The Mediterranean Diet

What the Mediterranean diet is and why you should consider it

The Greek word for diet means lifestyle. The real definition of diet means how one develops a lifestyle, or pattern of eating. I teach that diets don’t work, however, when I say “diets don’t work”, I’m referring to the American definition of diet or fad-diets. These diets pull us out of normal eating patterns and will not work for that reason alone. The Mediterranean Diet is more than a diet. It is a lifelong living style. You have to adopt it and stick with it.

I am a strong proponent of the Mediterranean Diet, or should I say, the eating patterns of the 16 countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. There’s no one Mediterranean Diet. Diets vary between these countries and also between regions within a country. Many differences in culture, ethnic background, religion, economy and agricultural production result in different diets.

Accompanying this style of eating in the old Mediterranean culture was high activity, anti stress attitudes and not much money.  Nowadays, these circumstances have changed in these countries, but many responsible people are still keeping or returning to what is considered to be the healthiest diet in the world.

The common Mediterranean dietary pattern has these characteristics:

• Getting plenty of exercise and eating your meals with family and friends
• High consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds
• Using olive oil as an important monounsaturated fat source
• Eating small portions of nuts throughout the day for snacks
• Dairy products, fish and poultry are consumed in low to moderate amounts, and little red meat is eaten
• Eggs are consumed up to four times a week
• Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods
• One or two small glasses of wine a day, preferably red and at the main meals  

Following the Mediterranean Diet means choosing your food, and also knowing what you should avoid. The big no-no’s are the artificial products that did not exist fifty or sixty years ago: artificially hydrogenated products and derivates, and anything containing or being suspect of containing trans-fat.

People who follow the average Mediterranean Diet generally eat less saturated fat than those who eat the average American diet. More than half the fat calories in a Mediterranean Diet come from monounsaturated fats (mainly from olive oil). Monounsaturated fat doesn’t raise blood cholesterol levels the way saturated fat does.

The Mediterranean diet features a high intake of vegetables, legumes, fruits, and cereals; a high intake of unsaturated fatty acids, mostly in the form of olive oil; a low intake of saturated fatty acids; a moderately high intake of fish; a low to moderate intake of dairy products, mostly as cheese or yogurt; a low intake of meat or poultry; and finally, a regular but moderate amount of alcohol, usually wine, generally taken with meals.

Bread is an important part of the Mediterranean Diet, HOWEVER, the grains in the Mediterranean region are typically whole grains, and bread is eaten without butter or margarines, which contain saturated or trans fats.

Why you should consider it

The incidence of heart disease in Mediterranean countries is lower than in the United States. Death rates are lower, too. But this may not be entirely due to the diet. Lifestyle factors (such as more physical activity) may also play a part.

The Mediterranean Diet is also the best way to prevent many diseases. The most important are the “brain ictus” or stroke (first cause of death in women and second in men) and the “myocardial infarction” or heart attack (the main cause in men), but are many more. It has been proved the important role of the Mediterranean Diet in the prevention of the metabolic syndrome (some health disorders of which the most important are: too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure and/or insulin levels and unbalanced levels of cholesterol. So it has been in the prevention of lung diseases, asthma, many allergies, Parkinson, Alzheimer, and also for keeping the bone mass in elderly people. Recently, it has been related the Mediterranean Diet with low incidences of many types of cancer.

Research has shown that following a Mediterranean Diet is protective against a variety of conditions, including hypertension, coronary heart disease, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers, and is related to a reduction in all-cause mortality in the general population.

A report from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP), published in the February issue of the Archives of Neurology, suggested that elderly subjects who followed a Mediterranean Diet were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment. (Arch Neurol. 2009;66:216–225).

Try it, you might like it

If you haven’t experienced the Mediterranean Diet it’s worth a try. However, keep in mind my two hard and fast rules as it pertains to changing eating habits: (1) no counting calories, and (2) no special foods (meaning prepackaged “diet” meals)!

And finally, again, remember that for any change you make to be permanent, that change must become a permanent part of your lifestyle going forward.

The food you eat is critically important because food fuels the furnace of your metabolism. Exercise then stokes the fire. If you eat properly, and exercise consistently, with intensity, your body will sufficiently burn that fuel (food), giving you extra energy and keeping you at a healthy weight and body fat percentage.

Bon apatite!