The Mediterranean diet is gaining popularity as a healthy and sustainable eating plan. Health professionals recommend it to individuals with chronic conditions like heart disease or high blood pressure to reduce the risks of heart disease, dementia, and depression. 

Our food choices have a significant impact on our physical and mental well-being, as well as our daily functioning. Adopting healthy and natural eating practices like the Mediterranean diet benefits both our bodies and the planet. 

What is the Mediterranean diet? 

The Mediterranean diet isn’t a strict diet plan but rather a way of eating based on the dietary traditions of Crete, Greece, and Southern Italy during the mid-20th century. They believed that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, whole grains, fish, olive oil, small amounts of dairy, and red wine offered extensive health benefits. 

The diet emphasizes healthy fats, with olive oil being a recommended primary fat source. It highlights other foods like avocados, nuts, and oily fish for their beneficial fats, particularly omega-3 fatty acids in walnuts and fish.

The Mediterranean diet suggests consuming fish at least twice a week, while people should consume poultry, eggs, and dairy products in smaller portions daily or weekly. Eating red meat is limited to a few times per month. 

A typical breakfast on the Mediterranean diet could consist of mashed avocado spread on whole-grain toast, accompanied by fresh fruit and a low-fat Greek yogurt. For lunch or dinner, a recommended meal might include a vegetable and grain dish cooked with olive oil and seasoned with herbs. This could include roasted root vegetables, leafy greens, a side of hummus, and small portions of pasta or whole grain bread. As a source of lean protein, grilled fish is often suggested.

The diet encourages water as the primary beverage, with moderate consumption of wine allowed during meals. 

The ultimate hummus recipe

According to a Harvard nutrition study the Mediterranean diet effectively reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and overall mortality. For instance, a study involving nearly 26,000 women found that those who followed this diet had a 25% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease over 12 years.

Similarly, a meta-analysis of 16 studies with over 22,000 women showed that individuals with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had a 24% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 23% lower risk of premature death than those with insufficient compliance. Sustainability has become a significant focus of the food discussion, particularly concerning climate change and food security. Researchers, farmers, and policymakers are seeking effective ways to feed the growing global population of 9.7 billion by 2050. 

In what ways is the diet personally and environmentally sustainable?

The diet conserves water by choosing less water-intensive foods like whole grains compared to beef. Fruits and vegetables are also more water-efficient choices  It also conserves land by reducing reliance on agricultural land for animal-based products. 

The Mediterranean diet decreases the need for fertilizers by incorporating nitrogen-absorbing legumes like chickpeas. Legumes such as beans, lentils, and peas, decrease fertilizer requirements and enrich the soil when decomposing, benefiting subsequent crops. This sustainable process allows pulses to be grown eco-friendly and reduces the resources needed for other Mediterranean diet staples like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. 

The Mediterranean diet is personally sustainable because it offers an enjoyable eating experience. It includes delicious foods, promotes physical health, and encourages mindful consumption. While following this eating pattern can lead to weight loss and improved health, it primarily involves adopting a long-term lifestyle change with sustainable benefits!

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Tomatoes and cucumbers may be summer memories, but the craving for good salad doesn’t go away just because it’s winter. Please meet a vegetable that satisfies those salad cravings: kohlrabi.

Have you ever gazed at kohlrabi in the supermarket and wondered what on earth you could do with that strange, bumpy vegetable? 

Here’s the news: you can cook it, but even better, make salad.

Being of the cabbage family, kohlabi’s mild flavor asks for a little zing from something acid. Its crunchy texture marries well with a creamy dressing, as coleslaw does.

But don’t reach for the mayonnaise: chef Yotam Ottolenghi developed a sophisticated salad of diced kohlrabi dressed in yogurt and sour cream and brightened with winter herbs. It takes minutes to put the refreshing, tangy salad together, and it keeps in the fridge for a day if there are leftovers.

Ottolenghi’s Kohlrabi Salad (from Jerusalem, A Cookbook)

3 medium kohlrabies

1/3 cup Greek yogurt

5 tablespoons sour cream

3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese

1 small, crushed garlic clove

1-1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons finely shredded fresh mint

1 teaspoon dried mint

A handful of baby watercress (Note: I used mixed baby salad leaves)

1/4 teaspoon sumac powder

Salt and white pepper to taste

Peel the kohrabies and chop into dice about 2/3″ – 1.5 cm. big. Place the chopped kohlrabi in a bowl.

Make the dressing in a separate bowl. Combine the yogurt, sour cream, mascarpone, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Whisk the dressing until smooth. (Note: I made the dressing the day before and kept it, covered, in the fridge.) 

Gently stir the dressing into the chopped kohlrabi. Mix the fresh and dried mint in, plus half the watercress.  

Note: Taste the salad for seasoning and don’t be afraid to add a little more lemon, garlic, salt or pepper to taste. Just take it easy; you don’t want to overpower the dressing.

Pile the salad up on a serving dish. Sprinkle sumac over it and top it with the remaining watercress. 

Leftovers made a fine lunch next day, with a couple of hamine eggs (recipe included in our Ultimate Ful and Hummus post) and pita.

The post Ottolenghi’s Kohlrabi Salad appeared first on Green Prophet.

The glass jar salad trend is currently raging on Pinterest with hundreds of free recipes floating elsewhere online. These perfectly portable (and recyclable!) containers never spill and are ideal for night-before prep, so you can just grab-and-go the next morning. The jars’ ability to hold strategically layered fruit, grains, veggies and dressing  without creating a soggy mess underpins their popularity.  Making them is simple, and an ideal way to use leftovers.

You’ve seen these delicious eco-meals for sale at hipster food shops. Here are the dance steps to making your own at home:

1. Start with a wide-mouthed Mason jar. You can buy them in a variety of sizes at home goods and hardware stores. IKEA even sells them.
2. The first layer of the Mason jar salad is always the dressing. (Alternatively, add dressing last, stored in a nifty paper “cup”. Take a 6 inch square of parchment or wax paper, cover the top of the food-filled jar, make a dent (or bowl) in the center and pour in your dressing. Cap the jar tightly – trim excess paper – and the dressing is segregated until chow time.)
3. The second layer creates a barrier between the dressing and delicate, absorbent ingredients such as leafy greens, tomatoes, rice, and pasta. Use hearty vegetables that would do well in a marinade: tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, celery, carrots, and peppers are all good choices.
4. Softer foods like cooked beans, mushrooms, squash, sprouts, avocado and corn go in the third layer. These items won’t swim in the dressing all day, but it won’t be catastrophic if they take a dip.
5. This fourth layer is for pasta and grains. Rice, couscous, freekah and quinoa are good choices – filling and inexpensive, but ideally kept undressed until serving.
6. The fifth layer is for hardcore proteins such as meat, eggs, and cheese.
7. The final layer is reserved for everything that is best kept dry. Greens will stay crisper, nuts crunchier if left to the Mason jar’s penthouse.

There are zillions of recipes online for both dressings and full salads.  Your local farmer’s market will inspire many more ideas. I expect this will be the perfect solution for school meals, plus it eliminates ziplock bags, paper sacks, and lunch boxes. (My kid brings along a reusable fork and bowl, eating out of a jar is a tad awkward in the end.)

Home-packed lunches are the better choice for your health and your waistline, and you’ll save a significant amount of money bypassing takeaway.

Image of a Mason jar salad from Village Green Network

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