I have not eaten meat for the past 31 years. My kids have never eaten it. My itty bitty grandkids either. It's a beautiful tradition. Good for health, lives of animals, sustenance of Earth.

Turns out I have been eating Blue Zone since my 20s and never knew it.

Mediterranean: Minimal meat. Fish is better than meat. More vegetables than you imagine. Fresh fruits throughout the day. Olive oil. Yogurt. You know, Blue Zone.

Small breakfast. Big lunch, medium dinner.

And always dessert!

I'm not thin but in good shape and have maintained weight for years without dieting. I exercise in moderation.

I eat three meals a day and don't snack, except maybe a few squares of dark chocolate in the afternoon.

I drink 1 cup of coffee with whole milk. I only eat bread for breakfast (bread with cheese, bread with egg and cheese, bread with avocado, etc.). Sometimes I eat oatmeal. Never cereal.

I don't eat desserts (no sweet tooth). I eat one serving of fruit most but not all days.

I eat all kinds of meat, but the ratio of meat to vegetables is 1:3 or less. I eat a lot of Asian vegetables like Napa cabbage, all kinds of bok choi, kimchi. Also eggplants, cauliflower, asparagus, Brussels sprouts. The only vegetable I don't eat is carrots. Often I eat my meat and veggies with rice, sometimes with pasta, rarely with potatoes. Also love seafood and tofu.

I don't eat after dinner and limit alcohol to one drink, generally, not because of calories, but because of how I feel next day.

I feel hungry before meals and full after meals, and THAT is probably the most important point to make.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is news to you, OP?

Yes. Not the Mediterranean/plant based diet being healthiest, but the poor statistics in what people eat (rather aren’t) eating. One large apple is probably 1.5 cups worth fruit. I can’t believe only 10-12% of people are eating more than 1.5 servings of fruit/vegetables Per day

I personally dislike most fruits. They’re too sweet. I only eat them in a smoothie or in a salad.

My Mother in law is 90. It is amazing how terribly she eats. All the "wrong" things, Donuts and muffins for breakfast. Fruit is always topped with sugar. Veggies have butter and salt. Sandwiches (on white) have lunch meat and butter and mayo, Processed snacks. Dinner always has meat usually beef. They do eat fish. Her sister is similar. I think most of it is genetics.

My mom eats like this. She'll have a hot dog and a cigarette for lunch at age 80. I do her Instacart orders for her and there's always pop tarts and kid's cereal. She's 80 and has no major health issues (not even from 60+ years of smoking!) Her overall calories are probably low - she's always been borderline underweight, so maybe that's the difference. My dad took much better care of himself and died suddenly at 51.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is news to you, OP?

Yes. Not the Mediterranean/plant based diet being healthiest, but the poor statistics in what people eat (rather aren’t) eating. One large apple is probably 1.5 cups worth fruit. I can’t believe only 10-12% of people are eating more than 1.5 servings of fruit/vegetables Per day

A large apple is not 1.5 cups of fruit, so you are probably overestimating your own fruit/vegetable intake

Anonymous wrote:Possible to overdo it on spinach? I drink a spinach shake daily and it consists of multiple cups of spinach.

only if you are prone to kidney stones and/or there are toxic chemicals sprayed on the leaves.

Anonymous wrote:My father is 96yo and is in amazing physical health - perfect blood pressure, takes long daily walks.

This is what he eats:

Breakfast:
one egg
one yogurt
one banana
grapes
often a kiwi
a thick slice of pinneaple
a few pieces of mango
some strawberries
a small cup of espresso

Meal - generally one large meal a day
Split pea soup (he loves this and eats it almost daily)
one broiled chicken thigh or 3 oz fish
vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, might have a small potato included but not usually
fried plantains
often (but not always) avocado

snack: homemade fruit juice

dinner: sweets!! He loves sweets and will always have a piece of dessert!

Note: all frying is done with olive oil and there is often oil on the veggies (not margarine or butter)

When he was younger, he ate less fruit, more fish, would have nuts and a drink after work and often have wine with dinner. As he got older, he cut those things out and has time to walk more.

My Mother in law is 90. It is amazing how terribly she eats. All the "wrong" things, Donuts and muffins for breakfast. Fruit is always topped with sugar. Veggies have butter and salt. Sandwiches (on white) have lunch meat and butter and mayo, Processed snacks. Dinner always has meat usually beef. They do eat fish. Her sister is similar. I think most of it is genetics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My father is 96yo and is in amazing physical health - perfect blood pressure, takes long daily walks.

This is what he eats:

Breakfast:
one egg
one yogurt
one banana
grapes
often a kiwi
a thick slice of pinneaple
a few pieces of mango
some strawberries
a small cup of espresso

Meal - generally one large meal a day
Split pea soup (he loves this and eats it almost daily)
one broiled chicken thigh or 3 oz fish
vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, might have a small potato included but not usually
fried plantains
often (but not always) avocado

snack: homemade fruit juice

dinner: sweets!! He loves sweets and will always have a piece of dessert!

Note: all frying is done with olive oil and there is often oil on the veggies (not margarine or butter)

When he was younger, he ate less fruit, more fish, would have nuts and a drink after work and often have wine with dinner. As he got older, he cut those things out and has time to walk more.

That diet sounds like it's under 1000 calories a day

Oh no no no..not with all that fruit it's not. Did you not see "sweets"?? This diet is closer to 3500 cal.

How did they find out how much people are eating? I thought I probably didn’t eat 1.5 cups of fruit a day until you said 1.5 cups is one apple. Maybe they asked people who assumed they ate less?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mediterranean is not the best diet overall.
Vegans win every single time!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv_ykZr_8cc

LOL!. Another vegan deprived of animal fat... hence slow brain function.

The statistical data proves otherwise, clearly you are not a registered dietitian. Good luck with your high cholesterol, diabetes, and dementia.

Which are super normal at 51 after eating lard as a kid.
And I m thin too!! Hahaha.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mediterranean is not the best diet overall.
Vegans win every single time!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv_ykZr_8cc

LOL!. Another vegan deprived of animal fat... hence slow brain function.

The statistical data proves otherwise, clearly you are not a registered dietitian. Good luck with your high cholesterol, diabetes, and dementia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nutritionist told me 2 cups of fruit is too much sugar for my 50 yo body.

If you aren’t diabetic or almost, 2 cups of fruit shouldn’t be a problem
At all

Well I’m not and it was.

No, it wasn’t. You need a new nutritionist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nutritionist told me 2 cups of fruit is too much sugar for my 50 yo body.

Your nutritionist is a whack job, unless you are diabetic.
Selling you some mumbo-jumbo nonsense. I
Think about it, she is saying that two apples per day is too much fruit?
And you are paying her?
People just love wasting money!

There are unfortunately a lot of stupid nutritionists out there, and you have one. Switch.

Well she was right so

Gosh, pp you are proving yourself not to have been so great at sarcasm as you would like us to think... as in, the nutritionist said that you ditched them and went on eating fruit after a while.
I assume it was not your two cups of fruit that caused you to lose and then gain the weight back! As if two cups of fruit are the true culprit of your weight gain! You could have just had a cup less of rice or a few ounces less of meat!

Anonymous wrote:Mediterranean is not the best diet overall.
Vegans win every single time!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv_ykZr_8cc

LOL!. Another vegan deprived of animal fat... hence slow brain function.