Food Love Mediterranean Style: Mediterranean Diet

Lets start off today with something a little different. In life, there will be times when you can alter the course of your life. You may not see the opportunity or the doorway to a different path that has been presented to you. Life is not a video game there will be no red pluses above anyone’s head or signs that light up the sky. We will normally find the low light barely noticeable, but your heart tells you to take a chance. I opened a door a few years ago that has changed my life for the better, doing things I thought impossible. My chance was to work with a nutritionist by doing so I lost over 70 pounds surpassing my goal.  We used one diet to take the weight off and keep it off, the Mediterranean diet is the meal plan we used. That is the subject of the article today the Mediterranean diet its benefits for our health, our minds as well as our waist lines. In the United States we are obsessed with looking better, being ripped, shredded, diced,  whatever term you use. The annual revenue of the US weight loss, including diet books, diet drugs and weight loss surgeries is around $20 billion. It is estimated that 108 million people on diets in the United States, and dieters typically make four or five attempts a year. The not so funny number is that there are 220,000 people with morbid obesity in the United States who had bariatric surgery in 2009. That is almost a quarter million people, or the population of Reno Nevada, a truly staggering number. One of the more disturbing behaviors I have seen asphyxia syndrome where people are willing to do the most unhealthy things to portray the picture of health. They will take any substance to achieve the look they want, start any diet that comes down the pike, one day they are taking raspberry ketones, the next they are on the master cleanse. When its results time they have none, or worse they are heavier and due to the steps they took their health has suffered. Its time to end the suffering, get heart and mind healthy and lose the weight. 

What is the Mediterranean diet? The Mediterranean diet is an eating plan that incorporates the basics of healthy eating along with healthy fats. Most healthy diets tend include the same foods fruits, vegetables fish and whole grains while limiting unhealthy fats.  The Mediterranean diet focuses on eating mainly plant based foods, like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts. It replaces butter with healthier fats like olive oil. The diet emphasizes seasoning food with herbs rather than salt, as well as limiting red meat to no more than a few times a month. The options are moved to fish and poultry at least twice a week. The traditional Mediterranean diet includes fruits vegetables and grains. The residents of Greece eat six or more servings a day of antioxidant  rich fruits and vegetables. The grains that are eaten in the diet are whole grains with some trans fats. Bread is also a staple it is normally dipped in olive oil and is not served with butter or margarine both of which have trans and saturated fats. Another staple nuts, they are full of healthy fats but also full of calories so they should be limited. Lets look at fats in the Mediterranean diet the idea is to choose healthy fats, limiting the intake of saturated and trans fats both of these contribute to heart disease. The featured fat is olive oil a mono saturated fat  a type of fat that helps to reduce LDL levels.  It is of note that extra virgin and virgin oils contain high levels of protective plan compounds which have anti-oxidant effects.  Canola oil and some nuts contain linioleic acid in addition to healthy unsaturated fat. Fatty fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides, decrease blood clotting, have been noted to decrease the incidence of sudden heart attacks, improves the health of blood vessels and helps moderates blood pressure. Fish is a staple protein the Mediterranean diet.

How can the Mediterranean diet benefit me? The Mediterranean diet has been linked to a positive impact on cognitive function, lowering of the risk of age related dementia, life extension, it wards off heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. A New England Journal of Medicine study “Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet”1 found that about 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean Diet. The findings are based on the results of the first major clinical trial to measure the diets effect on heart risks. They ended the study early as the results were so clear it would have been unethical to continue. A total of 7,447 people were enrolled age range 55-80 years old 57% were women. In a  multi center trial in Spain made up of participants who were high cardiovascular risk, but with no cardiovascular disease. They had three groups a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts or a control diet low in fat.  The primary end point was a major cardiovascular event.  Among persons at high cardiovascular risk, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts reduced the incidence of major cardiovascular events. Research studies since the 1950s have shown the benefits of diets based on high consumption of fish and vegetables and a lower consumption of land-based animals

