Traditional Mediterranean Lifestyle: From a Heritage to a Legacy as an Inspirational Roadmap to a New Era

Grounded in the field of nutrition anthropology, the present manuscript introduces three core pillars of the traditional Mediterranean Lifestyle (tMedL): cheerful frugality, belongingness, and purpose in life. These foundational components are integral to Mediterranean culture and have historically shaped food selection, eating, and consumption patterns, depicting the harmonious human-nature-human coexistence. Specifically, the proposed core pillars highlight the role of alignment with natural rhythms in fostering cheerful frugality, the contribution of belongingness to social cohesion, and the influence of spirituality and religiosity in cultivating purpose in life. Together, these three pillars form a dynamic system that induces dispositional mindfulness, supporting and enhancing the salutogenic effect of the tMedL - beyond foods alone. Dispositional mindfulness emerges as the key tool that directs the interaction of these three pillars towards the tMedDiet characteristic of moderation. Building upon this triptych and the crucial role of dispositional mindfulness, the manuscript proposes a roadmap to moderation, grounded in the ancient Greek concepts of autarkeia - self-sufficiency, and enkrateia - self-control. Within this perspective, autarkeia reframes frugality as cheerfulness, belongingness as meaningful connection, and purpose in life as a stable psychological resource. In this sense, mindfulness is suggested as a coping strategy for stressful situations with contemporary relevance for health-promoting lifestyles as the key tool to moderation.