category.

Trans fats and Refined oils are the biggest 'no-no's' on the Mediterranean diet food list.
However, olive oil is considered to be a good thing on the diet.

Trans fats seem to be everywhere it seems.
However, Trans fats are the those fats that you may have seen on the label of snack foods.
Thus, a lot of less expensive and fast foods have trans fats in them as well.

There is a such thing as the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.

But, like any other food pyramid that you are use to, the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid tells us what we should be eating more of and what we should be eating less of. On the bottom of the pyramid, what we should be eating more of, are whole grains, nuts, and pasta. Scroll down to see the pyramid for yourself.

We should also be eating these foods according to the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.
After grains comes fruit and vegetables followed by olive oil. Falling somewhere in the middle of the pyramid is fish and seafood.

The there is the top of the Mediterranean food pyramid.

By top of the pyramid I mean the foods that you should be eating the least of.
However, the top of the Mediterranean food pyramid is what we refer to as the 'Meat and Sweet' layer, or the foods to limit the most of.

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Here is what you should include on your Mediterranean Diet Shopping List.

• Plant Based Foods such as fruits and vegetables.
• Whole Grains, Nuts, and Legumes.
• Healthy Fats such as Canola Oil and Olive Oil.
• Fish and Poultry to eat at least twice a week.
• Seasonings that do not include salt.
• Red Wine in Moderation- yay! 1 5 ounce glass a day.
• Other foods to eat in moderation eggs, cheese and yogurt.
• Potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, and yams.
• Water, Coffee, and tea (all unsweetened of course)
• Also okay on the Mediterranean Diet Food list are olives, avocados,

Here is what you should NOT include on your Mediterranean Diet Shopping List.

• Anything that has sugar added to it- such as cookies, sodas, etc.
• Refined oils- generally oils that are not virgin or extra virgin olive oil or canola oil.
• Refined Grains such as white bread.
• Trans fats- including fried foods and margarine.
• Also, Processed foods such as meats.

My biggest question has been can you eat chocolate on the Mediterranean Diet?

Getting back to and early section of this article, we discussed that this diet is especially friendly to promoting cardiovascular health.
Having said that, I must also mention that one of the most avoided foods on this diet is sugar that is added to anything.

So, here is the scoop on chocolate on the Mediterranean diet.

Drum roll please 🙂
However, if you are like me and must have the piece of chocolate, or so, on a daily basis, and you are wanting to stick the rules of the Mediterranean Diet, the stick to the dark chocolate that has a higher percentage of chocolate in it. 100% chocolate because it has no sugar added to it but, it tastes really bitter. Thus, go with something that has 75% or more chocolate and a bit of sugar or something natural like Stevia in it and you should be okay!