The Secrets of the true Mediterranean Diet

The full post can be found here.

The Mediterranean Diet plan is one of the leading weight loss programs on the plant for true health and wellness, but it's not a common diet like you would hear about on the TV or read about on the Internet. While most weight-loss programs have you getting tablets and starving yourself with special fluid diet plans and zero meals, the Mediterranean Diet plan is all about eating as much food as you want, when you want, so long as they are whole foods that are part of a natural diet plan like The Mediterranean Diet.

Whole meals are a natural way of keeping your body in perfect health through all the nutritional supplements that Mother Nature provides. If you look at the individuals who reside in the Mediterranean region around the globe, they aren't suffering from a 72% overweight and obesity level like those individuals residing in the United States. They also don't have high rates of diabetes, cancer and other health problems and illnesses. Why? Because of whole foods and organic produce as provided by the planet, not a laboratory.

Whole foods aren't processed in any way, shape or form. They are 100% organic. No synthetics, no additives, no preservatives of any kind. No poisons, no toxins. It's soups and vegetables and whole grains and seeds and dairy products and natural yogurt and everything that comes from the ground. And as opposed to all the protein shakes and drinks and fat-free lattes and diet sodas and other so-called healthier and low fat meals that individuals tell you to eat in the United States, whole foods don't have any harmfull poisons in them at all.

This is the power of The Mediterranean Diet plan. It's a healthier life through whole meals and organic produce that the Earth provides for us. It's the Garden of Eden concept in the modern era. And as far as The Mediterranean Lifestyle goes, it's all about working fewer hours, taking a nap every day, and actually sitting down and spending 2-3 hours with a meal rather than stuffing food in your face as fast as you can and only taking 10 minutes to eat.

Above and beyond that, it's simply about living life the way we were intended to: at a slowly and calming amount, rather than the break-neck speed that the West tries to determine through 40 hour working weeks. Exercise, invest a little time in the sun every day, spend time with your family, your kids, and don't waste your life at a job you dislike. Just take it easy. Reduce your stress, eat sensible meals and appreciate your life! For more information, check out this Mediterranean Diet eBook.

Whole foods and The Mediterranean Diet

Are you searching the Web for a Mediterranean diet strategy eating strategy for beginners? You will discover the majority of programs are split up on per weeks time by weeks time base. You will then discover that weekly is further split up into the main meals that you can eat and the healthy snacks that you can eat throughout the day.

If you discover an exceptionally designed strategy, the diet plan program will also contain details about the amount of saturated fat, protein, calories, carbohydrate food, fiber, cholesterol, and calcium your everyday intake of meals will contain. The latter details will allow you to monitor your dietary habits from every position, and you will be able to ensure you are getting all of the vitamins and minerals you require on a regular base too.

A Mediterranean diet eating plan for newbies contain an array of whole foods; you can eat certain vegetables, fruits, chicken, lamb, olive oil, dairy, grains, a bit of wine on occasion, and you can also eat seafood. You will discover that a Mediterranean diet plan for newbies is filled with meals that have unsaturated fats and anti-oxidants too.


As you check out the various diets on the Mediterranean Diet, make sure you really like the recipes offered. If not, you can also alternative one acceptable food for another, provided that the fat and nutrient content are within the diet's guidelines. For example, if a diet strategy plan program suggests that you eat plums and you really don't care for them, you can alternative the plums for berries. If a food offers you a seafood recipe and you prefer chicken, that's perfectly fine too. You will discover that these programs are highly convenient for your personal needs and likes.


A Mediterranean diet eating plan for newbies will contain drinks too. You can eat water, diet strategy sodas, and diet strategy ice herbal tea. If you want more flavor in the cold herbal tea you can use lemon to add additional flavor. Flavored seltzers are also allowed and all drinks that are nutrient free can be consumed when on the Mediterranean diet. It is recommended however, that you limit the consumption of coffee, tea and other coffee to no more than three full cups in a given day. You will also want to cut back on your use of sugars; an appropriate sugar alternative will be sufficient. For more information go to http://www.themediterraneanlifestyle.com

The healthy benefits of The Mediterranean Diet

If you are looking for healthy and sensible food options, then it might be a wise decision to think about trying out a few Mediterranean diet plan recipes.

The substances are straightforward to use, and very flexible. Some of the key substances of the Mediterranean diet plan consist of essential olive oil, (the main staple), fruit and veggies, dried beans or protein-rich dried beans, seafood such as trout, and whole grain (bread, pasta) with average amounts of wine and lean red meat.

