BOSTON — Oldways Preservation Trust, a food issues think tank that promotes healthy, traditional and sustainable food choices, unveiled a revised Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, which is notable for its "whole diet" approach.
As part of the changes, the updated pyramid has combined all plant foods into a single group.
"This change conveys the importance of eating a food or foods from this plant-based group — fruits, vegetables, grains (mostly whole), beans, seeds, nuts, olive oil, herbs and spices (a new addition to this pyramid, too) — at every meal to achieve maximum health benefits," Oldways said.
Another key change is the recommendation to eat fish at least twice a week.
Finally, Oldways has updated the illustration "to get consumers interested and excited about the delicious and healthy foods of the Mediterranean Diet."
The updates to the pyramid come on the heels of a November meeting of an international group of scientific experts. Suggestions by the scientists were then added to the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.