Anyone follow a mediterranean diet?

[amcal]

I've discovered that for me, I need to eat lower fat and lower calories. I love the ideas behind a traditional foods diet but, it seems to be too caloric and too high in fat for me to loose/maintain my weight.

So, I'm thinking about going more towards a Mediterranean diet.

Does anyone follow this type diet? Any tips or hints on how to get started? Any good books or plans I should check out?

[velochic]

Dh is from Istanbul and we eat a lot of food that is familiar to him, which means we eat a lot of foods.

I don't really find it very low-fat. Salads are *swimming* in oil, for example. They just use nothing but olive oil, so it's all healthy fats. Much of what they eat that are swimming in olive oil are these cold mezes (appetizers) and I absolutely cannot *stand* the feel of lots of cold olive oil in my mouth. Dh loves it, though!

I'm not sure what the "north american" version of the Mediterranean diet is, but dh's family eats a lot of white grains (white rice and white bread is served twice a day), fried foods, cheese, lamb... but they eat a TON of vegetables (floating in fat, but still) and the meat is not usually the star of the meal, but a part of a larger whole. So for example, a meal that we make a lot here is green beans and tomatoes that are cooked with just enough ground meat to flavor the dish. Again, it has a lot of olive oil in it, though. They eat lots of beans. Beans in everything.

If a meat is the star, it's fish. They eat a lot of fish. The fish, though, is so fresh that what you buy for dinner that night was caught that morning and often is still alive and swimming in a bucket when you buy it and have it cleaned. In the US, they don't know the meaning of fresh. The "fresh" fish you get here has been on ice on the boat for weeks and then refrozen and is fresh because it's been thawed only 2 day. Blech. (Can you tell I live in the land-locked midwest? It's probably a little better on the coasts.)

Breakfast is usually a simple affair... feta cheese, olives and maybe boğaça (a type of white bread that uses yogurt for leavening). Tea is the beverage of choice at breakfast. They like cured meats and will eat them for breakfast on weekends (like sausage, called sucuk). They also like offal (nothing is wasted). They drink turkish coffee mid-morning and after supper. None of this sweet, calorie-laden Starbucks. It's just coffee.

Every single meal ends with fruit and sometimes nuts (which may be served with after dinner drinks - scotch for the men and coffee for the women). Quite literally, dh eats 4+ servings of fruit after lunch and dinner both. They don't snack. They'll have a midafternoon tea (around when westerners eat "dinner"... 5ish) that might include a bite to eat, but they keep it really small. They eat supper late - like 8ish.

So, that's my experience with it. I'm sure Greek, Italian, Maltese, Cypriot, etc. diets are different. We eat "mediterranean" because it's what dh grew up with and I enjoy cooking it, but we don't follow it as a "diet", but as a familiar cuisine that is part of our overall diet. I almost never see an overweight Turkish person. They're doing it right, that's for sure. But it's far from low-fat. I'm not sure what they really eat is the same as what is marketed to be "mediterranean" in the west. Rather than following what Americans say about it, perhaps the best plan is to get authentic cookbooks from the region and try some of the recipes. Just a thought. Wanted to add... the library where I work has some really great cookbooks of the region and most libraries try to have cookery books of all ethnic cuisines, so that would be a good place to start for the cookbooks.

[amcal]

Hmmm.... That's interesting! Everything I've read says that the Mediterranean diet is way more moderate than that. That olive oil is used but, not dumped on. That Mediterranean eating is more about the experience and that they more naturally eat in moderation as opposed to excess. That there is an emphasis on fresh fruit, veggies,yogurt, nuts, seeds, moderate fish and poultry, beans and legumes, whole grains and olive oil but in moderation.

I wonder if, like you said, the differences are regional?

There was just another study that came out about the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet. I need to research more.

[californiajenn]

Maybe we can help you tweak your diet to work best for you without resorting to a specific diet.

For instance, how often did you eat grains? What was your veggie intake like? Do you move often, as in yoga or walking?

Also, have you had your thyroid and adrenals checked?