Two benefits from applying the Mediterranean diet plan to your everyday meal recipes are, it can help to reduce your chances of developing high-cholesterol and hypertension. Also, it can help you to maintain a normal and balanced weight and prevent being overweight.

The basic items needed to eat well on the Mediterranean diet plan are:

1. Additional Virgin Olive oil. Olive oil, in particular, extra virgin essential olive oil is the central source of the Mediterranean diet plan. It is an important source of monounsaturated fat, which is a "good" fat that allows to control the blood's level of "bad" LDL cholestrerol levels. One of the many reasons why essential olive oil is so vital when consuming or cooking Mediterranean diet recipes, is because essential olive oil increases the "good" cholestrerol levels, HDL. So, whenever you are in a feelings for a veggie, try scattering a little essential olive oil on your natural veggies.

2. Fish. Because trout is loaded with lots of omega-3 fatty acid, (which also increases HDL or excellent cholesterol), it's a wise decision to keep this kind of seafood on side. You could bbq grill or saute your seafood in essential olive oil, and dress it with a press of lemon and other clean herbs, such as parsley to taste.

3. Fresh fruits and Fresh vegetables. Include fruits such as celery, celery, red fruit, grapefruits and other fruits in yourself. And never forget about garlic (yes, they are a fruit). Tomato plants are the foundation of many a pot of broth in the Mediterranean diet plan, and they will certainly be of excellent use to you when you make your own home made Pasta marinade (if you prefer).

As for the vegetables you will need to keep in stock when consuming the Mediterranean way: they are, oatmeal, green beans, oatmeal, red and natural peppers, weeds, eggplant, zucchini and other healthy vegetables that you like.

4. Beans. Keep dried beans, pinto, garbanzo (chickpeas), and black dried beans available. They are great in fiber and very flexible. You can place them in a broth or use them as a side dish.
5. Rice and Whole grain. Because pasta is inexpensive and practical, it goes a long way. You may want to also try whole wheat pasta as well. When shopping for whole grain, such as breads, biscuits, and pita, look for 100% whole grain.

6. Nut products. Even though nuts, such as almond and peanuts are complete of fat, like essential olive oil and seafood, they're still complete of the excellent fat. You may select to eat them as a snack or use them to top your clean natural green veggies.

7. Dairy and Egg. Choose low-fat dairy food, natural or a higher protein-Greek natural. And also select low-fat cheese and, if you eat eggs, then do your best to eat no more than four eggs per week.
As you can see, it's very simple to bring a little Mediterranean dishes into your own dinner plans, just be sure to keep these substances on side in your home. But most of all, take this list with you the next time you are on your way to the food market.

Healthy Living through The Mediterranean Diet

By its name alone, the Mediterranean diet plan attracts a lot of current and would be dieters due to its exotic name. But what is it exactly? One concern of the Mediterranean diet plan is that it allows 40% fat intake compared to the 30% of the American Heart Association. Let's go into more detail as it seems a waste to just let it go without giving it a fair reading.

The Mediterranean diet plan evolved from the respective diet plans of countries surrounding the Mediterranean sea region. Among the countries surrounding the region are the south of France, southern Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus. Originally introduced by American doctor Ancel Keys, the diet plan failed to gain popular recognition until the 1990's. Based on scientific data, people around the Mediterranean region had lower rates of cardiac arrest compared to people in America who, for all intents and purposes, consumed the same relative amount of fat. One possible explanation is the presence of essential olive oil and red beverages. Olive oil lowers cholesterol levels in the blood while red beverages contains flavonoids. Flavonoids are anti-oxidants that also help the body when dealing with allergenic material, viruses and carcinogens.

Another contributing factor to a European's better health could be the fact that they tend to walk more than people in America do. Questions have also been raised as to whether the Mediterranean diet plan contributes enough iron and calcium to the eating plan plan. Vegetables and goat cheese have been found to contribute these nutrients respectively.

The thing about the Mediterranean diet plan is that its foods are often rich and delicious thanks to essential olive oil. Normally, margarine and hydrogenated oils lack the taste that essential olive oil gives out. Another part of the eating plan plan is regular but moderate intake of red beverages. Fats intake is low as opposed to high amounts of monounsaturated fat and dietary fiber. This is due to the fact that the eating plan plan includes big servings of fruit, vegetables, breads, cereals, essential olive oil and seafood.

