What exactly do doctors mean by a “healthy diet”?

Many of us consider the Mediterranean diet to be the closest thing known to an ideal meal plan, rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, cereals, fish, olive oil and, yes, a bit of red wine with meals. Compared to traditional American menu — high in red meat and in butter and other dairy products — the Mediterranean diet is lower in saturated fat, more varied and often more satisfying.

Decades worth of research also suggests that this way of eating is healthier. Many studies have documented reduced rates of heart disease and cancer among those adhering to a Mediterranean diet, compared to those eating more red meat and dairy-based regimens. Most of these studies have involved observations rather than actual intervention trials, however, and they have varied in size.

Now the British Medical Journal has published a systematic compilation of a dozen of the most methodologically sound of these observational studies, which included over 1.5 million people followed for up to eighteen years, analyzing cardiovascular consequences and some other important health outcomes. This large meta-analysis found decreased cardiovascular death as well as cancer mortality, as well as a lowered incidence of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, in those following the Mediterranean diet versus those on other diets.

While such meta-analyses have limitations and cannot be considered as persuasive as large, randomized intervention trials, the new study further supports the idea that the Mediterranean diet can confer important health benefits.

Different diets abound, many even promoted by physicians. But it’s a mistake to think of a diet as a temporary measure; instead, it is a lifetime commitment to healthy choices. Need to lose weight now? Don’t rush. Take comfort in knowing that even a modest incremental reduction can confer significant health benefits, lowering your risk of heart disease or diabetes. Crash diets only set us up “yo-yo” weight loss and regain.

Whatever eating habits you adopt must be sustainable over the long term. Many researchers regard this as the Mediterranean diet’s greatest strength. You can stick to it, and like it, year after year.

How sad, then, to learn that a diet that whose adherents were among the longest-lived in the world is now fading from view. The governments of Greece, Italy, Spain and Morocco have asked that UNESCO designate the Mediterranean diet an “intangible piece of cultural heritage.” But as The Times recently reported, fast food is proliferating across the Mediterranean region, threatening to propagate a U.S.-style obesity epidemic.

In Greece, three-quarters of the adult population is now overweight or obese, and at increasing risk for diabetes, heart disease and arthritis, among other maladies. “Much of the highly praised diet didn’t exist any more,” said a senior economist at the United Nations. ”It has become just a notion.” Rather than turning our backs on this traditional diet, the new data suggest we could all derive substantial health benefits from it.

医生们所说的“健康饮食”到底指的是什么呢？

我们身边的大多数人都认为地中海居民的日常饮食最接近合理的饮食搭配。包括丰富的蔬菜，水果，豆类，谷物，鱼类，橄榄油等，还有一点配餐的红酒。和传统的美国人的菜单相比—包括大量的红肉和黄油，奶制品—地中海居民的日常饮食含有较低的饱和脂肪，种类更丰富并且更令人满意。

.数十年的研究表明这种饮食方式更健康。许多研究已经证明了和那些经常吃红肉和奶制品的生活习惯相比，坚持这种地中海饮食方式可以减少心脏疾病和癌症的发病率。这些研究中的大多数都是经过观察的，而不是进行实际干涉的实验，当然，他们之间有很大的区别。

目前英国药物杂志已经出版了一个关于方法上最合理的一些观察研究结果的系统编辑物，其中有150万人在长达18年的时间内参与了这项研究,分析出了一些有关心血管疾病的结果和一些其他重要的有关健康的结果.大量的荟萃分析发现与那些用其他饮食方式的人们相比,坚持地中海饮食方式可以降低心血管疾病和癌症的死亡率,同时也能降低帕金森病和阿尔兹罕默氏病的患病率.

然而这样的汇总分析是有限制的,不能被认为像那些大规模的随机性的干预实验那样有一样的诱导性,新的研究进一步支持了地中海饮食方式能带来重要的健康益处的说法.

不同的饮食习惯到处存在着，有些甚至是医师们提倡的。但是认为饮食习惯只是暂时的一种手段的想法是错误的。相反，它是一种贯穿终身的健康选择。现在就需要减肥吗？不要着急。静下心来想一想既使一种适度增加的减重也能带来巨大的健康益处，减少你患心脏病和糖尿病的风险。急速的饮食习惯只能让我们的体重像溜溜球一样减了又增，来回反复。

你所采取的任何一种饮食习惯都必须是长期持之以恒的。许多研究者认为这一点就是地中海饮食方式的长处。你要坚持它，喜欢它，年复一年。

令人悲伤的是从观察中得知那些世界上最长寿的人们中的一些健康饮食方式的追随者们，正面临着消亡。希腊，意大利，西班牙和摩洛哥的政府正要求联合国教科文组织将地中海饮食方式认定为一种“无形的文化遗产。”但是根据时代的最近报道指出，快餐已经在地中海地区蔓延开来，一种美国式的肥胖传染病正快速传播开来构成威胁。

在希腊,有四分之三的成年人正处于超重或肥胖的状态,并且在各项疾病中糖尿病,心脏病,关节炎有增涨的风险.“大部分被高度推崇的饮食习惯已不再存在，”联合国的一位资深的经济学家说。“这已经变成了一种概念。”新的数据建议我们都能从传统的饮食方式上获得实质上的健康益处，而不是弃之不用了。