[velochic]

Oh, I think it's very healthy. VERY. It's just not low-fat. But they also don't overeat. They eat small portions and a great variety so in spite of the oil, they're still not consuming nearly the calories Americans do. Another thing... they eat almost no processed foods. I mean, they love their white bread, but it's made daily out of just flour, water, and salt and they buy it every day (even for every meal) from the corner baker (who might even be milling his own flour). I really think the difference is that everything is made from scratch, even food that is convenient for them. Sure, they have McDonald's, but people eat there like once every couple of months as a huge treat for the kids.

[serenbat]

Oh, I think it's very healthy. VERY. It's just not low-fat. But they also don't overeat. They eat small portions and a great variety so in spite of the oil, they're still not consuming nearly the calories Americans do. Another thing... they eat almost no processed foods. I mean, they love their white bread, but it's made daily out of just flour, water, and salt and they buy it every day (even for every meal) from the corner baker (who might even be milling his own flour). I really think the difference is that everything is made from scratch, even food that is convenient for them. Sure, they have McDonald's, but people eat there like once every couple of months as a huge treat for the kids.

---VERY TRUE!

I feel there is a really difference from the true Med diet and the American-version of what is thought of as the "Mediterranean diet".

Having spent time in Italy, Albania and Greece and know several in the US that eat this way, none are even close to being over-weight and their diet is not low fat in any way.

[Smokering]

From what I know of Italian cooking (not a huge amount, admittedly, but I like to peruse Italian cookbooks!), they don't just use olive oil as a fat - they use plenty of butter and possibly other animal fats too. Italian cooking is super-regional, but there's a general trend (IIRC) for southern Italian cuisine to be more about fresh fruits, seafood and olives, while northern Italian cooking has creamier, more buttery dishes with an emphasis on sauces. High-fat salami and pate are common in Mediterranean cooking, as well as high-fat cheeses.

I'm pretty sure olive oil shouldn't be used for cooking at high heats - doesn't that make it carcinogenic?

I'm also leery of the white bread and pasta aspect - I know Italians are supposed to eat pasta in much smaller quantities than Americans, but still - refined carbs, you know? Presumably making bread out of white flour is a fairly recent innovation, or at least restricted to the elite in earlier periods of history.

In summer we eat a fair few Mediterranean-inspired meals - I make wholemeal foccacia, served with homemade dukkah and/or dipped in olive oil and caramelised balsamic vinegar, on a platter with homemade hummus, boiled eggs, crudites, olives, cheese cubes, pesto and sometimes a bit of cold meat. It's DH's favourite warm-weather meal (admittedly, sometimes with chips and sour cream added to the mix!), and we eat it several times a week when the weather's right.

[tinybutterfly]

Here's a link to the Mayo Clinic version of the Mediterranean diet.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/med...n-diet/CL00011

I am heading towared some combo of this and the DASH diet for now. Not as a diet to lose weight, but as a diet as in lifestyle change. You know, our daily diet. It all meshes well with the Feingold diet that I already do ( also not a weight loss diet, but a lifestyle diet) which is basically no artificial additives, preservatives and dyes.

http://dashdiet.org/mediterranean_diet.asp

I am guessing there would be a fair amount of regional differences, but from what little research I have done so far it basically sounds like more fruits and veggies, whole grains mostly, but not exclusively, healthier oils, some meat, lots of fish, nuts and red wine. Nothing drastic or hard to implement. Good food, unprocessed...

No idea where to find recipes or especially authentic recipes.

I'm not sure there's a particular right way to do it, but possibly a lot of ways to do it and also surely some flexibility to make it work for you and your family.

Good luck! I'll come check this later for tips.

[amcal]

Oh yeah, I'm definitely not looking for a low fat diet. Just lower fat than what a traditional foods diet seems to advocate.

That being said, I do have a few greek friends and DH is 100% Italian and comes from a traditional Italian family and I've never seen them have anything swimming in olive oil or floating in fat. I did ask my greek friend and while she was raised in the US, her family ate semi traditional and she said they never ate foods swimming in fats or oils.

TB - thank you for those links!

[tinybutterfly]

amcal, you are welcome!

