Top 12 Must-Eat FOODS for Mediterranean Diet Beginners

0:00 if I were just starting out eating the Mediterranean diet these are the top 12 foods that I'd include in my diet right away hey there I'm Dr Anna I'm a medical doctor I was trained in Italy and on this channel you are going to learn how to master your health with the Mediterranean diet so let's just Dive Right into our list at the top of our list in number one place we have olive oil or olives now I don't think this would come as a surprise to many of you because the Mediterranean diet is really famous for including an abundance of olive oil olives grow naturally around the Mediterranean Sea and a lot of the cultures around the Mediterranean have been eating olive oil for centuries if not Millennia we know that olive oil is one of the healthiest oils on the planet for us it has such a great nutrition

0:46 profile with lots of mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids these are the fatty acids that are really good for our heart health not to mention olive oil has a lot of other properties like anti-inflammatory antioxid properties and even some anti-cancer properties there are lots of different phytonutrients in olive oil that make it so healthy but it's not just the nutrition of olive oil that makes it such an amazing food it is so versatile and so plentiful with different types of flavors there are a lot of different varieties of olive oil you could have olive oil tastings much like a wine tasting where you're going to extract and detect some different aromatic properties things that remind you of flowers or different herbs or plants so it's not uncommon to try different types

1:33 of olive oil that taste completely different from one another all right our second food on the list is sardines now sardines are one of these small oily little fishes that grow in the Mediterranean Sea and they're also super healthy for us they provide us with a lot of omega-3 fatty acids and they just happen to go with so many different types of foods you could encorporate them into salads you could eat them on crackers or flatbreads or even have them on a Pizza something I love so much about sardines is that we can buy them canned and that means we can be eating them year round since they come can to us often in the grocery store they're going to last on our Shelf for a little while so this is one of those food items that I sort of always have in my house and if I'm running a little bit low on groceries I know that I have a healthy

2:19 source of protein and fat right there waiting for me if I need to eat in a pinch all right the third food on our list is of course going to be Tomatoes now this is also not going to to surprise many of you tomatoes are one of those incredible foods that is an absolute Staple in the Mediterranean Cuisines like Italian food and Spanish food tomatoes are so versatile we can eat them raw when they're in season there are so many different varieties we have small cherry tomatoes grape tomatoes then there are Aroma Tomatoes plum tomatoes and then we have those heirloom wild variety tomatoes that can taste so incredible I lived in the south of France for a summer when I was was in college and I have such strong memories of walking through the farmers market in

3:05 the town of anti in the French Riviera and smelling all of the different Aromas and buying these tomatoes that are literally the size of your face they are huge and when you cut into one of these Tomatoes it almost tastes like something you've never had before just a wild amount of flavor that comes out of these tomatoes so Tomatoes can of course be enjoyed raw in a tomato salad or a classic Mediterranean salad of chopped tomatoes cucumbers maybe onion feta cheese some parsley vinegret or you could have a Capra style salad sliced tomato with fresh mozzarella basil uh it's to die for but tomatoes are also really great for cooking of course I could not mention tomatoes without talking about pasta sauce there are so

3:51 many different amazing pasta sauces that have a base in tomatoes and tomatoes are also an excellent base for a super a stew so you can really get creative with to use tomatoes in your kitchen and something I love about tomatoes is that if we are making them into a sauce we can then jar it or can that sauce or even just buy pre-canned tomatoes and enjoy it all year long so if you're living in a part of the world where you have a strong winter season and tomatoes do not grow all year round that is one of the best ways to keep tomatoes in your diet at any time of the year all right fourth on our list we have garlic now garlic is one of these ancient foods that has been incorporated into so many diets around the world because it is so flavorful and it adds a lot of Dimension to cooking but it's not just tasty it's really really healthy for us there's a

