A little baba ghanoush helps you go a long way

Coratina olives in California
Coratina olives hung from a tree at the Round Pound estate in Rutherford, Calif.
ERIC RISBERG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A new study suggests that if you base your meals on a Mediterranean diet, you might get a chance to eat many more of them — and enjoy them more.

Especially if you are a middle-aged woman.

The study, of more than 10,000 women with a mean age of 59, found that those who ate a diet of less red meat and dairy, and more nuts, berries and fish, lived longer and better than others with a more traditional Western diet.

Not only did the women who ate Mediterranean live longer; they also lived more healthily, which the study defined as being free of cognitive impairment, injury and disease.

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We try to digest some of the competing facts about Mediterranean food and sort out the diet science from the diet fads.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET:

Is the Mediterranean diet more than a diet?
The Mediterranean diet has come to be viewed as a model diet for good health. But a recent article in the journal "Nutrition Reviews" postulates that factors besides the diet itself might play a role in the benefits attributed to the Mediterranean diet. For example, could differences in types and varieties of foods and methods of preparation play a role? (Jennifer Nelson and Katherine Zeratsky, Mayo Clinic)

Mediterranean Diet Shown to Ward Off Heart Attack and Stroke
About 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, and even drink wine with meals, a large and rigorous new study has found. (New York Times)

Quiz: Do You Have a Mediterranean Diet?
Take this survey, as designed by the researchers from the University of Barcelona, to determine if your current diet is heart healthy. (New York Times)