It is one that promotes a bounty of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and a glass of wine once in a while, as well as the cardinal rule of meeting in person and breathing in fresh air. Eating a variety of food composed mainly of plants and enriched with the unsaturated fats sourced from olive oil flatbreads, avocados, and nuts.
Dairy products, eggs, and birds are eaten in small amounts several times each week, together with a few servings of fish and seafood. Meat and candy are reserved for holidays and special occasions rather than being everyday foods, and dessert is had from time-to-time rather than after every meal.
Paleo diet overview
On the contrary, the Paleo diet will take you back in time, back to the stone age with a mental picture of a time when women and men would go searching for berries and hunting animals for their meals. This kind of eating is based on the notion that it is better to eat the way and the things our forebears cared for in the Paleolithic Period.
Much like the Mediterranean way of eating, the paleo diet limits the use of processed foods and places emphasis on eating plenty of plants—sourced foods—but only those that would have been available to our ancestors in the Stone Age.
Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is often regarded as the most convenient and healthiest way of eating since it is more of a lifestyle than a strict regimen. This is because it does not have boring and extravagant "allowed" and "forbidden" lists like most other orthodox diets. One can be sure to eat all the required nutrients and still manage to enjoy the diet over a long period of time due to its flexibility.
Paleo diet
The Paleolithic diet is viewed as a very limiting regime and rather unattainable for the majority of the population. Most paleo dieters find it hard to follow this diet in the long run. However, along with its popularity in the west, the paleo diet shuns risk. Whereas in most grains and legumes are wheat and soya.
Which is more effective for losing weight?
Weight loss can be achieved through either the Mediterranean or the paleo diet. However, if that is the main objective, nutritionists tend to favor the paleo diet for its more severe restrictions, which yield faster results, as some may say. Certain consumption of protein is believed to contribute to fast weight loss in some individuals.
The prevention of weight regain after losing weight is an important component of every diet. The Mediterranean diet, which is more of a lifestyle than a diet, is more favorable in terms of long-term perseverance in weight reduction compared to the paleo diet, which is more limiting. As the research stated, the majority of participants lost weight, followed by weight maintenance while cycling on the Paleo diet.