4:37 lot of research about how garlic has lots of anti-inflammatory properties antioxidant properties anti-cancer properties it's good for a ton of different diseases like chronic diseases and it's known to be really good for our digestive and immune systems now there's not enough ways that you could use garlic you could put it into sauces soups stews you could mince it down and saut it with fet vegetables you can garnish fish or meat with it it's just one of those things that has such versatility something that my family always liked to do when I was growing up was to roast a whole head of garlic and then when you take it out of the oven and it's really soft you could squeeze out the cloves and spread that on a piece of toast now I have a cooking tutorial for you up here where I show you just how to do that so check out that video if you're interested and then if you're interested in learning a

5:23 little bit more about garlic and all of its Health properties I have a link in the description below to an article that does a really nice summary of the health benefits of garlic it's a little bit sciency but for those of you out there that are really looking for that level of detail I got you covered all right now in our fifth place we have garbanzo beans which are otherwise known as chickpeas so these are one of the healthiest foods on the planet and like a lot of other Foods on this list they're really versatile chick bees are often eaten in the spreadable form known as humus now this is where you blend them down and you add things like olive oil tahini or ground Sesame paste Maybe maybe some lemon juice maybe some garlic or some other spices and you can get really creative with flavoring up your humus but chickpeas do not only have to be eaten in this form they can be

6:09 enjoyed as is in a salad or with some roasted vegetables or even roasted on their own as a crispy snack and Beyond the versatility of chickpeas they're also providing us a whopping amount of nutrition about 10 G of fiber in just one cup of chickpeas and if you know a little bit about fiber the goal is as an adult to hit around 26 to 30 G of fiber a day or roughly 28 gram a day so if in one meal you're eating a cup of chickpeas that's providing you 10 G of fiber you're nearly halfway done for the day all right the sixth food on our list is cucumber now cucumber is one of those really easy to eat vegetables it is just good as it is by itself but it's also fantastic for any kind of salad you can

6:54 imagine whether this is a Greek style salad with tomatoes Red Onion feta cheese or chop down into the Mediterranean salad that I mentioned before which is seen in so many cultures around the Mediterranean Sea Cucumbers are also known to be as a very cooling type of a vegetable and that's why it's so good in some of these yogurt dips like a tsiki now I like to just chop down cucumber and use it to dip into different types of spreads into things like humus saiki sauce babagan whichever you'd like and if this video is working for you so far and you like what you hear I'd like you to please subscribe scribe to this channel because believe it or not it actually helps get this information out to more folks who really deserve to learn this information all right so coming in at number seven on our list of Mediterranean foods that you

7:41 want to eat it is anchovies now just like sardines in our number two spot anchovies are super healthy for us these oily little fishes come packed with omega-3 fatty acids they have a really strong flavor and so for those of you that are not into a very fishy Aroma this might not be something that you're going to go for but I promise you if you pair it the right way into a salad on a flatbread or on a pizza it can be incredible and for those of you in North America it's really popular to eat Caesar salad and often that's going to come with anchovies it is just one of my favorite things again it's going to come canned just like the sardines so it's very long lasting in our Pantry Shelf it's never a bad idea to just have a little can of anob bees around all right coming in at number eight on our list we

8:27 have Greek yogurt now this is is probably not going to surprise that many of you but you may realize that the Mediterranean diet deemphasizes a lot of animal foods and products so there's less Dairy overall in the Mediterranean approach to eating but Greek yogurt is sort of one of these exceptions to the rule because it is so healthy for our gut bacteria having all of those probiotics is really good for our digestive system not to mention that Greek yogurt is so high in protein and for a lot of us out there we're often not eating enough protein to to meet our needs so Greek yogurt is one of those easy foods to include that is just going to help boost up that protein level and what's nice about Greek yogurt is its versatility as well you can eat it with your breakfast and sort of in a breakfast yogurt parfait style but it is

