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Dietitian Questions Healthfulness of the Mediterranean Diet

 

September 3, 2022 · 7:27 AM

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Shana Spence, RD, wrote at Self.com:

The Mediterranean diet is constantly lauded in the nutrition world—in fact, US News has named it the “best diet overall” for five years straight—but as a registered dietitian, I think it’s time to think about it a little differently: It’s time to dethrone the Mediterranean diet as being the very best way to eat.

Now, the Mediterranean diet—which emphasizes whole grains and plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, tree nuts, seeds, and olives, and limits red meat, sugar, and saturated fat—is not the only culturally based way of eating that’s been celebrated. The Japanese diet, rich in foods such as seafood, steamed rice, tofu, natto, seaweed, and pickled fruits and vegetables, has been promoted for its longevity-promoting aspects as well. But as scrolling through social media or even many news and health websites will show, it still doesn’t come close to the Mediterranean diet in terms of widespread recognition.

As an RD, I’ve noticed an overwhelming belief in our society that Mediterranean-style eating is just the way to go. So if your cultural foods don’t hail from one of the countries that make up that area, how does this make you feel?

Spoiler: Probably not so good—and that’s why I believe we need to rethink how we talk about cultural foods and ways of eating.


You know I’m a Mediterranean diet advocate. There are other healthy ways of eating. I’m an advocate of free speech and open debate. No censorship here! Read it and see what you think. I’m not sure what the “Japanese diet” is. I’ve written good things about the Okinawan diet as discussed in Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones books. Click for my review of Blue Zones.

Steve Parker, MD

front cover of Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes

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