Key Takeaways
Eating plenty of olive oil, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables is a common pattern of eating among people living on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The so-called Mediterranean diet has become popular around the world and is not only delicious, but also offers health benefits like a lower risk ofheart disease,cognitive decline, andtype 2 diabetes.
According to new research, adding a few new steps to the core principles of the Mediterranean diet to create a new version—the green Mediterranean diet—may offer even more health benefits than the original version of the diet, including helping with weight loss.
Here’s what you need to know about the green Mediterranean diet, including some tips on how to try it.
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Going Green
The Mediterranean diet is more of a lifestyle recommendation than just an eating pattern, though the foods are a key part of what makes it beneficial to your health.
The foods emphasized in the diet are full of fiber, antioxidants, and important micronutrients that support your overall health. The diet also limits less nutritious processed foods, fried foods, and added sugars.
People who follow the Mediterranean diet are also encouraged to participate in physical activity and enjoy their meals with friends and/or family.
Recently, researchers have found that adding a few new components to the Mediterranean diet may enhance its health benefits.
Sarah Garone, an Arizona-based diet technician, told Verywell that the green Mediterranean diet “takes a traditional Mediterranean diet and shifts it in a more plant-based direction.”
Whileanimal products are still allowedwith this version of the diet, Garone said that “plant sources of protein—such as beans, legumes, quinoa, and tofu—are more strongly encouraged,” while red and processed meats are limited.
The 3 Foods Added to the Green Mediterranean Diet
There are three more daily requirements for people following the green Mediterranean diet:
These items were selected to be part of the diet because of the unique health benefits they offer:
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Is The Green Mediterranean Diet Healthier?
Melissa Mitri, MS, RD, a Connecticut-based Nutrition Writer and Owner ofMelissa Mitri Nutrition, told Verywell that the green Mediterranean diet “has become increasingly popular due to the benefits seen from both Mediterranean-style and plant-forward ways of eating.”
Basically, Mitri said that the Green version of the diet is “taking all of the essential tenets of a healthy Mediterranean diet, with an emphasis on plant foods.”
Nutrition research has long shown that eating more nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, whole grains, and seeds offers health benefits.
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Can The Green Mediterranean Diet Help Me Lose Weight?
In 2020, researchers did a trial where participants were assigned to either follow generally healthy dietary guidelines, the Mediterranean diet, or the green Mediterranean diet. All the participants also took part in physical activity during the study. Over 18 months, the researchers looked at how much abdominal fat (visceral fat) the participants lost.
Other research data has shown that a higher intake of Mankai, green tea, and walnut and a lower intake of red and processed meat is linked to protectivebenefits for brain health.The diet may also help reducefat in the liver, which is closely linked withdiabetes risk.
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Is the Green Mediterranean Right for You?
The green Mediterranean diet is not for everyone. Even people who may benefit from it can still have challenges making it happen. For example, Garone pointed out that some people will find it hard to find Mankai duckweed, “which can be cost-prohibitive and difficult to find.”
Whether the green Mediterranean diet will work for someone also depends on their dietary needs and cultural dietary practices (the diet does not include foods that are traditional to cultures beyond those surrounding the Mediterranean Sea).
That said, it might be worth exploring the diet to find out if there are ways you could adapt it to meet your needs and preferences. According to Mitri, “many aspects of it can be applied across all cultures, such as the encouragement of more fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and tea.”
Easing Into the Green Mediterranean Diet
If you’re new to a green Mediterranean diet, Garone said it’s best to ease into it since drastic changes are not only difficult to make, but rarely sustainable in the long-term.
You don’t have to make a complete shift to a new way of eating. If you want to try, Garone suggested that incorporating a new element of the green Mediterranean diet every week.
A small step you can take as a starting point is swapping animal proteins for plant-based ones—for example, cooking up black bean burgers instead of beef or making lentil stew for dinner on a chilly evening instead of one with sausage.
Your beverage choices are another place to make some greener swaps—literally.
“If you’re an afternoon coffee drinker, you might trygreen teaa few days a week instead,” Garone said.
