When I tell people how to eat like a Mediterranean — enjoying all foods, not counting calories, following their natural appetite cues — they often look at me in disbelief and exclaim: “How is that supposed to be a diet?!”
They, and you, may be laboring under a misconception.
What people eat in the Mediterranean region is described as the Mediterranean diet. However, the word “diet” in this context doesn’t refer to a prescriptive nutritional regimen designed, for example, to burn body fat or prolong life. Rather, it comes from the ancient Greek diaita, meaning “way of life.”
In ancient Greece, the goal of diaita was to achieve and maintain good health, vitality, and longevity through a balanced lifestyle that included nourishing food, physical activity, mental well-being, social interaction, and spiritual fulfillment, all seen as equally important to overall well-being.
In the 1950s, American nutrition researcher Ancel Keys visited Italy and hypothesized that the region’s frugal cuisine explained Italians’ superior health and life expectancy relative to people living elsewhere in Europe and America, despite poor medical services and a lower standard of living.
Thus, an American invented the term “Mediterranean diet” – an artificial construct that was only one part of the life-affirming, health-supportive lifestyle the ancient Greeks described, and people around the Mediterranean Sea had practiced for five millennia.
Diaita for a fuller, richer, healthier life
I began this journey 24 years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer and my doctor recommended I eat a Mediterranean diet. At first, I focused only on its nutritional aspects; over time, however, I also came to love the many non-dietary ways the Mediterranean lifestyle supported my physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
I’m not the only one who’s reaping the rewards of Mediterranean living. For 12 years, a group of researchers explored what would happen if 111,000 middle-aged and older British adults adopted not only the dietary patterns but also the impact of other Mediterranean lifestyle factors, including physical activity, rest, social habits, and conviviality.
The more closely the study subjects followed the Mediterranean lifestyle, the lower their risk of dying from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other health conditions. Adults with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle had a 29% lower risk of dying from any cause and a 28% lower risk of dying from cancer.
The findings, published April 2024 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, suggest that “…adopting a Mediterranean lifestyle adapted to the local characteristics of non-Mediterranean populations is possible and can be part of a healthy lifestyle,” said the study’s senior researcher, Mercedes Sotos-Prieto, an assistant professor in the department of preventive medicine and public health at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain.
The study highlights the important roles community and social engagement play in good health, Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University in New York City told American Heart Association News. “The Mediterranean lifestyle involves interactions with others,” she said, a component that is particularly important for people as they age.
The fabric of life
Let’s take a closer look at some of the social factors that characterize Mediterranean culture:
- Community and social connections: Traditional Mediterranean societies, and traditional communities around the world, place a strong emphasis on family and community relationships. Frequent gatherings, shared meals, and communal activities are common. Often, multiple generations live close to each other, providing support and fostering a sense of continuity.
- Physical activity: Regular physical activity is a part of daily life, such as walking, bicycling, gardening, dancing, playing, fishing, and hunting. Spending time outdoors is a significant part of daily routines, enhancing physical and mental well-being and wake-sleep-cycle regulation.
- Work-life balance: Many Mediterraneans, especially those living in more rural areas, maintain a balanced approach to work and leisure. Even in cities, it’s common to see co-workers sharing a convivial lunch outside the office, and multi-generation families enjoy long, sit-down meals on weekends.
- Cultural richness: Frequent musical, artistic, and gastronomic festivals bring communities together and preserve their cultural heritage. When I lived in southwestern France, we spent many a happy weekend attending food festivals that celebrated duck, garlic, cassoulet, and other delicious local products. Many people shop at farmers’ markets, the best places to obtain the freshest, most affordable food, from the person who produced it.
- Mindful eating: Meals are not just about sustenance, but also a time to relax, connect, and enjoy the moment. Meals are savored, and eating slowly is common, allowing for better digestion and enjoyment of flavors, as well as relaxed conversation with fellow diners.
Mediterranean diaita at a crossroads
Ironically, just as the rest of the world is increasingly embracing the Mediterranean way of eating and living, it faces several challenges at home.
Many people in the region no longer follow the pre-WW2 Mediterranean diet and are swapping traditional recipes for convenience foods. Amid longer work days, and changing dietary and activity habits, metabolic disease and its markers are on the rise in the Mediterranean, as in most other parts of the world.
Moreover, water scarcity, land degradation, and rising temperatures around the Mediterranean – courtesy of economic modernization and climate change – are damaging the region’s biodiversity and agricultural output and raising the cost of food.
Faced with these threats to the Mediterranean lifestyle, governments around the Mediterranean, public-private sector partnerships like the Mediterranean Diet Foundation, a wide range of health agencies and medical associations, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Heart Association, and even the United Nations, are working hard do to keep the Mediterranean way of eating and living alive. Given how enjoyable, affordable, simple, and healthy this lifestyle is, their efforts will hopefully win the day.
As you will learn if you work with me or follow my work, eating and living like a Mediterranean doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. Sign up for my newsletter and learn how fun and easy it can be to enjoy a life-affirming Mediterranean lifestyle.