Dr. Simon Poole; oatmeal with yogurt and rhubarb.Simon Poole/Getty
- The Mediterranean Diet is often lauded as the healthiest way to eat.
- An expert in the diet shared three breakfast ideas with Insider.
To start your day with a Mediterranean diet-style meal, try yogurt, oats, or tomatoes on sourdough, a doctor told Insider.
The Mediterranean diet focuses on vegetables, legumes, seafood, and olive oil, and encourages a reduction of processed and fried foods, red meat, refined grains, sugar, and saturated fat.
"The Mediterranean diet is recognized as the gold standard healthy diet," Dr. Simon Poole, an expert on the diet based in Cambridge, UK, told Insider.
"It's a traditional, plant-predominant, natural, unprocessed diet for which there has been a very considerable amount of really good, high quality scientific research to show that it reduces the risks of really so many chronic diseases, from heart disease and stroke through to many cancers and even Alzheimer's disease," he said.
It's also associated with longevity, better mental health, and maintaining a healthy weight, so can improve quality of life in many areas as well, Poole said.
"It's a diet that ticks all those boxes with all the evidence behind it," Poole said.
Poole shared three breakfast ideas with Insider.