The 2022 Winter Olympics are now part of history. Another 2022 competition also recently awarded Gold Medals: the US News & World Report’s Best Diet Competition. And for the 5th consecutive year, the Mediterranean Diet (MDiet) took Gold—this year in 6 diet categories:
- Best Overall
- Best for Healthy Eating
- Easiest to Follow
- Best Plant-Based
- Best for Diabetes
- Best for Heart-Health
To determine the rankings, US News convened a panel of 27 nationally renowned scientists with expertise in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes, and heart disease. They reviewed 40 "diets" (not only for weight loss effectiveness) in seven categories, including nutritional completeness, and the potential for preventing/managing diabetes and heart disease.
Why diabetes and heart disease?? Because these two diseases are largely preventable with diet and lifestyle changes.
Every February is American Heart Month, a time for us to focus on our cardiovascular health. Why? Because heart disease is still THE leading cause of death worldwide[i]. In addition, the probability of dying from heart disease is 2-4X higher in someone with diabetes[ii]. Furthermore, COVID-19 increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke, according to a new study published in Nature Medicine[iii].
The study found that the risk of 20 diseases of the heart and blood vessels is high for at least a year after a COVID-19 diagnosis. The risk of heart failure increased by 72%. Even a mild case of COVID-19 increased a person’s risk of cardiovascular problems. The risk was elevated even for those who were under 65 years of age and lacked risk factors, such as obesity or diabetes.
This was not a small study. It was massive. The researchers compared more than 150,000 veterans who survived for at least 30 days after contracting COVID-19 with two groups of more than 11 million uninfected people: 1) a group of 5,637,647 people who used the VA medical system during the pandemic, and 2) 5,859,411 people that used the system in 2017, before SARS-CoV-2 was circulating.
It's more important than ever to take care of your heart! Follow Life’s Simple 7, defined by the American Heart Association as the 7 risk factors that people can improve through lifestyle changes to help achieve ideal cardiovascular health.
And take 2 Olivino every day. Olivino is the 1st and only dietary supplement based on an eating pattern. Olivino delivers the benefits of the Fruits of the MDiet every day.
[i] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death