The do’s and don’ts of the Mediterranean diet (plus food lists and recipes) (2024)

The Mediterranean diet is a way of eating that emphasizes vegetables, herbs, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, olive oil and moderate portions of dairy, eggs, fish and poultry, according to the American Heart Association.

“This style of eating can play a big role in preventing heart disease and stroke and reducing risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. There is some evidence that a Mediterranean diet rich in virgin olive oil may help the body remove excess cholesterol from arteries and keep blood vessels open,” the AHA reported.

Chock full of benefits, the Mediterranean diet can be a way to eat healthy. If you’re interested in trying it out, here’s a look at the Mediterranean diet complete with fall recipes.

What does the Mediterranean diet consist of?

The Mediterranean diet consists of the following foods, per Harvard Health Publishing:

• Fruits like grapes, strawberries, watermelon, apples and more.
• Vegetables like broccoli, arugula, spinach, carrots, beets, lettuce, cucumber, fennel, bok choy, collard greens, onions, bell peppers and more.
• Nuts like almond and walnuts.
• Legumes such as black beans, lentils and more.
• Cheese, milk and other forms of dairy like yogurt in moderate amounts.
• Healthy amounts of olive oil.
• Low to moderate portions of fish and poultry with very little red meat consumed.

Can the Mediterranean diet help you lose weight?

The Mediterranean diet lends itself to eating healthier and can help you lose weight. While you’ll need to speak to your doctor about an appropriate number of calories to intake to lose weight and any other health conditions you may have, the Mediterranean diet cuts back on sugar and emphasizes vegetables — both these two things help you lose weight.

“While it’s not necessarily the primary goal of the diet, losing weight is a positive side effect of the Mediterranean diet. Studies have shown that people who follow the diet have been able to lose weight and keep it off for more than a year,” according to Pennsylvania Medicine. “This diet may also be more effective at helping you lose weight than a low-fat diet — where you monitor your fat intake. And, it may be just as effective as commercial diets, where you follow a regimented (and often costly) program.”

To lose weight on the Mediterranean diet, you will still need to watch what you eat. While the diet may not result in rapid weight loss, it can be effective in making changes to lose weight over time and live an overall healthier life, per The New York Times.

A study referenced by the Times and published by Nutrition and Diabetes followed over 30,000 people for 12 years. The researchers found that people who eat in accordance with the Mediterranean diet had better weight outcomes and were less likely to be overweight than those who did not closely follow the diet.

How to start eating the Mediterranean diet

One of the simplest ways to start eating a Mediterranean diet to make swaps for foods you already eat. Say you eat a bagel with cream cheese every morning for breakfast, you could swap out the bagel for an whole wheat bagel. Then, after a little while, swap the cream cheese for hummus.

Or as another example, say you love eating a cheeseburger and fries for dinner, you could switch out the bun for a lettuce wrap, the red meat in the burger for ground chicken or for a black bean burger, halve the amount of cheese you use and switch out french fries for baked sweet potato bites instead.

After making some simple switches, you can also think about what to add to eat a healthier diet. So, say you would like to eat more vegetables, you can add a vegetable to every meal, even if it’s unconventional like carrot sticks on the side with scrambled eggs. Another simple way to add more vegetables is to start dinner with a salad or some steamed vegetables and make that a habit.

Another important component of the Mediterranean diet is cutting back on added sugar. Reading labels on food will help you know if there is added sugar in your foods. Added sugar can be included in sauces, dressings and other packaged goods. If you are looking to cut back on sugar, eliminating added sugar in foods and switching out your typical desserts for fruits is a way to eat less sugar.

10 swaps to make to start the Mediterranean diet

When you’re trying to eat a healthier diet, it can be difficult to switch over to a new way of eating. Making simple swaps can be a way to transition into a healthier diet. Here are 10 simple swaps you could make to implement the Mediterranean diet.

