Posted April 16, 2012
The Mediterranean diet is a heart-healthy diet that incorporates olive oil and even a glass of red wine and can reduce the risk of heart disease, a local dietitian said Monday.
A survey of more than 1.5 million healthy adults showed those utilizing the Mediterranean diet had a reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality, a reduced incident of cancer and cancer mortality, and reduced incidences of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“The Mediterranean diet has been shown to reduce the incidents of many chronic diseases and it can improve health,” said Cindy Shipman, a registered dietitian at Bay Medical Center. “The thing that is important to remember is that it’s not just a diet; it’s a lifestyle. It promotes meals that are satisfying and healthy.”
The key concepts is it is a plant-based diet that uses fish, low fat, dairy and produce with a small amount of meat and sweets.
“It is a diet of super foods that make you feel good, and with less meat you can cut shopping costs,” Shipman said. “It also stresses fruits that are in season.”
The Mediterranean diet also emphasizes daily exercise, whole grains, replacing butter with healthy fats such as olive and canola oil, and using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods. The Mediterranean diet was ranked as a top three diet by U.S. News and World Report.
“It’s not a fad diet; it’s been around for 200 years,” Shipman said. “Avoid fad diets. Instead of improving health, it can give people health problems.”
The Mediterranean diet encourages eating fish and poultry at least twice a week and eating red meat no more than a few times a month. Another healthy diet Shipman recommends is the DASH diet, which was developed to fight high blood pressure.
The DASH diet is not as well-known, but it can help prevent and control diabetes and is heart-healthy. The diet — DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension — aims at reducing the amount of sodium consumed. The basic diet includes lots o f whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, and is low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
For more information about the diets, Shipman recommends visiting DASHdiet.com, oldways.com and oldwayspt.org. n
©2012 The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.)