9 Food SWAPS for the Mediterranean Diet

💡 Curious to start the #mediterraneandiet but are not quite sure how? Then you’re in the right place!!

⚡️ I’ve got you covered ⚡️

— LINKS —
(When available, I use affiliate links and may earn from qualifying purchases.)

Due to recent requests, I am sharing with you my favorite ✨Med Diet Swaps✨ so that you can start eating the Med Diet and optimize your health NOW!

These swaps are so simple, you’ll be shocked at how easy they are to apply!

You’ll be walking away from this video charged up and READY to start eating this extremely beneficial diet, so that you can get ahead of your health and thrive.

Check out my fav kitchen tools for applying Mediterranean Diet cooking:
🍋 Large pot set: https://amzn.to/3Oeb8Io
🍋 Small pot (perfect for sauce!): https://amzn.to/3UebaE1
🍋 Colander set: https://amzn.to/3Sa9CZi
🍋 Cooking utensil set (silicone) : https://amzn.to/3vOQ2Ks
🍋 Oven mit and pot holder set: https://amzn.to/497sS0d
🍋 Blender (favorite for smoothies!): https://amzn.to/3SzlULW
🍋 Blender (favorite all around): https://amzn.to/3SAAm5t
🍋 Immersion blender: https://amzn.to/49dVXY3

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:05 Swap #9
3:09 Swap #8
4:14 Swap #7
5:14 Swap #6
6:36 Swap #5
7:24 Swap #4
8:17 Swap #3
9:00 Swap #2
10:05 Swap #1
11:24 BONUS Swap

Don’t forget to COMMENT BELOW what 1 simple thing you plan to do to start applying the Mediterranean Diet principles today 👇🏼

🫒 Watch my COMPLETE GUIDE video to Med Diet eating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q2T8wwA0Bk&t=452s

About Me:
I’m Anna Pleet, MD, and I love teaching people about healthy eating, especially foods from the Mediterranean area. My way of teaching is simple and easy to understand. I want to help you and your family eat in a way that’s both delicious and nutritious.

Connect with me:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCapta3PYCN2V4NQetFDnm-A
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annapleetmd
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@annapleetmd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annapleetmd/

👍🏼 If you like this video, please hit the thumbs-up button

✍🏽 leave a comment (I love to answer your questions)

🧑🏻‍💻 subscribe for more videos like this one.

Don’t forget to click the 🛎️ so you’ll know when I make a new video.

🥕 Share this with anyone who wants to learn about healthy eating 🥦

Take care of your health – it will make you feel great! 💫

Tags:
#annapleetmd #mediterraneandiet #hearthealthy #oliveoil #nutrition #healthyfats #mediterraneanfood #wholegrains #healthydiet #plantbaseddiet #wellness #healthylifestyle #healthyfood #healthy

One of the easiest ways to improve our eating is swapping out unhealthy foods for healthier ones and as a medical doctor I can assure you that this comes with more benefits than you even realize not only are swaps simple but they can enhance our health without us even

Trying and this comes without us needing to change most of the recipes that we’re already making we’ve all been here before we’re in our kitchen we’re standing in front of the fridge and we’re looking in thinking what do I make for dinner and then you remember you’re

Trying to eat healthier you want to lose a little weight you want to decrease the inflammation that you’re feeling in your joints and now you’re really confused wondering how you’re going to accomplish this so with these simple swaps you’re really making eating healthier more automatic for yourself by the end of

This video you’re going to master nine amazing Mediterranean diet swaps and at the end I’m going to reveal my bonus swap if you are a pasta lover like me hey there I’m Dr Anna I’m a medical doctor I was trained in Italy and on this channel you’re going to learn how

To master your health with the Mediterranean diet all right let’s break these swaps down coming in at number nine we have switching out butter or lard for olive oil butter and lard are very tasty fats they come from animals but we know that they also have high amounts of something called saturated

Fat and it just so happens that research shows that a large amount of saturated fat coming from animal sources is linked to increased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases things like atherosclerosis which increases your risk for heart attacks and strokes while these fats are super tasty the goal in

The Mediterranean diet is to improve our health for the long term and decrease our risk for diseases or things that are often going to kill us earlier in life olive oil instead has a lot of what are called unsaturated fatty acids or unsaturated fats they come in two varieties the polyunsaturated and the

