The True Virtue of the Mediterranean Diet ?

The Mediterranean Diet used to get a lot of publicity, people in the south of Europe apparently live longer:

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet

This is the kind of thing that is hard to prove but easy to embrace.  Fish, olive oil, fresh fruits and whole grains are emphasized.  Red Meat, sugar, white bread are frowned on.  But is the true virtue  hidden ?

It's the expense !  Pricing the fresh fruits/vegetables, fish, olive oil can put a person off their feed.  So maybe these folks eat right BUT they eat less because the food is expensive ?  

For example a JJ's "fruit" pie in the checkout at Mann's is sold for something like $1.29.  AND the purchaser NEVER has to worry about breaking a tooth on a cherry pit because I doubt there is a cherry put in any of the pies (although the red colored, cherry flavored, sugar sweetened corn starch inside the crust is tasty.  Eating real bing cherries is going to be a lot more expensive at Mann's.

a sale on JJ's at Larry's in the U.P.

It's possible to buy roughly three times the canola oil for 1/2 the price of olive oil.  I don't even look for the fresh fish  but luckily (?) beef is getting crazy expensive so I skip that as well.  And the super premium pasta sauces like Rao's (kinda-sorta Mediterranean, right ?) might be $7.49 on sale while the store brand is 3 times as many jars for $5 on sale.  More $ per calorie meets fixed food budget => end up eating fewer calories.

Rao's is really salty though

.

the store brand is more watery but palatable

So Mediterranean Diet => calorie restriction ? Calorie restriction is supposed to be healthy, see:  

https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/10/peel.html

I suppose a similar case could be made for choosing organic or vegetarian => more expensive, less calories, better health ?

Update 2025-12-12:  I was at Mann's and bought a JJ's cherry pie, and I'm still doubtful of the picture on the package AND they cost $1.39 each not $1.29 as mentioned above.  One thing I have noticed with "real" cherry pie filling or really any fruit preserves: fruit tends to float in a container so some of the pies may indeed have lots of fruit if they are filled from the top of a vat of filling - but if they are filled from the bottom of the vat it's going to be corn-starch thickened fruit "juice".

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm