UNESCO: Mediterranean Diet a “cultural heritage of humanity”

It may sound strange for a dietary approach to get its own month, but the Mediterranean Diet is recognized as “a cultural heritage of humanity,” by UNESCO in 2010.

This approach results from the millennial history of Mediterranean traditions of food and family. For you and me, it is also a model for sustainable diets, which embraces nutrition, local food production, biodiversity, culture, and sustainability.

If we want their deeply rooted traditions to inform our own path toward an optimal lifestyle this May, we don’t actually need to live there. We only need to apply the principles that drive their success.

For example, you can enjoy foods with full fat dairy, meats that lean on fish and chicken, and carbs like bread or pasta, but just make sure that they are real foods, without artificial ingredients.

The next principle is just as important – they eat smaller amounts of those foods. You can do this by taking your time with your food, enjoying your meal with family and friends, and attending to your body’s full signal so you stop when satisfied, not stuffed!

The Mediterranean lifestyle is a cultural treasure that we can adapt and adopt for our own lives, in our own time.