I think we’re all very well aware of the hype and talk around the Mediterranean diet and its benefits to our health. It was first publicized in the West in 1975 by an American biologist, Ancel Keys, but gained popularity around the world in the 1990s. Although countries in the Middle East seem to adopt a rather healthy lifestyle, we do make a few nutritional mistakes when consuming or making our food. Here are 9 tips to make your Middle Eastern diet healthier:

Cut the simple carbs

1. Ditch the bread when eating hummus, dip veggies instead

2. Choose freekeh over rice

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3. Make a rice-free stuffing for your koussa

Put the frying pan away

1. Oven bake your bread for fattoush

2. Bake rather than fry your cheese rolls

3. Make at-home falafel in the oven

Trim the Fat

1. When making lentil soup, avoid adding butter & semneh

2. Avoid garnishing your hummus or baba ghannouj with olive oil

3. Stop eating Egyptian seeds (bizir), make roasted chickpeas instead