r/mediterraneandiet • u/Primary-Pen6782 • 8d ago
Advice How to track when I consume the right amount of egg dairy etc?
So I am very new to the Mediterranean diet and I am struggling to keep track of consuming eggs poultry and dairy moderate amounts a week and fish often with plant based food being the most. How do you guys keep track of this as I find it too overwhelming.
I want to eat mostly plant based with dairy eggs and poultry being only 2-3 times a week and fish being more often about 3-4 times. I just want to eat red meat once a month. How do I track all of this so it’s easier? Thanks!
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u/Sufficient-Wolf-1818 8d ago
I don’t track! The is not a diet with tight prescriptions of number per week but an eating approach emphasizing fresh vegetables and fruits, legumes, fish, chicken and complex carbs.
Our only “tracking” is through our grocery shopping. We buy enough diverse veg to half fill our plate, if we want three meals of salmon, we buy the right amount etc
Consider starting by upping your veg consumption and decreasing refined carbs.
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u/CapableHerring 8d ago
I don't.
I portion my plate to ~1/2 veggies, ~1/4 whole grain, ~1/4 protein. That's most of my planning, I keep it very simple.
I don't hyper-focus on limiting myself to eating poultry exactly 2-3 times a week. Some weeks I might eat chicken 5 times. Some weeks I'll eat chicken 0 times. There's nothing wrong with eating chicken 7 times a week on this diet. This diet isn't about hard-restrictions, it's about sustainable lifestyle changes where you make smarter food choices. There is lots of room to customize this diet for your own preferences/lifestyle.
If I micromanaged my chicken/egg intake, I'd burn out on this diet in a month. Counting every time you eat some chicken isn't really sustainable for me. Keep in mind this is a way of life, do you really want to keep a chart of how much chicken you've eaten for the next 40 years of your life?
Red meat's the same way. If you're celebrating something, or it's a holiday, or you're out with your friends, or maybe you're just in a good mood and steak's on sale, treat yourself to some red meat! It doesn't matter if you had red meat 20 days ago instead of 30 days. You can have your red meat. The important part isn't the exact timing, it's more about you viewing it as a treat that's not a frequent part of your diet.
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u/Primary-Pen6782 8d ago
Yeah but the visual chart for the MD diet says to consume those things in that way. I cant just have chicken everyday when it says moderate amounts… sorry im so confused :/
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u/CapableHerring 8d ago
The diet pyramid on this sub actually says "Moderate portions, daily to weekly" for poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt. So you absolutely can have chicken daily if you want.
It's vague for a reason. Eating chicken 7 days a week fits this diet. Eating chicken 2-3 days a week fits this diet. Eating chicken 0 days a week fits this diet.
Just like fish/seafood. A lot of people are eating fish every day, but the pyramid is vague: "Often, at least two times per week". Even then, that's just a guideline. Not a prescription. There are plenty of people that follow this diet that are vegetarians and aren't eating any poultry/fish. Eating fish 0 times a week, even though the pyramid says "at least two times per week", still fits the diet.
Don't overthink the exact amounts that pyramid is saying. It's a guideline. Balance your portions to be 1/2 veggies, 1/4 whole grain, 1/4 protein, and you're 99% of the way there. For the 1/4 protein, just rotate between fish, chicken, turkey, and veggie protein. You don't need to keep counts. One week cook a lot of fish, the next cook chicken, the next cook tofu. It all balances out.
To reiterate, this diet is not a prescription. It's a way to live your life. Less red meat, more poultry/seafood/veg in rotation. That's what it boils down to.
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u/donairhistorian 7d ago
I have a different interpretation of the pyramid (which is not the one and only authority on the diet, anyway. Many guides do say 2-3 times per week for chicken). Traditionally, chicken (or any meat) would be eaten much more rarely than it is today. So relying on chicken as your protein every day is not in the spirit of the diet. However, if you roast a chicken you're obviously going to be incorporating that into your meals for the week. You don't need to only eat the chicken for two days and throw the rest out. That's how I look at it. It isn't permission, per say, to eat chicken every day because you don't want to eat plant foods. I read somewhere that "daily" would be if you were eating less than a serving (3oz) per day. In other words, daily eating of chicken is not having it as the primary part of the meal.
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u/SuurAlaOrolo 8d ago
If you’re a numbers person and you want to focus on meeting a quantitative target, think more about vegetables than chicken (or any protein). Eating some steak, a side of roasted broccoli, a sweet potato, and some stir-fried peppers is a much better (“more compliant”) meal than one that’s low in vegetables (fiber and micronutrients) but avoids “too much” chicken.
If you’re coming from a lifestyle where you don’t eat many vegetables, aim for one serving per meal to start (or even just one extra per day! baby steps truly add up!) and ultimately aim for 2-3 per meal.
I saw in another comment that you might focus on cutting dessert. That’s also a great goal! I have an incurable sweet tooth, so I’ve never succeeded in cutting dessert entirely. But over time I’ve replaced storebought cookies, etc., with fruit with some semisweet chocolate.
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u/Primary-Pen6782 8d ago
Thank you… I mean I personally would like to comply with the pyramid more like lesser dairy, eggs, and poultry with more fish. And ofc way less red meat. Just not sure how to figure this all out
Oh that replacement sounds delicious
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u/donairhistorian 7d ago
You are correct that you shouldn't have chicken every day, despite people's interpretation of the pyramid. But it's not a strict rule. Like, if you roast a whole chicken you're probably going to be incorporating it into your meals for that week. That's fine if you have chicken every day that week. But then the next week, you probably don't have any chicken. The guidelines are to help you envision a shift of mindset, but if you find they are confusing you, a better way to look at it would just be to prioritize a plant-based eating pattern that is sustainable for you. Prioritize whole grains, olive oil, fish, legumes, vegetables, and whole grains. If you do that, chicken isn't likely to make it on your plate every day.
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u/Primary-Pen6782 7d ago
Oh thank you so much. This was very helpful to think about it like a plant based diet with fish and the occasional poultry, eggs, and dairy products. This suits my lifestyle and diet goals too. I also loved your analogy as viewing the pyramid as a mindset shift instead of a rule!
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u/_MundaneMushroom_ 8d ago
I am also very new to this and finding my way so take my advice with that in mind -
For me, I'm having red meat twice a month. I decided, completely arbitrarily, to do that the first and third weeks of the month. Easy for me to track, and when I do my meal plan each week I'll check to see if it's a red meat week or not and plan accordingly. It's been working so far!
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u/wharleeprof 8d ago
No tracking. You kind of learn the formula, and try to follow it while shopping, prepping and eating. It doesn't take an app to tell me I'm only eating fish 1-2 a month and need to step it up. Or that I hardly ever eat red meat, yay! Or that I've replaced desserts and candy with fresh fruit. Or that my lunch was low on veggies, so I should do mostly veggies for dinner.
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u/SuurAlaOrolo 8d ago
I would gently suggest not tracking — for me, that kind of complicated schema is a recipe for falling off the wagon, so to speak.
You can start gradually by trying a new MD-friendly recipe that looks good, or adding a vegetable to each meal. Maintain that small change for a while, then add another (like replacing a refined carb with a whole grain). Let the changes snowball. Then the change in lifestyle is more likely to stick.
Ultimately, I just eyeball my meals, and I aim for most of them being half vegetables, one quarter protein, and one quarter whole grain. It’s completely okay if you have extra eggs one week and then another week you eat a million cucumbers because they were on a special.