Monounsaturated fatty acids and these are super beneficial for our health and in fact help decrease the risk for some of those same diseases that the saturated fat increases the risk for so in turn by eating things like olive oil more in our diet we’re actually going to

Help decrease our risk for heart disease or vascular diseases now practically speaking what is this going to look like well it’s not to say that we need to ban saturated fat sources from our diet overall absolutely not instead we’re going to switch out a typical time that

We would use butter or lard for example for olive oil so this can be in things like SA aing and stove top cooking whether we’re cooking vegetables meat or fish it’s so simple to use olive oil instead of butter now it is important to pay attention to any baking recipes

Because swapping out directly in a baking recipe is really not such a good idea there are certain kinds of cakes and baked goods that require a source of saturated fat instead of an unsaturated fat so if you’re wanting to use olive oil more in your diet but you are a

Baking lover I recommend looking up an olive oil cake for example and for a little bit more head-to-head comparison of butter and olive oil I have a video up here where I broke down some of the differences between the two and things to think about all right number eight we

Have swapping out store-bought salad dressings for a combination of oil and vinegar now typically salads are going to taste like whatever we dress them up as and when it comes to salad dressings if you’ve been to a grocery store lately you will see hundreds of them on the

Shelves there are so many flavors you can make your salad tastes like bacon and Maple and honey and mustard and ranch and blue cheese anything you can think of but the unfortunate thing is that a lot of these store-bought salad dressings are filled with added sugar lots of salt lots of chemicals and

Preservatives thickeners and other agents that add to a gummy texture but are not necessarily doing anything for our health the Mediterranean diet emphasizes whole simple ingredients that are flavorful and natural and so the easiest way to do this is just to put an oil like olive oil and any kind of an

Acid component of vinegar or even just lemon juice onto your salad to dress it up and make it pop this is one of the easiest ways to decrease added sugar in our diet overall coming in at number seven we have swapping out croutons for other crunchy bits like seeds now on

Something like a salad it is so nice to have a variety of textures it’s good to have some crunchy lettuce some juicy vegetables like tomato es maybe crisp cucumber and then something crunchy that just adds to the mouth feel of the whole salad experience and a typical thing

That’s put on salads in restaurants or pre-made salads in a grocery store are croutons which are nothing other than cut up pieces of bread dowed in seasoning and oil and baked to crispy Perfection but the problem with croutons is they add Zero nutritional benefit to us instead the Mediterranean diet

Emphasizes using foods and ingredients that add a lot of nutrition vitamins minerals healthy fats protein fiber and so by adding seeds to our salad we’re increasing almost all of those components without doing any work you can always get toasted seeds or roast some yourself with a little bit of salt

Maybe some seasoning to add to the flavor profile all right swap number six swapping out fatty red meat for fatty fish now here’s the thing A lot of people are really quick to claim that red meat is causing all kinds of problems in our health and we must avoid

It I would argue that that’s not really what the literature says about red meat instead it’s the quantity of red meat and the quality of that red meat that can cause some negative Health consequences overall red meat can be a component of a healthy and balanced diet

But we have to pay attention to the quantity and what often happens is that when we reach for things like meat as the main protein of our dinner we’re not going to incorporate a different kind of a protein at the same time so what I suggest here is to improve your health

For the long term and increase your nutrition overall by swapping out something like red meat for a fatty type of fish you’re actually automatically decreasing the amount of red meat that you’re eating because you would ideally be having the fish instead of the red meat at that meal but also you’re

Increasing the amount of healthy fatty acids like Omega-3s that are found in a lot of different types of fish and fish is one of the main Staples of the Mediterranean diet now for more information about different Omega-3s and which fish to include in your Mediterranean diet approach to eating I

Have a video for you up here so check that out all right our fifth swap is to swap out some sugary drinks like sodas and instead enjoy lots of healthy beverages so this one can be really tricky we have an addiction to soda in the western world and that’s because

Sodas are so tasty and they’re so plentiful in our communities but we know that they’re adding a lot of extra sugar into our diet and that Sugar causes a lot of negative health effects so so a good thing to do would be to swap out something like a soda that’s full of

Added sugar and instead enjoy something other kind of a tasty drink like sparkling water with some Citrus inside of it herbal tea or coffee it’s not so easy as to eliminate soda and instead replace it with water I know a lot of people complain that that’s really boring that’s why I’m suggesting