I sometimes lurk in Traditional Foods ( some of the food sounds sooo good!) and it sounds like the fats are different. TF seems to use a lot of butter, coconut oil and lard. Mediterranean style would use olive oil as the main fat, right?

I think I know what you mean about not wanting a low-fat diet per se, but a diet that uses different fats, for example olive oil instead of lard. Is that what you mean?

Plus things like avacados have a high fat content, nuts are high in fat, but it's a different KIND of fat from butter, cream, etc.

Michael Pollan has some really good books on eating and nutrition, too...Food Rules, an Eater's Manuel is short and to the point, In Defense of Food is good, The Omnivore's Dilemma was a good read.

I DO like butter and cream, but I use them in small amounts. I am trying to figure out if I want to do low-fat or whole milk. Right now I go back and forth between them. I don't like skim milk at all, so that is not an option.

Also I ordered that book on the DASH diet and was happy to see I am already fairly close to following it already. Adding more fish puts me closer to the Meditarrean diet. I do drink a little red wine, but usually only once a week. Not enough to count I guess.

Oh, for what it's worth, too...I was freaking out when I read how many servings of grains and veggies were listed, but that's including everybody from folks who may only need 1,200 calories per day to people who require up to 2,000 calories per day. The higher end numbers are for people who need to eat more. I compared it all to what I had already determined was enough food for me and I was very close to what was recommended. I do one less grain per day because for ME, it's one too many. I am very big on customizing to meet my needs and my family's needs.

I am going to sub to this thread. I'm sure there will be lots of people with helpful info!

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by tinybutterfly

Oh, for what it's worth, too...I was freaking out when I read how many servings of grains and veggies were listed, but that's including everybody from folks who may only need 1,200 calories per day to people who require up to 2,000 calories per day. The higher end numbers are for people who need to eat more. I compared it all to what I had already determined was enough food for me and I was very close to what was recommended. I do one less grain per day because for ME, it's one too many. I am very big on customizing to meet my needs and my family's needs.

That sounds really smart. My understanding is that our perception of a 'serving' is larger than is realistic anyway. So five servings of veggies, while it still might be more than we're used to is not as much as you might think, if you're serving up small servings.

My father is Italian, his parents are from Prizzi. I think maybe because he grew up in land locked southern Utah (!) they ate a lot more pasta (it's cheap) and lamb, almost no fish. He and his siblings were all thin. His mother was fairly big around the middle, but she also lived to within a month of her 99th birthday.

[kjbrown92]

When my DH wanted to do this years back, I got a book, I think it's called "The Omega Diet" by a Greek doctor. And it tells you about the difference between omega 3 and omega 6, and good fats/bad fats and all that. And we made some dietary changes because of it. I always think of Greek food as the quintessential Mediterranean diet, not Italian. I've even looked at Greek Isle cooking vacations (wishing I had the money for that!) where you go shopping in the market, then go back and make the food.

[tinybutterfly]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

When my DH wanted to do this years back, I got a book, I think it's called "The Omega Diet" by a Greek doctor. And it tells you about the difference between omega 3 and omega 6, and good fats/bad fats and all that. And we made some dietary changes because of it. I always think of Greek food as the quintessential Mediterranean diet, not Italian. I've even looked at Greek Isle cooking vacations (wishing I had the money for that!) where you go shopping in the market, then go back and make the food.

Thanks for metioning this! I ordered it from Amazon!

[amcal]

Originally Posted by tinybutterfly

Thanks for metioning this! I ordered it from Amazon!

Me too! Thank you

And TB - yes - you're right - it's not only different types of fats but it's lower in over all fat than a traditional diet because of the emphasis on fruits and veggies.

Again, I don't want low fat but, traditional foods are high in overall fat which translate to higher calories. For me, I need to eat lower fat - not low fat - and to eat fewer calories. And while a Mediterranean diet is not low fat, the emphasis is on lower fat (and therefore lower calorie) foods than a traditional diet - fish, poultry, fresh fruits and veggies - and yes, fat in the form of olive oil and nuts and seeds but, the fat isn't the focus as it seems to be in a more traditional foods diet.