In cardiac rehab I learned that while exercise is key to improving heart health, it’s not the only tool. Diet is vital too, so vital that it was the topic of three of our sixteen sessions. There are lots of different diets and nutrition guidelines, but in terms of heart health, one stands out: the Mediterranean diet.
What is the Mediterranean diet? It’s not primarily a weight-loss diet; it’s really just an approach to healthy eating. If you want to learn about it in detail, there are many good sites, for example this one and this one, but here’s the short version: eat primarily plant foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, fish, whole grains and low-fat dairy. Season with spices, onion and garlic, but not salt. Use extra virgin olive oil as your main source of fat. Limit your intake of sweets. In terms of proportions, imagine a dinner plate. One half is filled with vegetables, one quarter with whole grains, and one quarter with protein. You want to stay away from highly processed foods, so do your shopping around the outer edges of the grocery store, where the fresh whole foods are.
If you do decide to try the Mediterranean diet, what benefits can you expect? Plenty, as it happens. Of all the diets out there, the Mediterranean diet is the most thoroughly studied, and the results are impressive. The most striking evidence is for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. But the benefits extend to many other conditions as well, including cancer, cognitive decline, diabetes and obesity. Those are all conditions that particularly affect us seniors.
It’s hard to change the dietary habits of a lifetime; they’re all tied up with our culture and upbringing and personal tastes. But really, I find it to be no sacrifice. The food is tasty, digestible and easy to prepare. As we reach that time of life when health conditions and prescriptions start piling up, it’s nice to think that, at least to some extent, we can let food be our medicine.