Eat more vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, whole grains and olive oil, with fish instead of meat most days. It sounds ordinary because it is. It is also the best-tested way of eating in medicine, and it earns its Strong grade the usual way: a big randomised trial with heart attacks and strokes as endpoints.
The PREDIMED trial randomised about 7,400 people at high cardiovascular risk to a Mediterranean diet plus extra-virgin olive oil, the same diet plus nuts, or general low-fat advice. Over roughly five years, both Mediterranean arms had about 30% fewer major cardiovascular events than the advice group. Randomised evidence with hard outcomes is rare in nutrition; this is the exception.
Doing it: Cook with olive oil. Vegetables at most meals. Swap red and processed meat for beans, lentils or fish on most days, and snack on nuts rather than biscuits or crisps. You do not need to buy a plan; the trial arms were food, not supplements.
Who it suits: Almost everyone. If you change one thing about how you eat, change this.
Sources
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