1. Change butter and vegetable oil for olive oil.
2. Change milk chocolate for dark chocolate.
3. Swap out white bread for whole wheat bread.
4. Swap a hamburger for a black bean burger.
5. Switch out a deep fried appetizer for a salad.
6. Trade fried potatoes for baked potatoes.
7. Exchange packaged cheese for a lower fat option like halloumi or feta.
8. Instead of drinking a soda, drink a water.
9. Substitute beans or chickpeas for meat one night.
10. Instead of having cake for dessert, eat berries.

Make your favorite dishes Mediterranean diet friendly

When trying to eat healthy, it’s important to maintain moderation. In other words, you want to have the room to still occasionally eat what you love even if it may not be the healthiest choice you can make.

At the same time, making some of your favorite dishes in a healthier way can be part of creating some moderation. So, say your favorite food is pizza. You can make pizza dough out of whole wheat flour, use a tomato sauce with no sugar added, go light on the cheese and add some chopped vegetables as toppings.

But who has time to make pizza dough? Sometimes you may have the time and other times, you won’t. If you don’t, you can use a piece of whole wheat pizza instead of pizza dough or pick up the ancient grain pizza dough from Whole Foods or use a whole wheat tortilla instead. There are options to incorporate convenient foods in a healthier way.

What if you really love cake? You can make cake from almond flour, olive oil and Stevia, and instead of topping it with frosting, you can garnish it with berries.

How about potato chips? You can thinly slice potatoes, toss them in a little bit of olive oil and fresh spices and then either bake them or put them in the air-fryer.

Pasta can be part of a healthy diet and you have a couple of options to up the nutrient content. If you love pasta with an Alfredo sauce, add some vegetables to the pasta, switch out the pasta for whole wheat pasta or chickpea pasta and be mindful of how much sauce you put on top.

There are endless possibilities to take foods you love and make them healthier. You can also eat what you love in moderation, too.

What foods can’t you eat on the Mediterranean diet?

The following foods should be restricted on the Mediterranean diet, per CNBC:

1. Butter.
2. Red meat like hamburger.
3. Processed meat like hot dogs.
4. Processed foods like packaged cakes.
5. Whole-fat dairy like a cup of milk.
6. Sugary drinks like soda.

While on the Mediterranean diet, limiting fried food and ultraprocessed food is important as the diet emphasizes whole foods.

Some examples of ultraprocessed foods,per Healthline, are soda, fried chicken, sweetened cereal and other foods. Even though the definition of ultraprocessed foods is in a state of evolution, it generally refers to foods which have additives and may be high in oils, sugar and salt.

Is the Mediterranean diet anti-inflammatory?

While there is not only one way of eating that is anti-inflammatory, the Mediterranean diet has been proven to have anti-inflammatory properties, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

“The Mediterranean diet has been shown to be anti-inflammatory because of its focus on whole foods and omega-3 fatty acids. It also eliminates processed oils, like cottonseed and soybean oil, which are found in many ultraprocessed foods,” registered dietitian Julia Zumpano told Cleveland Clinic.

In the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society published by Cambridge University, researchers said, “Med-diets down-regulate cellular and circulating inflammatory biomarkers” and the diet “is associated with reduced cardiovascular risk.”

Mediterranean diet recipes

If you’re looking to start the Mediterranean diet, but don’t know where to start, here are some recipes you can try that have fall flavors.

• Sheet-pan salmon with sweet potatoes and broccoli from Eating Well.
• Pumpkin soup from The Kitchn.
• Spinach with chili and lemon crumbs from BBC Good Food.
• Simmered beet greens with roasted beets, lemon and yogurt from NYT Cooking.
• Sheet pan ratatouille from 31 Daily.
• One-pot spinach, chicken sausage and feta pasta from Eating Well.
• Farro salad from NYT Cooking.
• Chicken with sweet potatoes and kale from The Kitchn.
• Curry lentil soup from 31 Daily.
• Herby cod with roasted tomatoes from Eating Well.