Implementing the Mediterranean Diet

Implementing the Mediterranean Diet: Nutrition in Practice and Public Health situates this ‘gold standard’ of diets within the wider food environment by bridging the gap between the evidence-based health benefits of the Mediterranean diet and its implementation. The text explores the many approaches that can be used by health professionals to help consumers adopt this healthy eating pattern, as well as the barriers encountered with implementing this diet at home and in the wider environment. It also considers sustainable food and farming practices, and national food strategies.

A one-stop resource for food and health professionals, this seminal text demonstrates the full range of benefits that the Mediterranean diet can bring to society. This ground-breaking book:

Gives an in-depth review of the effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet in disease prevention and the management of chronic diseases Contextualises the diet within the food environment, showing why the whole dietary pattern and minimizing the consumption of highly processed foods are both so important Shows how to implement the Mediterranean diet, motivating and guiding consumers to make the transition Addresses the practical and behavioural barriers to food choice in terms of taste, cost, variety, convenience and animal welfare concerns

Implementing the Mediterranean Diet is a must-have resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in the food sciences, and for healthcare professionals such as dietitians, nutritionists, GPs, and health workers, especially those working in non-Mediterranean, high-income countries.

Dr Richard Hoffman PhD RNutr FRSA is a former senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, UK with over 20 years experience teaching nutrition and biomedical sciences to undergraduates and postgraduates, running short courses on the Mediterranean diet for dietitians, and extensive cancer research experience. He is the author of two previous books on the Mediterranean diet - The Mediterranean Diet: Health and Science and More Healthy Years: Why a Mediterranean diet is best for you and for the planet. He serves on the editorial board of Public Health Nutrition.

List of Contributors

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

PART 1 The evidence base for the Mediterranean diet

1. The Mediterranean diet in health care and disease prevention

2. Overview of the Med diet

3. Epidemiological evidence base

4. Epidemiological evidence - Health outcomes

5. How the Med diet works

6. Foods of the Med diet: nutrients and health benefits

7. The Med diet compared to other mainstream diets

PART 2 Implementing a Mediterranean diet

8. Personal barriers and enablers to consuming a Med diet

9. Enhancing consumption of foods in the Med diet - general considerations

10. Enhancing consumption of foods in the Med diet

11. The Med diet in the home

12. The Med diet in the food environment

13. The Mediterranean diet in primary health care

14. Case studies

15. The Med diet as part of a sustainable food and farming system

16. Governance and the Med diet

Index