such as meat and milk leads to better health. A recent study at the Sahlgrenska Academy 2 has studied the effects of a Mediterranean diet on older people in Sweden. The studied 70 year olds ate a Mediterranean diet and 70 year olds who eat more of a meat and animal product diet for more than 40 years.  The results show that those who eat a Mediterranean diet have a 20% higher chance of living longer. This translates into an estimated 2-3 year life extension for people who eat the Mediterranean diet. A study of the Mediterranean diet and cognitive function done by researchers from the University of Exeter Medical School 3 analyzed 12 eligible pieces of research, 11 observational studies and one randomized control trial. In nine out of the 12 studies, a higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with better cognitive function, lower rates of cognitive decline and reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease. The results for mild cognitive impairment were inconsistent.  The lead researcher Iliana Lourida noted that the review highlights inconsistency in the literature and the need for further research.

Now I have you saying I am interested, but how do I put it all together? We have covered the basics of the diet above, but I have some pointers for you. The diet is plant based, the plant foods in your meals should have minimal processing. As well as following the dirty dozen and fresh fifteen guidelines while watching closely for GMO’s. Unless you have gone gluten free switch to whole grains. A good snacking option are nuts and seeds, please limit the amount given the caloric and fat content. Also opt for natural nut butters over the processed kind with added hydrogenated fat. Instead of going for butter or margarine opt for olive oil as a healthy replacement. Limit your intake of salt by using herbs and spices to make food tasty. Increase the amount of fish you eat while lowering the amount of red meat you eat. Avoid breaded and fried fish opt for baked or broiled instead. Finally choose low-fat dairy given concerns with inflammation.

In this article I am not looking for you to think that all other diets pale in comparison to the Mediterranean diet. What I want to show you is that it is a meal plan with great benefits and it tastes good This diet can help you lose weight, increase brain function, extend your life, and it tastes good. This will decrease your chances of a bounce back or looking good on the outside and being completely unhealthy inside.  The taste factor is important as it helps with compliance. If I give a client a program without their favorite exercise on it will they comply? Hopefully you try this meal plan out and get back to me with your thoughts and comments. I do have some announcements, I have an opening in my schedule to take on some new personal training clients. Also in the coming months I will  be rolling out an online coaching program, the site will be up soon. If your interested please contact me at either 914-620-2256  or christopherjcollins@live.com. As always thank you for reading and please share. 

 1 Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet 04/04/13

Ramón Estruch, M.D., Ph.D., Emilio Ros, M.D., Ph.D., Jordi Salas-Salvadó, M.D., Ph.D., Maria-Isabel Covas, D.Pharm., Ph.D., Dolores Corella, D.Pharm., Ph.D., Fernando Arós, M.D., Ph.D., Enrique Gómez-Gracia, M.D., Ph.D., Valentina Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Ph.D., Miquel Fiol, M.D., Ph.D., José Lapetra, M.D., Ph.D., Rosa Maria Lamuela-Raventos, D.Pharm., Ph.D., Lluís Serra-Majem, M.D., Ph.D., Xavier Pintó, M.D., Ph.D., Josep Basora, M.D., Ph.D., Miguel Angel Muñoz, M.D., Ph.D., José V. Sorlí, M.D., Ph.D., José Alfredo Martínez, D.Pharm, M.D., Ph.D., and Miguel Angel Martínez-González, M.D., Ph.D. for the PREDIMED Study Investigators

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Gianluca Tognon, Elisabet Rothenberg, Gabriele Eiben, Valter Sundh, Anna Winkvist, Lauren Lissner. Does the Mediterranean diet predict longevity in the elderly? A Swedish perspective. Age, 2010; 33 (3): 439 DOI: 10.1007/s11357-010-9193-1

3 Ilianna Lourida, Maya Soni, Joanna Thompson-Coon, Nitin Purandare, Iain A. Lang, Obioha C. Ukoumunne, David J. Llewellyn. Mediterranean Diet, Cognitive Function, and Dementia. Epidemiology, 2013; 24 (4): 479 DOI: 10.1097/EDE.0b013e3182944410