The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid: Eating Healthy to Live Longer

What is the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid?

The Mediterranean diet pyramid includes the following:

• A strong base of fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based foods such as legumes, whole grains, herbs, nuts, spices and certain types of oil.
• A strong secondary portion of your diet being composed of poultry and fish with limited red meat consumption
• Small amounts of dairy and sweets
• Lots of water
• Enjoying meals with family and friends
• Drinking red wine in moderation (optional)
• Getting plenty of exercise

At a glance, many of the aspects of the diet are similar to Paleo, and McNamee says that it also has many parallels to a metabolic efficiency diet as well.

Much like the Mediterranian diet, the goal of Paleo and ME diets are to eat whole, real foods. One main difference McNamee points out is that  “The Mediterranean diet suggests ‘piling on’ fruits and vegetables. However, Metabolic Efficiency is about controlling blood sugar through daily nutrition. Many fruits are very high in sugar, thus spiking blood sugar. It is the same with some of the high carb vegetables.”

She also points out the importance of including healthy fats in a performance-based diet.

“Both ways of eating encourage healthy fats,” she said. “Studies have shown that increasing fats, eating appropriate amounts of protein and fiber help train the body to burn fat before carbs. Overall, the Mediterranean food plan is very similar to MET.”

Religious Paleo zealots will also notice some similarities, but the Mediterranean diet also allows for legumes, whole grains and red wine — which are all no no’s for our Paleo pals — while limiting certain types of meat.

Benefits According to the Study

The five-year study of over 1,200 participants across five countries in Europe set out to examine how to prolong the health of seniors. A number of factors were measured and recorded in both the control group (those who ate how they normally would), and the test group (those who ate a personalized version of the Mediterranean diet). Data was gathered that examined things like bone loss, inflammation, insulin sensitivity, digestive health, cardiovascular health, and perceived quality of life.

Of that data, there were two published findings. The rest is still being analyzed to draw conclusions.

Finding 1:  Participants who consumed the Mediterranean diet had dramatically decreased levels of C-reactive protein, a main inflammatory marker that contributes to the aging process.

Finding 2:  Those with osteoporosis saw a slower rate of bone loss on the diet than those in the control group.

Benefits for Athletes

Obviously, consuming a diet with anti-aging properties that helps to preserve bone density is beneficial to athletes. The diet also has studies that show it leads to better overall heart health. However, although there have been a few studies searching for benefits on overall athletic performance, more evidence is needed before researchers can draw strong conclusions.

That said, McNamee and many others in the nutrition field believe that a whole-foods approach to eating is the absolute way to go to hit your performance goals.

“I feel that the MD has great benefits,” McNamee said. “For so long we’ve been taught  to eat ‘low fat’, or ‘high carb’. For many athletes, this has led to GI distress during training and racing. It’s been shown that we have better overall  health results with the addition of healthy fats, eating lean proteins and getting our carbs from fruits and vegetables and grains. ”

Finding the Best Plan for You

It’s safe to say there are so so SO many schools of thought on nutrition out there. Everyone seems to drink a different brand of Kool-aid and swear by their regimen.