Meet the Mediterranean Diet
If you’re in search of a diet plan that will help you achieve your fitness goals without making you miserable, you just might need to try the Mediterranean diet. Named for the geographical region where this food and eating style originates, the Mediterranean diet has some common-sense rules that will help you slim down without obsessing over calories or swearing off of bread. Following the basic features of most successful diets, the Mediterranean diet promotes eating fresh fruits and veggies, getting your protein from fish and chicken, trading butter for olive oil and salt for spices and herbs, and limiting unhealthy fats. But this diet isn’t totally restricting; you are allowed to eat whole-grain bread and even drink a little bit of wine. Seriously, does this diet sound great right about now or what?
The Mediterranean diet isn’t just popular for letting you eat bread and drink wine, of course. This diet has been shown to lower bad cholesterol, reduce the risk of heart disease, and even lower the risk for some chronic health conditions and cancers. On a Mediterranean diet, you could find that you not only lose weight but also have more energy and feel better overall. These are some seriously attractive health benefits for a fairly simple-to-follow diet!
If you want to try the Mediterranean diet, start by limiting your red-meat intake to once or twice a month. Replace that protein with lean fish and chicken but don’t go overboard; the main portion of your food intake should be fruits and veggies, legumes, and whole grains. One of the most important pieces of the Mediterranean diet is to learn how to use spices and herbs like cumin, garlic, cilantro, and pepper to flavor your food so that you can use less salt. Salt causes health issues and water-retention which seriously gets in the way of fitness goals, but with well flavored food, you won’t need to reach for salt so often.
Overall, the Mediterranean diet is flavorful, easy to follow, and won’t leave you hungry. Since you don’t have to obsess over calorie counting as long as you’re making healthy swaps, you can focus on learning to cook delicious meals that will keep you away from the freezer aisle. A good Mediterranean diet involves very little of the processed food that loads our bodies with chemicals so it is a great way to detoxify without giving up whole-grain bread or red wine.