Cooking with Heart: Unlocking Family Wellness and the Power of the Mediterranean Diet
- Danielle Mosser
- Feb 17, 2024
- 3 min read
During the pandemic, many of our family memories surrounded food and cooking – mainly because there wasn’t much to do. We started involving the whole family in planning meals, helping to prepare the ingredients, and enjoying each other’s company along with the tastes and smells of new foods.
We have always found joy in eating a variety of international cuisines and ingredients, yet we often found ourselves struggling on busy weeknights to come up with quick meals that are also healthy.
In researching some quick and healthy meals, we stumbled upon the concept of the Mediterranean diet and thought it would be good to incorporate it when we cooked at home. Keep reading to learn more about the Mediterranean diet and how it can help your family eat healthy and prepare meals quickly!
What is the Mediterranean Diet?
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada speaks highly of this diet on their website as a well-researched and supported eating plan for maintaining heart health.
According to Harvard Health Publishing (a publication of Harvard Medical School), the diet is based on eating foods which are abundant and available in countries in the Mediterranean region and border onto the Mediterranean Sea.
The foundation of the diet consists of:
Consuming more plant foods, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. These should be as minimally processed as possible.
Eating more fish, seafood, and poultry
Consuming less red meat
Using olive oil as a main source of fat
Low to moderate daily consumption of dairy products including cheese and yogurt
Choosing fresh fruit for dessert and snacks, while limiting consumption of sweets (Sources: The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Harvard Health Publishing)
Health Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet
As parents, we are working on trying to teach our kids healthy eating habits from a young age and attempting to curb habits of consuming too much processed food which has been proven to lead to health concerns later on. We want to focus on eating more fresh, whole foods to reap the health benefits and reduce health risks.
The Mediterranean diet has been proven to reduce risk of:
Heart/cardiovascular disease
some types of cancer
metabolic syndromes
depression
Type 2 diabetes
It has also been shown to increase cognitive and physical functions (Source: Harvard Health Publishing).
In addition, the cultural and behavioural aspects of this diet promote the sharing of meals together and eating slowly while communicating with each other.
These are key benefits to our busy family, as many families find themselves eating separately or consumed by other activities (i.e. TV or other screens) while eating.
Our Favourite Mediterranean Recipe Bloggers
Our family’s journey into healthier Mediterranean eating has led us to a number of food bloggers/vloggers from around the world whose recipes are not too difficult and taste delicious.
Chef Akis is proud of his Greek heritage, and focuses on cooking quick, healthy Greek dishes. His vlogs are lively and light-hearted, yet educational. He has a great sense of humour and on-camera presence. He truly makes cooking fresh Greek recipes seem easy, which our family loves.
A Few Recipes:
Albert Bevia is a self-taught home cook from Spain. Most of his recipes are either pescatarian, vegetarian, or vegan. His recipes are method-driven, including very specific instructions which is great for the kids to easily follow. He is passionate about using simple ingredients and introducing authentic and flavourful Spanish recipes to other home cooks.
Example Recipes:
Suzy Karadsheh grew up in Egypt, but now lives in the USA. She believes in sharing good food with people you love. Her recipes are easy and wholesome with big, bold Mediterranean flavours. She often draws on her heritage in her recipes and commentary. Being a busy mom herself, she offers a personal twist and a quick, modern take on preparing meals for loved ones. She does a great job of building confidence amongst other home cooks.
Recipe Samples:
All of our favourite Mediterranean recipe bloggers offer quick and fairly simple meals which we find especially convenient for busy weeknight family cooking!
Be sure to check out our Top 5 Stress-free Weeknight Family Activities for information on how we include our kids in weeknight meal preparation and for additional weeknight activity inspiration.
Stay tuned for our upcoming blog series where our family will try out and review some new Mediterranean diet recipes and learn more about how involving our kids in meal preparations benefits everyone!
How does your family incorporate healthy eating into your busy schedule? Let us know your thoughts and tips in the comments!
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