Aim for one tablespoon of olive oil a day.
As an interventional cardiologist who specializes in prevention, patients, friends and family ask me all the time which diet will best .
There's been much hype and fanfare surrounding various diets, but the diet that has consistently shown benefit in randomized control studies is the . It's been shown to reduce heart attack and stroke as well as . The Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional eating habits found in Southern Italy and Greece in the early 1960s. It's centered around plant-based foods – heavy on vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish, olive oil and some amount of nuts. But what does that really mean, and how much of these should we be eating? We can all agree that even too much of good thing is bad. So here's some helpful advice about how to follow the Mediterranean diet as studied in trials:
The first thing people notice about this diet is the limit on fish, nuts, meat and dairy to only 3 servings a week – not every day. Also, notice the . In this diet, meat is an accent, not a centerpiece of your meal.
Finally, eating is one of the greatest pleasures in life. Enjoy your food, eat what's good for you in moderation and remember the words of Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”