In comparing the food chart of the United States against the Mediterranean diet plan, people of the Mediterranean region consume fruit, vegetables and grain just as people in America do. The main difference lies in the fact that Americans consume more red meat. Use of cold water seafood is also prominent in the Mediterranean diet plan. This results in reduced risks of heart problems, cancer and improved immune system functions. Compared to the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) chart, the Mediterranean diet plan contains little soaked and trans fat that raise cholesterol in the blood. The USDA's chart does not differentiate from healthier and bad fats.

Characteristically speaking, the Mediterranean diet plan has high intake of essential olive oil. Breads, cereals, fruit and veggies likewise have maximum intake in the eating plan plan. Fish and poultry as well as bottles are moderately consumed while eggs and red meat are rated as very low in intake.

The problem with most diet plans is that they tend to be extreme. Some diet plans, like the vegetarian eating plan, limit a person to just eating fruit, tofu, yogurt and vegetables. Other diet plans would require high protein intake while severely limiting intake of the other types. Like a user friendly computer, the Mediterranean diet plan does not go to extremes to achieve a desired result. The diet plan allows for intake of delicious foods. This allows the dieter to actually enjoy the gastronomic delights normally prohibited by other diet plans. A solid testament to this fact rests on the presence of bottles in the eating plan plan.

The most surprising aspect of the Mediterranean diet plan is that fat is regarded as a normal and balanced dietary component. Keep in mind that it is the fat that gives food most of its taste. Two substances, omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats, are considered to eat well and balanced and are not restricted in the eating plan plan. Olive oil, canola oil and nuts are good sources of monounsaturated fat while seafood, vegetables and nuts contain the healthier omega-3 acids. Fats and trans fat, on the other hand are considered to be unhealthy as they contribute to heart problems. Red meat, butter cheese and milk are sources of soaked fat while unhealthy foods contain hydrogenated oils from which trans fat comes from.

From what has been written so far, and from all the sources and references where this article was taken from, the Mediterranean diet plan comes highly recommended by health professionals. Mediterranean Diet Recipes maintain a normal and balanced but delicious, smorgasbord of delicious foods with which you can maintain eating plan plans without the need to sacrifice taste and variety. While we appreciate the people who struggle and strive to come up with healthier diet plans, good food carries more weight in our stomachs. This is the power of The Mediterranean Diet.

Type 2 diabetes and the Mediterranean Diet cure

The traditional Mediterranean diet plan has long been associated with lower chance of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia.  The plan plan is rich in olive oil, fruits, nuts, cereals, vegetables, and fish but relatively low in dairy products and meat.  Several studies suggest the Mediterranean diet plan may also help prevent type two diabetic issues.


Researchers at the University of Navarra in Spain followed 13,380 non-diabetic university graduates, many of them health professionals, over the course of 4.4 years.  Average age was 38.  Most of the study participants lived in Spain.  Dietary habits were assessed at the start of the study with a food frequency questionnaire.  Food intake for each participant was scored by adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet.  Participants were labelled as either low, moderate, or high in adherence.  Over an average follow-up of 4.4 years, 33 of the study participants developed type 2 diabetes.  Compared to the participants who scored low on adherence to the Mediterranean diet, those in the high adherence category had an 83% lower risk of developing diabetes.  The moderate adherence group also had diminished risk, 59% less.

How could the Mediterranean diet plan protect against diabetes?  The writers note several potential mechanisms: great consumption of fiber, low amounts of trans body fat, average alcohol consumption, great vegetable fat  consumption, and great consumption of monounsaturated body fat relative to body fat.  Olive oil, loaded with monounsaturated body fat, is the predominant fat in the Mediterranean diet.  In summary from the authors:

Diets rich in monounsaturated fatty acids improve lipid profiles and glycaemic control in people with diabetic issues, suggesting that a higher consumption improves insulin sensitivity.  Together these associations suggest the hypothesis that following an overall pattern of the Mediterranean Diet plan can protect against diabetic issues.  In addition to having a long tradition of use without evidence of harm, a Mediterranean diet way of eating is highly palatable, and people are likely to comply with it.

Please give serious consideration to the Mediterranean diet plan, especially if you are at danger for type two diabetic issues.  Major risks include sedentary lifestyle, overweight, and family history of diabetic issues. For more information, read the Mediterranean Diet eBook.

What is the traditional Mediterranean Diet plan?

