Posts Tagged ‘Tips’

Holidaying in Southern Spain this year we enjoyed the Mediterranean food. A typical meal was salmon fillet with home-made pesto sauce (basil, pine nuts and olive oil) and stir-fried Mediterranean vegetables.
Our Mediterranean veg medley consisted of aubergines (eggplants) and courgettes (zucchini) and sweet pepper.
I wonder why in the UK we use the French word “courgette” while in the US the same vegetable is the Italian “zucchini”. It’s as if neither English-speaking nation quite got around to naming the vegetable!
Anyway, our meal of salmon, pesto and veg was bursting with the nutrients that you will find in a healthy diet. Omega 3 fats in the salmon, monosaturated fats in the olive oil, and polyunsaturates in the pine nuts. Plus all the fat-soluble vitamins that go with this (that’s A, D, E and K).
At this meal we have no starchy carbs (potato, rice or bread) because excess starch is fat-producing. And we get all the carbs we need from the veg medley.
And the veg are bursting with plant chemicals that will make your arteries sing!
Now note that this meal is not low fat. But it’s so tasty and nutritious that your body does not need tons of this food. And this diet is good at lowering cholesterol in spite of (or perhaps because of) its fat content.
The Standard American Diet (or SAD!) contains 42% fat, mostly saturated fat. American doctors are keen to get patients on to a low fat diet (around 20% fat) to lower cholesterol. But the Mediterranean diet lowers cholesterol almost as well as the low fat diet – and tastes a lot better and is bursting with nutrients.
And the Mediterranean diet contains… wait for it…38% fat. This news makes the American cardiologists’ arteries burst because they have difficulty acknowledging that such a high fat diet works!
It is, of course, the right kind of fat. And this diet is low in sugar and rich in whole grains, so there is more than just the fat contributing to lowered cholesterol.
The “low fat = health” lobby is so strong (and think how many diet plans are built around it) that it is only through clenched teeth that some doctors will acknowledge that the Mediterranean diet is healthy.
But this diet satisfies our taste buds and the satiety centres of the brain. We enjoy the food and feel full.
So you may not be on the Mediterranean but you can eat nature’s bounty while adding to your health and reducing your waistline.
The Mediterranean diet is of special benefit because of all the colourful vegetables it contains. Sweet peppers, for example, come in various colours and all are good to eat. I like the red ones because they add some visual punch to a meal and are especially useful if you don’t care for tomatoes (another red fruit that is closely related to peppers).
So what is so wonderful about this redness? Well, you get a whacking amount of vitamin C, lots of benefical flavonoids to keep your arteries healthy and a good dollop of carotenes. The carotenes are the red pigments that give the pepper its colour.
Carotenes are powerful antioxidants and tend to be fat soluble so they’ll act as antioxidants for the fat-containing bits of you. Now I know you’re thinking fat wobbly hips at this point but cast such thoughts aside!
Structurally fat is used for useful things like making your cell membranes. Tissues made up of a lot of layers of cells have a lot of cell membranes and so, for example, your skin has a lot of fat in it. I’m not talking about the layer of fat under the skin, I mean the actual structure of the skin cells. Fat soluble antioxidants help protect these cells. And this includes your inside skin – so the carotenes will protect your skin, your gut wall and lungs (these latter two your inside skin!).
Carotenes in the skin protect you from ultra-violet light and I have seen some research that suggests people on a Mediterranean diet have more natural sun protection (but don’t ditch the sun cream).
You’ll also have a lot of fat-related substances in your reproductive bits (ovaries, testes, breast tissue) and in your nervous system which is 60% fat. So you need a reasonable amount of fat-soluble antioxidants in your diet to keep all these parts of you in good working order.
So get your Mediterranean fish and vegetables, with reasonable quantities of olive oil, nuts, seeds and whole grains to be healthier and slimmer.

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The Mediterranean diet has been around for hundreds of years and is aptly named for the Mediterranean region from where it originates. The people of the region represent many countries and enjoy varied food choices, and yet their basic diet philosophies are the same. The region consistently ranks high as being home to many of the healthiest people in the world. So how best can you adapt the strategies of the Mediterranean diet and incorporate the many medical benefits the Mediterranean diet menu offers.

Some basic tips and food choices to get you started.

The first place to start would be how we stock our pantry and refrigerator. It’s time to change the way we shop. This change may be drastic for some and just a slight modification for others.

Salads are a way of life here, as the salad is most often used as an appetizer utilizing many of the popular food choices found in the Mediterranean diet, as well as a side dish to the main meal. Olive oil is most often used as dressing of choice and it plays a major roll in the overall good health benefits found in the diet.

Unlike many diets today the Mediterranean diet encourages fat consumption. Not those fats of the deep fried variety, but rather monounsaturated and omega fats that can be found in foods like avocados, nuts, olives, olive oil and oily fish. These foods have been medically linked to lower blood cholesterol levels and better cardiac health and are readily found in many of the Mediterranean diet recipes.

Carbohydrates are also consumed on a regular basis in the forms of whole grains, found in breads, cereals and pastas. Herbs and spices are used to replace salt, and seasonal fruits and vegetables can be eaten in unlimited quantities. Excellent snack choices would be a variety of nuts such as walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts and especially almonds. Also consider fruits, and vegetables as great on the go snack choices.

Red wine has been linked to many excellent health benefits and has been a staple in the Mediterranean diet menu for centuries. You would be hard pressed to find a dinner table in the region without a bottle of wine to accompany the meal.  Moderation should be the rule here as those benefits diminish after 1 or 2 glasses. Consult your Physician first before consuming alcohol or consider replacing with grape juice, as it offers similar health benefits.

Saturated or trans fats are found in foods like butter and margarines as well as whole milks and ice creams and should be avoided as they have been medically linked to heart disease, stroke and obesity.  Red meats are eaten rarely; eggs and poultry are eaten in moderate amounts and dairy products like yogurts and goat cheeses can be eaten infrequently.

The way of life in Mediterranean countries also adds to the phenomenon of the Mediterranean diet as meals are celebrations often lingered over with the company of friends and family.  No meals on the go here or time spent in the drive thru.

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