by Gretchen McKay / © 2024, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Healthful eating is important at any age to lower the risk of obesity and keep the heart and the body functioning well. This becomes especially crucial later in life because good nutrition helps reduce the risk of chronic conditions like hypertension, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease.
Being smart about what you eat also can affect your mood—and some studies even suggest that healthy eating patterns can help delay or prevent developing dementia as we get older.
One way to improve your health while also eating some wonderful foods, says Natalie Bruner, a registered dietitian, is to follow the Mediterranean style of eating.
What is it?
It’s not so much a “diet” in the traditional sense. Eating Mediterranean style is more of a lifestyle.
Patterned around the foods eaten by people who live in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea—Italy, Greece, Spain and Northern Africa—it puts a daily emphasis on plant-based dishes and heart-healthy, unsaturated fats such as olive oil instead [of] the refined or hydrogenated oils that are so common in fast food meals and snack foods.
The diet also emphasizes whole, minimally processed foods such as beans, seeds and legumes, antioxidant-rich fresh fruits and vegetables and moderate portions of lean protein like chicken and seafood, with only the occasional serving of red meat.
Fish that is high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, is especially key since it can help reduce inflammation and pain caused by arthritis, as well as improve cholesterol levels.
“It’s not a diet that’s restrictive,” says Bruner. “You’re eating everything that’s good for you, which is great.”
Benefits
Multiple studies have shown that those who follow the Mediterranean diet have better cognitive function and brain health in old age, she says.
Because of its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and its effectiveness at preventing obesity, there also are a lot of heart health benefits, along with the prevention and progression of diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.
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