9:14 not limited to that Greek yogurt is a fantastic base for a yogurt dip like a satii sauce or you could make it even spicy you could sort of make your own recipe adding a little bit of lemon juice a little bit of garlic some herbs or spices you can get fancy with it but I cannot emphasize enough how fantastic Greek yogurt is to have in your fridge so coming in at number nine on our list of top Mediterranean diet foods it is fresh herbs and this can be really any kind of herb you want but the famous ones are often basil rosemary thyme oregano and these herbs when they're fresh are so full of flavor you can chop them into your cooking you can garnish a salad and leave them raw and plain as they are or you could even let them dry out and then you have them available for

10:00 putting into sauces soups and stews garnishing fish or chicken or meat if you're cooking that there's just not enough things you could do with herbs in your kitchen herbs and spices are one of the most powerful tools that you have for cooking healthfully it's a nice way to add a lot of flavor to your cooking without adding calories or sodium often things that are going to come in a lot of those thickened sweetened sauces that most people are using to garnish up their meals and quite honestly herbs are just so darn Mediterranean all right then coming in at number 10 on our list we have eggplant and a lot of Italians might be upset for me to say this but as an Italian Poor Man's or poor person's steak the concept is that eggplant can be used in so many different cooking

10:47 methods because of its texture you can Grill it you can sauté it you can deep fry it you could steam it you could boil it you could mash it up into a sauce a classic Mediterranean dip is called Baba Gan so this is going to be a roasted eggplant that then is going to have some roasted tomatoes or Red Pepper or some spices and olive oil and is just so delicious if you're not used to cooking with eggplant I cannot emphasize enough how fantastic it is to have in your kitchen all right we're almost done with our list at our number 11 spot we have Ancient Grains now why am I calling them ancient well the thing about the Mediterranean diet is that this is a way of eating that's been practiced or that's been followed for centuries if not Millennia so a lot of the foods that

11:33 were harvested hundreds and thousands of years ago are the classical types of grains that are included in a Mediterranean approach to eating these are going to be things like emmer in corn or spelt which are different varieties of wheat we would also have barley and oats Pharaoh fra and bulgar and if some of these names are brand new to you that is okay we're all here to learn and all of these grains are going to be a source of carbohydrate in our diet but but they're all complex cars they're providing our body with a good amount of fiber a lot of them have a little bit of protein in there and they all are plentiful in minerals and vitamins they're versatile you can have them on the side of a dinner like a rice you could have them with a salad like a grain bowl and if you're curious to see an example of this I have a recipe

12:18 tutorial up here for a pharaoh bowl that you can make along with me so if you're interested you could check out that video after but there's not enough time in this video for me to really dig into the details about all the wonderful things about Ancient Grains so I have a nice video in the description below from an article from the group old ways that describes a little bit more about some of these whole greens it's really interesting so check out that article after if you're interested all right so drum roll please are we ready for the last item on our list this is going to be lemon now lemon is one of those foods that you can do so much with and it adds so much Dimension to your cooking having an acidic component is going to lift up any dish that you create and some people even have the experience of craving lemons now how are you going to cook

13:05 with this well of course it's the perfect garnish for seasoning and lifting up vegetables fish meat you could use it as a vinegret on a salad or a marinade for any of these foods but it's not only for the Savory dishes there are some Specialties of Mediterranean Cuisine that include lots of lemon flavor in desserts one of my favorite things that I enjoyed when I was living in Italy is the granita Cil Iana so this is that frozen icy sorbetto type of a thing that has a strong lemon flavor and a lot of us who maybe are from the United States are used to something called Italian ice well this is where that concept comes from it is one of the most refreshing things you can have especially In the Heat of the summer so now I'd like you to comment below and share with us which of these

13:50 foods and ingredients are you enjoying in your cooking which ones are you reaching for all the time and have you never tried some of them comment and share with us below I would love to see some of your best recipes so we can swap them around in this amazing Vibrant Community but if you're ready to dive into how to throw these all together to start cooking amazing Mediterranean diet meals I have my complete guide up here that you're going to want to jump in for ideas for your breakfast lunch dinner even snacks and desserts check out that video I'll see you in there