Some of my informal visitors may have misguided beliefs as to the description of the conventional Mediterranean diet plan.  I use the word “diet” here not as a weight loss program, but “the regular refreshments of a person on a daily basis.”  Twenty one different nations have a shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea and beyond, and additional nations are in the Mediterranean area.  “Traditional” merely represents the mid-20th century as we have commonly come to define it.  Observational studies around that time associated the Mediterranean diet program with longer life expectancy, significantly lower rates of serious conditions (less cardiac arrest and dementia), and less malignancies of the digestive tract, breast, prostate, and womb.

There is no monolithic, immutable, conventional Mediterranean diet plan.  But there are resemblances among many of the local nations that tend to bring all them, gastronomically speaking.  Portugal and southeast Tuscany are particularly powerful in this perspective.

So here are the characteristcs of the conventional, healthy Mediterranean diet that most people are familiar with:

1. It boosts natural whole foods and reduces processed foods and junk
2. Small volumes of red meat
3. Fewer than four egg per week
4. Low to average volumes of chicken and fish
5. Daily fresh fruit
6. Seasonal, fresh, whole food meals with little processing
7. Concentrated carbs only a few times per week
8. Wine in low to average volumes, and usually taken at mealtimes
9. Milk items (mainly dairy products and yogurt) in low to average amounts
10. Olive oil as the prevalent fat
11. Abundance of meals from plants: fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, legumes, apples, nut products, seed products, bakery and other whole feed products
12. Naturally low in fats, trans body fat, and cholesterol
13. Naturally great in roughage, nutrients, natural vitamins (e.g., folate), anti-oxidants, and nutrients (especially when compared with focused, enhanced starchy foods and carbs in a modern European diet)

The Mediterranean Diet is naturally high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated body fat, particularly as a replace soaked fats. Be aware that the recorded health advantages may be related to an active lifestyle and social issues.  For example, conventional Mediterranean meals are relaxing family matters where people sit down to eat for three to four hours, not a MacDonald’s Happy Meal consumed off your lap on your drive to work over a 15 minute period of time. For more information, you can read the blog at http://www.themediterraneanlifestyle.com/healthy-living/

What countries are part of The Mediterranean Diet?

It’s a topic of misunderstandings for many people: which nations actually adhere to The Mediterranean Diet? For some, they determine TMD as any diet program that comes from a country within the Mediterranean Sea area, but as someone  spent over eight years discovering Southern European countries and the Mediterranean as a whole, I can tell you that it’s not just the nations surrounding the Mediterranean Sea who adhere to the overall idea of the conventional Mediterranean Diet: it’s also a variety of other European countries.

Take Portugal, for example. Their diet plan consists of numerous aspects of The Mediterranean Diet, such as a everyday consumption of milk products along with whole grains and a lot of soups and fruit. The people from France also drink equal portions of red and white wine when compared to the individuals residing in the Mediterranean area in addition to soups and cheese, although they do eat more chicken than the conventional Mediterranean Diet format.

The most of the Southern European countries are also in the same boat. Whole foods, milk products, soups, fruit and bottles are the everyday choice meals in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Portugal, Macedonia and beyond; Bulgaria is the homeland of modern yogurt, for example, and all of the nations have their own versions of the feta cheese products most individuals in the United States are familiar with. These are consumed on a regular base, thus providing the individuals of the area with a lot of probiotics on top of calcium and all the other nutritional supplements that are due to a mostly plant-based diet strategy.

While Bulgarians, like the people from France, eat a lot of chicken along with chicken and fish (beef is almost non-existent; finding hamburger or a porterhouse or T-bone is nearly impossible over there), the choice meals that individuals eat on a regular base are soups, yogurt, wine/beer, breads, milk products and fruit.

The nutritional habits of the Bulgarian people imitates that of most other Mediterranean and European countries. Walking several hours a day instead of driving all the time,  eating at least one (if not two) salads per day, 1-2 portions of yogurt per day, a serving of whole grain breads per day and a lot of fruit on top of that. Also a couple of beers or glasses of wine every evening.

The point is, The Mediterranean Diet isn’t just banished to the nations of the Mediterranean area, even though that is what most individuals have come to associate with the diet plan program. The reality is that many European countries adhere to the same nutritional structure, which is, consequently, why European countries doesn’t suffer from an being overweight plague like the United States does.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding…or in the case, the whole foods that individuals eat every single day. You get out what you put in, and when you are putting whole meals into your system instead of processed toxins…you’ll get nothing but top quality results out. And surprisingly, it’s not just the nations around the Mediterranean Sea itself which adhere to the diet plan program, but rather a lot of nations around as well.