{"id":11502,"date":"2025-06-24T19:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/11502\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T19:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:15:09","slug":"the-mediterranean-diet-has-ranked-1-for-7-years-in-a-row-what-makes-it-so-effective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/11502\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mediterranean Diet Has Ranked #1 for 7 Years in a Row\u2014What Makes It So Effective?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its annual Best Diets ranking, U.S. News and World Report has awarded the top spot to the Mediterranean diet<\/a> for the seventh year in a row. According to the publication, this style of eating\u2014inspired by the eating habits of people living in the Mediterranean region\u2014has such serious staying power because it\u2019s easy to follow long-term and has been shown to support heart health, bone, and joint health, and help prevent certain diseases, such as diabetes.<\/p>\n

But \u201cdiet\u201d is really a misnomer, says Maya Feller, MS, RD, CDN<\/a>, author of Eating From Our Roots<\/a> and a member of U.S. News and World Report\u2019s Best Diets expert panel<\/a>. \u201cIt’s less of a diet, more of a lifestyle, an eating pattern,\u201d she says. \u201c[It] can be customized based on the individual’s likes, dislikes, personal preference, religious needs, and access.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mediterranean diet is really a long-term dietary lifestyle\u2026versus another kind of restrictive time-period diet,\u201d agrees Maggie Berghoff<\/a>, a functional medicine nurse practitioner and author of Eat to Treat<\/a>. Rather than cutting out certain food groups or counting calories, \u201cit focuses on [eating] a lot of healthy fats, healthy oils, and plant-based foods,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

What Is the Mediterranean Diet?<\/p>\n

The Mediterranean diet started to gain attention as a healthy way of eating in the 1950s, when scientist Ancel Keys, PhD, of the the University of Minnesota School of Power discovered a correlation between eating habits, lifestyles, and cardiovascular health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the research found was that people who followed Mediterranean patterns of eating actually tended to have better cardiovascular profiles, so lower cholesterol, better lipid markers, good cholesterol,\u201d says Feller.<\/p>\n

Dr. Keys didn\u2019t invent the Mediterranean diet, of course; he simply began to popularize a way of eating and enjoying food that people in the Mediterranean had been following for centuries. \u201cThe biggest tenets of that are seafood; lean proteins in the form of beans, nuts, and seeds; whole grains; ancient grains; fermented dairy; fruits,\u201d says Feller. \u201cAnd then alcohol is consumed in moderation.\u201d<\/p>\n

When looking for inspiration for your Mediterranean menu, Feller says it\u2019s important to consider all 22 countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea\u2014not just Greece, Italy, and France.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe countries of North Africa and the Middle East are not often highlighted [when talking about the Mediterranean diet], when in fact, their patterns of eating are credible and really centered on legumes, grains, seeds, fermented dairy, and really interesting types of fruits,\u201d she says. \u201cWe often are told: cucumber, feta, olives, tomato, and red onion\u2014that’s the Mediterranean diet. Yes, that’s wonderful, but it could also be couscous and chickpeas in a curry with berbere. There’s so many different ways that it can show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mediterranean Diet Foods<\/p>\n

Great news, folks: With the Mediterranean diet, it\u2019s a very \u201cyou do you\u201d approach to healthy eating. That being said, the Mediterranean lifestyle does encourage you to load your plate with particular foods and food groups.<\/p>\n