Starting Out On The Mediterranean Diet

everybody excited cheers thanks for this wonderful pizza bill yeah yeah it's a little bit of a weird question for bringing everybody yeah thank you for bringing all the delicious beans a lot of people ask me how do you eat the mediterranean diet and today we're going to teach you step-by-step how to eat the healthiest diet in the world the first thing i want to answer is what is the mediterranean diet and why you would want to eat it so the mediterranean diet simply is the diet of all the countries and islands around and on the mediterranean sea this includes countries like egypt morocco spain france the middle eastern countries all of these countries all of those foods are the mediterranean diet the reason that you would want to eat mediterranean is because it's one of the healthiest diets in the world the people in these countries have the highest longevity rates and they also have the lowest amounts of almost every type of disease you can imagine including heart disease cancer diabetes the list goes on and on and on and this is why they live to be so old and so today we're going to go step by step and show you everything you need to know and we have this amazing meal here and we're going to go food by food to show you how to eat mediterranean one of the foods that you don't see a lot of in the mediterranean diet is processed foods and very specifically ultra processed foods these are foods that are oh thank you these are foods like this foods that are very high in sugar and fat and white flour and chemicals so number one when you're eating the mediterranean diet is not to eat a lot of ultra processed foods [Music] the next important thing about the mediterranean diet is that it's a plant-based diet thank you a plant-based diet means that the majority of the food comes from plants now this includes vegetables fruits beans nuts seeds grains these are all plant-based foods it doesn't mean that there's no meat or chicken or fish or dairy it does mean that the majority of what you eat comes from fruits vegetables beans nuts seeds grains the other thing that it means is that you're eating fat that also comes from fruits and vegetables now olive oil extra virgin olive oil is actually a fruit-based oil olives are fruits and in the mediterranean diet you eat lots and lots of extra virgin olive oil so whenever you have some nice vegetables like this this is a greek salad a traditional greek salad you're always going to put plenty of extra virgin olive oil on you want to make sure that it is extra virgin olive oil they eat about 40 of their calories from fat and most of that is from olive oil the next thing that makes a mediterranean diet different from diets in other countries is that the main protein source in the mediterranean diet are beans and beans are very different than like in the united states the main protein source is meat and which includes of course chicken but also red meat and so the reason this is important is because beans are a plant-based food they're high in fiber they're one of the reasons why they're so healthy and so if you're eating a mediterranean diet you want to increase the amount of beans you eat and probably decrease the amount of meat that you eat they consider meat chicken and fish to be a condiment which means that you instead of eating like a big huge piece of meat like this tuscan uh bean soup with sausage has one pound of sausage in it but it serves like eight to ten people so it's only a few ounces of meat um we also have like salmon dishes uh they eat salmon but not as much as you would think they don't eat tons and tons of fish with salmon and this is actually a perfect dish to talk about omega-3 fatty acids as well salmon is a dish that is very high in omega-3s and one of the other things about the mediterranean diet is that they eat a lot of omega-3 foods which is very good for your heart for your brain and other parts of your body and with uh omega-3s you not only get it from salmon but you also get it from walnuts that we have on here as well as greens and flax oil there's lots of different ways to get omega-3s in the mediterranean diet and it is super good for you the next important food that's eaten all over the mediterranean are whole grains whole grain that is not a whole grain hold on a second so a lot of people think that some foods that are whole grains are things like bread and even 100 whole wheat bread is not actually a complete whole grain it is higher in whole grains in the mediterranean they do eat a lot of bread but a real whole grain would be something like this which is a cabbage dish with pharaoh now pharaoh is a complete whole grain other whole grains are things like oats amaranth millet these are all whole grains or whole wheat which are actually little berries and so these type of foods are whole grains they're um really good for your digestive system uh they're good for again decreasing risk of cancer decreasing a lot of risk of other types of diseases and believe it or not they can be good for weight loss it just has to be a whole grain also in the mediterranean they eat a lot of whole fat dairy when i say a lot like not tons and tons but here for example is a dish from greece a loaded tatsuki and this has greek yogurt in it it is very high in probiotics very good for your digestive system and it has a lot of really good nutrients for your body in the mediterranean they eat whole milk whole fat cheeses whole fat yogurt it's actually going to help you with weight loss for example it fills you up and makes it so you eat less less of it and so whole fat dairy foods again not tons of it but some [Music] thank you sir another thing that in certain parts of the mediterranean they drink a lot of is wine also beer and other types of alcohol now again it's only in certain parts of the mediterranean and in more muslim countries they don't drink at all but in places like greece and spain and italy they drink a lot of wine and wine as well as other alcohol can be good for you it will increase your good healthy cholesterol it also red wine specifically has certain components that are good for your heart now if you don't drink alcohol no problem you can also drink grape juice red grape juice you want to make sure it's a good organic red grape juice it has a lot of the same health benefits as red wine does it increases your good cholesterol and of course you can drink more of it without any issues one of the other things that people often ask me about with the mediterranean diet is what do you eat for dessert here you'll uh people think that in the mediterranean they eat like tons of baklava and flan and all the other delicious mediterranean dishes that are mediterranean desserts that you can get there but in reality what you're actually eating a lot of is uh no what you're actually eating a lot of is fruit so in the mediterranean what they mostly eat for dessert is fruit and usually it's just whole fruit sometimes it's fruit that's cut up and put into other desserts but this is what is eating on a daily basis sure sometimes they'll have the baklava and the flan and the cannolis and things like that but oftentimes that's more like a very special treat so the last thing about eating the mediterranean diet is to eat fruit for dessert so that's it that's all you need to know to eat the healthiest diet in the world the thing to remember about the mediterranean diet is that it's about celebrating your food it's about eating with abundance eating with community and it's delicious so that it's super super good for you so if you are interested in any of the recipes that we've gone over today you will see them in the description box below we have links to everything and if you like this video please like comment and subscribe in the description box below and as they say in france bon appetit [Music] you