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7 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Godos J, Galvano F.Insights on Mediterranean diet from the SUN cohort: cardiovascular and cognitive health.Nutrients. 2020;12(5):1332. doi:10.3390/nu12051332Hinoman USA.Meet Mankai the super tiny, mighty green.Crowe-White KM, Evans LW, Kuhnle GGC, et al.Flavan-3-ols and cardiometabolic health: first ever dietary bioactive guideline.Adv Nutr. 2022;13(6):2070-2083. doi:10.1093/advances/nmac105Spence LA, Henschel B, Li R, Tekwe CD, Thiagarajah K.Adding walnuts to the usual diet can improve diet quality in the United States: diet modeling study based on NHANES 2015-2018.Nutrients. 2023;15(2):258. doi:10.3390/nu15020258Zelicha H, Kloting N, Kaplan A, et al.The effect of high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet on visceral adiposity: the DIRECT PLUS randomized controlled trial.BMC Med. 2022;20(1):327. doi:10.1186/s12916-022-02525-8Kaplan A, Zelicha H, Yaskolka Meir A, et al.The effect of a high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet (Green-MED) combined with physical activity on age-related brain atrophy: the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial Polyphenols Unprocessed Study (DIRECT PLUS).Am J Clin Nutr.2022;115(5):1270-1281. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqac001Yaskolka Meir A, Rinott E, Tsaban G, et al.Effect of green-Mediterranean diet on intrahepatic fat: the DIRECT PLUS randomised controlled trial.Gut. 2021;70(11):2085-2095. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323106
7 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Godos J, Galvano F.Insights on Mediterranean diet from the SUN cohort: cardiovascular and cognitive health.Nutrients. 2020;12(5):1332. doi:10.3390/nu12051332Hinoman USA.Meet Mankai the super tiny, mighty green.Crowe-White KM, Evans LW, Kuhnle GGC, et al.Flavan-3-ols and cardiometabolic health: first ever dietary bioactive guideline.Adv Nutr. 2022;13(6):2070-2083. doi:10.1093/advances/nmac105Spence LA, Henschel B, Li R, Tekwe CD, Thiagarajah K.Adding walnuts to the usual diet can improve diet quality in the United States: diet modeling study based on NHANES 2015-2018.Nutrients. 2023;15(2):258. doi:10.3390/nu15020258Zelicha H, Kloting N, Kaplan A, et al.The effect of high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet on visceral adiposity: the DIRECT PLUS randomized controlled trial.BMC Med. 2022;20(1):327. doi:10.1186/s12916-022-02525-8Kaplan A, Zelicha H, Yaskolka Meir A, et al.The effect of a high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet (Green-MED) combined with physical activity on age-related brain atrophy: the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial Polyphenols Unprocessed Study (DIRECT PLUS).Am J Clin Nutr.2022;115(5):1270-1281. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqac001Yaskolka Meir A, Rinott E, Tsaban G, et al.Effect of green-Mediterranean diet on intrahepatic fat: the DIRECT PLUS randomised controlled trial.Gut. 2021;70(11):2085-2095. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323106
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Godos J, Galvano F.Insights on Mediterranean diet from the SUN cohort: cardiovascular and cognitive health.Nutrients. 2020;12(5):1332. doi:10.3390/nu12051332Hinoman USA.Meet Mankai the super tiny, mighty green.Crowe-White KM, Evans LW, Kuhnle GGC, et al.Flavan-3-ols and cardiometabolic health: first ever dietary bioactive guideline.Adv Nutr. 2022;13(6):2070-2083. doi:10.1093/advances/nmac105Spence LA, Henschel B, Li R, Tekwe CD, Thiagarajah K.Adding walnuts to the usual diet can improve diet quality in the United States: diet modeling study based on NHANES 2015-2018.Nutrients. 2023;15(2):258. doi:10.3390/nu15020258Zelicha H, Kloting N, Kaplan A, et al.The effect of high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet on visceral adiposity: the DIRECT PLUS randomized controlled trial.BMC Med. 2022;20(1):327. doi:10.1186/s12916-022-02525-8Kaplan A, Zelicha H, Yaskolka Meir A, et al.The effect of a high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet (Green-MED) combined with physical activity on age-related brain atrophy: the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial Polyphenols Unprocessed Study (DIRECT PLUS).Am J Clin Nutr.2022;115(5):1270-1281. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqac001Yaskolka Meir A, Rinott E, Tsaban G, et al.Effect of green-Mediterranean diet on intrahepatic fat: the DIRECT PLUS randomised controlled trial.Gut. 2021;70(11):2085-2095. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323106
Godos J, Galvano F.Insights on Mediterranean diet from the SUN cohort: cardiovascular and cognitive health.Nutrients. 2020;12(5):1332. doi:10.3390/nu12051332
Hinoman USA.Meet Mankai the super tiny, mighty green.
Crowe-White KM, Evans LW, Kuhnle GGC, et al.Flavan-3-ols and cardiometabolic health: first ever dietary bioactive guideline.Adv Nutr. 2022;13(6):2070-2083. doi:10.1093/advances/nmac105
Spence LA, Henschel B, Li R, Tekwe CD, Thiagarajah K.Adding walnuts to the usual diet can improve diet quality in the United States: diet modeling study based on NHANES 2015-2018.Nutrients. 2023;15(2):258. doi:10.3390/nu15020258
Zelicha H, Kloting N, Kaplan A, et al.The effect of high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet on visceral adiposity: the DIRECT PLUS randomized controlled trial.BMC Med. 2022;20(1):327. doi:10.1186/s12916-022-02525-8
Kaplan A, Zelicha H, Yaskolka Meir A, et al.The effect of a high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet (Green-MED) combined with physical activity on age-related brain atrophy: the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial Polyphenols Unprocessed Study (DIRECT PLUS).Am J Clin Nutr.2022;115(5):1270-1281. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqac001
Yaskolka Meir A, Rinott E, Tsaban G, et al.Effect of green-Mediterranean diet on intrahepatic fat: the DIRECT PLUS randomised controlled trial.Gut. 2021;70(11):2085-2095. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323106
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