Living on a private Greek island may be out of the cards for most of us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t eat like we’re on a Mediterranean vacation (without leaving home). Research suggests that the Mediterranean diet doesn’t just promote a healthy body but can actually make us happier, too.
Courtesy of Greatist.com
Living on a private Greek island may be out of the cards for most of us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t eat like we’re on a Mediterranean vacation (without leaving home). Research suggests that the Mediterranean diet — consisting primarily of:Fresh fruits and vegetables
Whole grains
Beans
nuts and seeds
Herbs and spices
Olive oil
Occasional dairy, poultry, fish, and red winedoesn’t just promote a healthy body but can actually make us happier, too. The diet has been touted by organizations like the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic as a heart-healthy, cancer-fighting, diabetes-preventing eating plan [1] . But can it also boost our mood?
A recent study compared how foods from a traditional Mediterranean diet (specifically vegetables, fruit, olive oil, legumes, and nuts) affect the overall mood vs. a modern Western diet, heavy in sweets, soda, and certain fast food [2] . The proof is in the pudding (or the hummus). Participants who ate plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, olive oil, nuts, and legumes were much happier than those who chowed down on desserts, soda, and certain fast food. Interestingly, eating red meat and certain fast food put women in a bad mood but didn’t seem to affect the men. It’s worth noting that the researchers did not control for type of grains consumed— i.e., whether they were white, whole-grain, or gluten-free — so we don’t know how the type or amount of grains eaten influenced these results.