MEDITERRANEAN DIET
The Mediterranean Diet is named after the dietary lifestyle of Greece and Southern Italy, where heart disease is almost nonexistent and people have longer life expectancies than the average person. While there isn’t any ‘one’ Mediterranean diet, it is generally a diet high in fat calories, that emphasizes grains and legumes along with olive oil.
Foods Emphasized: Fruits and vegetables, beans and nuts, olive oil, whole grain pasta
Foods Discouraged: Red meats, eggs, and saturated fats
Premise and Guidelines: Mediterranean-style weight loss diets have been the focus of much attention in recent years. This is due to the data showing a lower occurrence of serious diseases and higher life-expectancies among the Greek and southern Italian populations. Although fat consumption runs as high as 40% of their daily caloric intake, they still have a very low occurrence of cardiovascular disease, a pattern that puzzled many researchers, nutritionists and scientists.
There are other lifestyle factors that could be contributing to the general health of Mediterranean peoples, but only the diet part is addressed in the Mediterranean Diet. It should also be noted that although these inhabitants were regarded for their overall wellness, they weren’t necessarily documented for being the slimmest population. This should be taken into consideration if you are considering using this type of diet for weight loss. It could be extremely healthy, but might not cause you to shed the pounds you’d like. The high fat intake is derived mostly from foods containing or cooked in olive oil. A monounsaturated fat, olive oil does not possess the cholesterol-raising effects of saturated fats that come from animals. Olive oil is also contains fabulous antioxidant and vitamin properties.
The Mediterranean diet includes fresh fish to be eaten a few times each week, since most natives do not eat high quantities of red meat. Fish contains Omega-3 fatty acids, which are studies indicate has beneficial qualities and helps lower the risk of some chronic illnesses. Also included in the diet are whole wheat pastas, breads and grains, nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables, poultry, cheese and yogurt and wine. Cheese should be eaten in lesser proportions to the rest of the foods, and wine is consumed in low to moderate quantities.
The Mediterranean diet is not technically a weight-loss regimen, but rather a healthy, balanced eating plan. Overweight dieters should be able to achieve at least some success on this diet, since they are adapting to a healthier and non-restricted lifestyle. In general, the diets of Mediterranean inhabitants involve a relatively high percentage of calories from fat. It should be noted that increasing obesity is becoming an issue in these countries, which doesn’t support the notion that you should increase your total fat intake dramatically. At first glance, eating such a high percentage of calories from fat would seem to deter weight loss - so how does this diet cause weight loss? The Mediterranean diet restricts the intake of saturated fatty acids - fat that is prevalent in American diets, and is linked to obesity.