What's the Atlantic diet? A variation on Mediterranean eating shows benefits.

[Jilly_in_VA]

The “Atlantic diet” — what some experts are calling a variation on Mediterranean eating — is getting some buzz after a study found adherents to the diet had a significantly lower risk of chronic health problems.

Both diets stress the importance of eating fresh fruit, vegetables, fish or other seafood, and the use of olive oil, as well as moderate amounts of wine.

The Atlantic diet consists of foods traditionally eaten in northwest Spain and Portugal. It recommends three to four servings a week of both seafood and lean meat, a variety of seasonal vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and olive oil.

One of the main differences between the Atlantic diet and the Mediterranean diet is that the Atlantic version incorporates more brassicas, which is a family of vegetables that includes turnip greens, turnips, kale, cabbage and cauliflower, said Mar Calvo-Malvar, an attending specialist in laboratory medicine at the University Clinical Hospital of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and a principal investigator of the Galiat Study, a clinical trial focused on the Atlantic diet.

https://wapo.st/3UGhx3l

Husband and I have been eating a combo Mediterranean-Atlantic diet (with the occasional foray into Asian) for a couple of years and didn't even know it!

[hlthe2b]

1. The diet also typically incorporates more seafood, DAIRY and lean cuts of meat-- IMPORTANT to note

I eat a lot of homemade yogurt and there is a reason why ALL dairy should not be considered unhealthy--(even full-fat) active cultured yogurt, kefir, and cottage cheese are compatible with an otherwise Mediterranean diet. There is a reason why the Bulgarians with their essentially Atlantic diet but with heavy emphasis on cultured dairy and other fermented foods are among the longest-lived people.

Further, the original Mediterranean diet likewise includes cultured dairy, but that has been overlooked in an attempt to stress the emphasis on plant foods.