If you want to get on board with a diet that tastes good and has bona fide health benefits, then you’ve found your match in the Mediterranean diet.

Not only did U.S. News and World Report rank it as the best diet overall in 2019 for being sensible and putting a smart emphasis on good-for-you foods without restriction, but it’s a traditional diet that’s been around for centuries — and it’s delicious, too. “The Mediterranean diet is all-inclusive, sustainable, and something that you really can follow. It’s not so prescriptive that it’s prohibitive,” says Rachel Berman, RD, CDN, New York City-based author of the Mediterranean Diet for Dummies.

Furthermore, the Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating with loved ones together, around a table. In that sense, you can think of the Mediterranean diet as a lifestyle as much as a diet. It’s one that people in many countries around the Mediterranean Sea, like Greece, Turkey, and Italy, have followed for centuries, Berman says. “Many of these areas are home to ‘Blue Zones,’ or places in the world where people live longer and healthier than others,” says Berman. Of the original Blue Zones — home to the greatest percentage of people who live to 100 — two are located in the Mediterranean — Sardinia, Italy, and Ikaria, Greece.

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The Mediterranean diet is a mostly plant-based eating style that emphasizes pulses like beans and lentils, vegetables (particularly dark leafy greens), fruits, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, along with fish, and a little meat and dairy, explains Elena Paravantes-Hargitt, RD, a nutritionist based in Greece who specializes in the Mediterranean Diet, and founder of OliveTomato. “Research shows that it’s not only a heart-healthy diet and associated with longevity, but it’s protective from certain cancers, as well as cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease,” she says. The foods incorporated into the eating plan are rich in anti-inflammatory substances, which plays a role in decreasing your risk for disease, she adds.

But it can be tough to start a Mediterranean diet — especially if you don’t consider yourself a wiz in the kitchen. Luckily, one of the hardest things you’ll have to do is soak beans in water overnight.

Here are 10 Mediterranean diet recipes for beginners to add to your repertoire: