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Over the decades, you’ve tried every diet imaginable — Atkins, Weight Watchers, SlimFast, Zone, Blood Type, South Beach — even the Master Cleanse. And while you shed 10, 20, even 30 pounds, eventually you regain them all — and more.
But there is one eating plan that’s different. Focusing primarily on plant-based foods and healthy fats such as olive and canola oils, the Mediterranean diet has long been known for its heart-health benefits (and, more recently, its brain-boosting effect). But major studies show that this eating plan is also effective for both losing and maintaining weight, especially among older adults.
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A 2016 review published in the American Journal of Medicine, for example, found that people who eat this way lose between 9 and 22 pounds and still keep it off after a year. Another 2016 study, published in the medical journal the Lancet, followed people between the ages of 55 and 80 for five years and revealed that those who followed a Mediterranean-style diet — and, notably, one that wasn’t at all calorie restricted — lost at least some weight and gained less fat around their midsection than a control group did.
“The Mediterranean diet isn’t so much a ‘diet’ as it is a lifestyle,” explains Julie Upton, a San Francisco–based registered dietitian and coauthor of The Real Skinny: Appetite for Health's 101 Fat Habits & Slim Solutions. “Simply choosing the foods that are consistent with the Mediterranean food pyramid are bound to be beneficial for your waistline because they provide more filling fiber and calorie-poor fruits and veggies.”
There are also specific reasons for the plan's weight-loss benefits for people over 50. “It’s a high-protein diet, both from animal sources, such as fatty fish, and plant sources, such as legumes,” notes Kate Patton, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. This is important for older adults, who need protein to help stave off age-related muscle loss, which lowers your metabolism.
Because the diet is rich in healthy fats such as the monounsaturated kind in olive oil, nuts and avocados, it helps you feel fuller, so you’re more content with less food. And it's low in added sugars, which is important given that the older you are, the more likely you are to develop insulin resistance. (One study showed that following the Mediterranean diet lowers your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 52 percent.)
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