More Than Diet: The Mediterranean Lifestyle
Is it lifestyle? Diet? Both? Since the world renowned Mayo Clinic helped raise awareness to the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet and its impact on senior health and senior diet, we are discovering that it means more than what you put in your body.
The focus is on senior diet but the most valued foundation of traditional Mediterranean cultures is taking the time to enjoy and share time with people, that you care about. Instead of refueling you can turn a meal into a ritual for your senses and share the flavors. Cultivating this balance in life will enable you to enjoy a rich quality of life.
Research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease. In fact, a recent analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults demonstrated that following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk overall and specificallty cardiovascular mortality, a reduced incidence of cancer and cancer mortality, and a reduced incidence of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. For this reason, most if not all major scientific organizations encourage healthy adults to adapt a style of eating like that of the Mediterranean diet for prevention of major chronic diseases.
A recent guest on a podcast at Active Seniors HQ is award winning author and exercise physiologist Janet Brill. Janet is a nationally recognized expert in the field of health, wellness and cardiovascular disease prevention, She is an occasional guest on the Dr. Oz Health show on NBC. Janet says, “Lifestyle is always the first strategy, first line of defense. You can pop up all the pills in the world, but you won’t live a long life unless you live the lifestyle as well and walk the walk. And even if you are in your 70’s studies have shown that 70 year olds that have not lived a heart healthy, can switch over to the Mediterranean lifestyle and they can actually prolong their life by many many years. So, it’s never too late to change to a heart healthy lifestyle.”
“In spite of what you read in all of the books that are out there now for reversing heart disease The Mediterranean diet in-fact allows you to really, truly enjoy food and the good things in life. So it’s a plant based diet, but with fish, it’s a lot of fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, legumes, and olive oil, and even dark chocolate and red wine. So, it’s a nice way and a pleasant way of living. It’s easy to follow. The food tastes great and it’s as good as it gets for the really scientifically proven method of prolonging life and treating and preventing heart disease,” says Janet Brill.
Category: Senior Diet