Selecting a different kind of a beverage that just happens to be healthy all right swap number four is to switch out heavy cream cheese or sour cream with protein Rich Dairy sources like a ricotta cheese or a cottage cheese now Dairy is not always the devil the kind

Of dairy we consume is really going to provide different levels of nutrition what I mean by that is a lot of the full fat Dairy sources is giving us lots of saturated fat in our diet which as we talked about before does lead to increased risk of things like heart

Disease but if we’re opting for dairy sources that provide a lot of protein this is one of the best ways to get more protein into our diet overall which is something that most of us need to be doing a lot of us are not eating enough protein and protein Rich Dairy sources

Can be one of the best ways a nice thing about a ricot cheese for example is that it can simply replace something like cream cheese you can spread it on toast enjoy it with sliced vegetables or other flavorings like lock salmon Mediterranean diet swap number three is to swap out store-bought pre-sliced

Bread for a fresh bread from a bakery now this is one that really is just about the quality of the food now the thing is when you get bread from a bakery The Taste is completely different than a bread that comes from the grocery store shelves the ingredients are

Fresher it often doesn’t even last as long but the flavor and the texture are just of another level and that is a core component of the Mediterranean diet to eat very fresh foods made from fresh ingredients now if you’re somebody who’s maybe living by yourself you can’t eat

An entire loaf of bread in just a few days before it goes stale you could always ask your bakery if they’re willing to sell you a a half loaf of bread Mediterranean diet swap number two is to switch out hot dogs for canned fish now a lot of you listening to this

Are probably thinking that makes no sense because the settings in which you’re going to eat a hot dog is nothing like eating canned fish but if you’re at home and you’re preparing your meals for yourself and you’re looking for a healthy source of protein that’s really fast there is a completely different

Amount of nutrition in canned fish like mackerel or sardines or even tuna than have having something like a hot dog the hot dog is adding so much added salt a lot of other chemicals like nitrites and nitrates which may have some negative health effects instead canned fish which

Is often of the fatty fish variety is going to provide us a great source of protein likely no added salt and a lot of healthy fatty acids like Omega-3s the nice thing is canned fish is ready to go it’s already cooked and you can just put

That on a salad very quickly all right we’re ready for swap number one before we dive into that I’d like you to please subscribe to this channel it helps get these videos out to more folks who really deserve to learn this information okay at number one we have swapping out

Sweetened sauces like barbecue sauce for healthful and flavorful herbs and spices and this is such a core component of the Mediterranean diet to use flavorful ingredients that don’t add any extra calories in the US we like to smother our dishes with these really thick creamy sauces Barb sauce honey mustard

Ketchup Mayo regular mustard but the Mediterranean diet is all about embracing really natural flavorful aromatic herbs and spices that add so many layers of flavor to our dishes without adding any sugar or other processed oils or chemicals now if you’re out at a restaurant a way you can

Do this is by ordering chicken wings that come with a dry rub or asking for meat or fish to be prepared in a way without a lot of extra sauce if there is sauce that comes with a dish ask for that to be put on the side and then you

Can flavor it yourself with some pepper chili flakes you name it but if you’re in your own kitchen you’re able to make a sauce yourself I definitely recommend something like a Greek tattii sauce that has a base in Greek yogurt which is really rich in protein and then with

Added flavorings like onion or garlic or lemon or even other herbs like mint that add a lot of flavor and are very nutritious all right if you’re still with me in this video then we are ready to dive into into the bonus swap for you now I call this a bonus swap because

This is not something that’s really about nutrition but more just about authentic Mediterranean eating it is to swap out alfredo sauce for pretty much anything else that you’d want to put on pasta now the truth is that alfredo sauce is really not something that comes from Italy it was sort of created by

Italian immigrants that came to America and started to invent their own dishes here while it’s tasty and creamy it’s really not that healthy for us instead I like to opt for really classic Italian ways of dressing up a pasta things like olive oil tomato sauce herbs like basil

Adding a little bit of garlic making your own pesto which has pine nuts and parmesan cheese or making your own Ragu or meat sauce all of these things are going to be so full of flavor delicious and not smothered in a cream sauce where you can’t really taste anything anyway

And if you are interested in knowing a little bit more about pasta and you wonder how this plays into our health overall I have a great video for you all about pasta check out that video and I’ll see you in there