Yeah go nuts, all you can eat

You're basically quoting old research to dispute new findings. If you would read what I posted, you would see that...

We fully agree that high-dose alcohol consumption, particularly as binge drinking, has well-established detrimental effects on the liver, pancreas, and brain and increases the risks of certain cancers, injuries, and substantial harm to others.

We also respect the World Health Organization’s position, advocating universal abstention, which was largely shaped by an influential Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report published in The Lancet in 2018. However...

and then comes my quote. It's basically a "yes, but..." situation. Alcohol is bad for you, especially if you're young but new research shows that if you're over 35 moderate consumption has it's benefits. I don't think the findings are final but it goes both ways: it's not 100% clear alcohol is always bad for you either.

And MedDiet has nothing to do with blue zones. Nothing I mentioned was about longevity. I linked to latest research which shows clear benefits of MedDiet that go beyond correlation. The first link, right before the part I quoted states that "The criteria for causality were met".

I mean, it's clear you're not interested in the evidence and just trying to reaffirm your believes. Not much I can do about so I will move on.

what everyone said but i would add watch macros to find balance. swapping out fat for more fibre and protien goes a long way especially with reducing visceral fat which can have a long impact on things like reducing stroke and organ diseases.

keep sugar down around 25g. the average person gets up to like 5 times that amount a day or even in one meal. and any eat sugar you do eat, eat it with fibre so its not released into your system all at once.

There is pretty good consensus on the basics:

1. Aim for less than 25g of sugar and less than 5g of salt/sodium per day (processed food typically contains lots of salt).
2. Eat mostly vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.
3. Eat unsaturated fat. Avoid trans fats.
4. Prefer water to other beverages. Even tiny amounts of alcohol can hurt you.

This is based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_diet#Recommendations

Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners, eat fermented foods like kimchi/kefir/sauerkraut etc, increase fiber intake. No alcohol except on special occasions.

I don't avoid fat at all except trans fats. Salt I'm also not overly concerned about. Will eat as much bread and carbs as I want.

Still look and feel great for my age (almost 40), body fat is low, and I get a lot of compliments - so I guess it's working. Bloods are always excellent too.

Pretty easy to stick with this diet and it isn't too restrictive

Eat a variety of plant based whole foods, limit processed foods, avoid ultra processed foods.

NutritionFacts.Org is a non profit run by Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM, a real licensed doctor. It has a ton of great information, breaking down scientific studies and examines how diets affect the population. There's a reason why 9 out of the top 15 causes of death are dietary related, and there's a reason why people who exclusively eat planet based have much better health outcomes, in terms of heart disease, cancer, etc.

Switched most of my white bread for brown bread, try to get some beans and chickpeas in from time to time. Try to eat a touch less red meat and replace it with fish, and usually my chickpea or bean meals mean I don't have any meat with those.

I bailed on pasta, processed meats, packaged premade "meals", and stopped drinking soda when New Coke was released in 1985. I eat meats (chicken, pork and fish) and greens.. Mostly greens. Cook at home and generally avoid all the garbage on the store shelves in bright;y colored boxes. Shop the edges of the grocery store - that is where all the fresh food is.

ugh. i thought I had the basics down.

I mean, outside the healthcare/food aspect, that's a college level course in chemistry. Basically, "saturated" fats are long carbon chains with those carbon atoms filled with hydrogen so there are only single bonds in the chain. "Unsaturated" are those same carbon chains but with at least two carbon atoms (adjacent to each other) not filled. Rather than those carbon atoms having one more hydrogen each, they just add a bond between them forming a double bond. This double bond is an easy point your digestive system uses to break down the fat. For unsaturated there are some different groupings. Those are mono or poly unsaturated and trans or cis. The difference between mono and poly is the number of double bonds. Mono, there is only a single double bond. Poly there are 2 or more. Cis or trans indicate where the chain continues after the double bond. Cis, it continues on the same side making it difficult for molecules to settle in a nice organized fashion. Imagine trying to stack some sticks that all have a 90 degree bend in them. Trans fats continue the chain on the opposite side. This results in a straighter more easily organized chain. Now your bundle of sticks are all straight. Much easier to stack. This stacking makes it much more difficult to break apart those chains when they are straight.

Calorie and macro-nutrient tracking/counting.

Healthier choices follow as a normal consequence. Once you've got the proof in front of you of the nutritional value of food and what it's doing for you, it's really a lot harder to make unhealthy choices again... It's easier to get fruit and veg into your diet, veg in particular is so filling for how low in calories it is it's basically "free".

I'm not on any sort of restrictive diet– low carb, low fat, no sugar, keto, vegan, or anything else– except that I stick to my recommended energy intake. I didn't intentionally cut junk food out, there's nothing I'm forbidden from eating, but I ended up eating far less junk food incidentally as a result.

It absolutely is not for everyone– some people find calorie counting stressful or a time drain, and it does of course have an association with disorders– but eating only your recommended energy intake for your age, height, gender, and activity level is a great starting point.

If you've stuck to your calorie budget but you're still physically hungry late at night... Well, your diet needs rebalancing.

Eat vegan, the rest sort of just figures itself out

Mostly by cooking a lot of your own meals, then you know what goes in them. My only cooking stuff that freezes well does limit me somewhat though, trying to cook more day by day in the winter at least.

In my opinion, for each meal you should have carbs, vegetables, and protein. Assuming no dietary restrictions. It's different if you have diabetes, for example