Posted on 07/14/2016 8:37:53 AM PDT by MissEdie
I need some help from my Freeper friends. My doctor has advised me to try the Mediterranean Diet. I have tried searching online for a cookbook but I do not have time to go through the 48,000 results I have gotten. Have any of you tried this diet and if so do you have a cookbook you could recommend??
The Mediterranean Diet is about eating healthy.
Don’t know about anyone else, but it helps me.
I guess if your doc brought it up he may have had some reason.
I would ask his nurse to send you a link or flyer.
As a male past 65 I had never really dieted until two years ago. I am a large framed person, 6’1 and can carry extra weight without looking too fat but I don’t want to.
My wife and I have used “The Belly Fat Diet” with great success. When I retired last year I entertained and traveled a lot and now am doing a repeat of my efforts in 2014. I have lost about 10% of my body weight and have another 5% to go.
If I eat all as directed I don’t get hungry and non-compliant.
https://www.amazon.com/Belly-Fat-Cure-Discover-System%C2%99/dp/1401927181
Think Italy - pasta, garlic, more garlic, olive oil, basil and tomatoes. Tuna, fish, bread. Wine. And don’t forget to wave your arms when you talk/ it’s great exercise.
Ping to self for later.
“I have respect for beer!”
Marcella Hazan wrote the definitive Italian cookbooks, according to Julia Child.
That last statement made me laugh , but its true !
True Italians in Italy, walk everywhere, or ride scooters for longer distances.
Exercise by walking is a great weight reducer; walk as far a you can, and then each day increase your walk by 50 yards;
increase daily and you wont really notice the weight reduction, and the exercise gets you outside and will increase your Vitamin D (sunlight) intake.
Think like a native Italian: You walk up the hill, then you walk down the hill, then you walk up the hill, and then down the hill, and then you walk up the hill, repeat as necessary.
I have a cookbook titled:
Mediterranean Food of the Sun, by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow. I use it often, recipes have been delish. I especially like that every recipe has at least one photo.
Thanks for the picture !
MissEdie: print out a copy of the picture in Post #20, and put it on your refridgerator.
It will be a friendly reminder of what you want to accomplish, regardless of your age, or physicque.
All of us FReepers support you, and many of us will bookmark this thread ( even the "lurkers").
Thank you for that !( and thank you Donglalinger for motivating me too ! )
Picture is going up on my refridgerator too !
So he told you to travel the Med and eat? You can turn in the cost of the vacation to your health insurance carrier?
I wish I could get my doc to give me that prescription.
God inspired Limoncello.
After dinner, in tiny sips, on a hot night.
LOL I wish!
TY! Ask Mrs Gamecock what she thinks of Muschamp’s chances this year :0) I am going to order both the books she recommended.
Cholesterol issues mostly and the fact my weight has started creeping up over the last year.
Use REAL olive oil, not that “extra virgin” bullshit. Get it at your store from THIS brand: http://shop.californiaoliveranch.com/?gclid=CIet1IjF880CFYQfhgodaaUKsg
Grains are OK, eat fish, and drink RED wine. Also, no super sizing. I bet that’s the real reason the diet works— the people in those countries aren’t obese pigs who need half a gallon of soda and 6 pounds of sugar snacks per day.
Lots of salads with olive oil, I believe.
Hello MissEdie, I hope you find a successful way to comply with doc’s advice. In the meantime, I’m throwing my 2 cents in, too!
For the last 2 months I’ve been doing intermittent fasting and feel great. Lost about 20 pounds and I have about 50 more to go.
In a nutshell, you fast two days a week and you have just 500 calories that day. The rest of the days you eat normally, but with a sharp eye to healthier picks.
I’ve modified it - as many do - to to skip lunch and/or breakfast EVERY day and eat only when I’m VERY hungry.
What I’ve learned is that I won’t die if my stomach is growling, I don’t need a Snickers bar to be myself, my body does not go into starvation mode if I skip meals, trying to plan 6 small meals a day is utter BS and leads to failure, and I can go to bed without a snack. In fact, I don’t have snacks.
The science behind intermittent fasting is growing and very positive. Once I confirmed my long-suspected thoughts that stuffing ourselves is something we’re programmed to do in order to support Big Agra and Big Pharma I had no problem giving this a go.
Aside from weight loss, blood chems improve to healthier levels because you’re not jamming food into your gut every hour or so. Even healthy foods have to be digested and your body still has to process it.
It’s not easy all the time. When I’m bored I want to eat so keeping busy is paramount. I am now eating about 1 days’ worth of “before” food in 3-4 days.
I should be losing more, but I have a 2 beer or wine habit in the evening that is slowing progress. I recognize that even though it’s not a huge amount of alcohol it’s still something I should give up.
I am not an expert so I suggest anyone who has interest go do some research and read the science behind it.
So that’s my story, but I will add that I had GREAT success on Atkins and South Beach diet through 2009. All the time our cooking and eating has been 98% whole foods. Very low sugar and carbs, no soy products, no high fructose corn syrup, no partially hydrogenated, etc. And then once every few months I eat a bag of potato chips.
I will also add (in case anyone is still reading) this anecdote about Coconut Oil: We started using it 2 years ago and switched a lot of the olive oil we had been using.
What impressed me the most was that the coconut oil was cleaning my years-burnt and impossible to get clean stovetop. You know when around the burners it’s burnt, sticky, burnt and nothing gets it off? The CO sort of “slipped” the burnt off over a few months. It’s also the BEST for seasoning any pans, as it forms a very silky layer with no yellowing or gummyness.
And Hubbies cholesterol dropped enough to get the doc off his back about statins.
Olive oil, any vegetable oil, - after cooking - is sticky and gummy. Coconut oil is never sticky or gummy. What does that translate to in terms of what each oil does in our bodies? I dunno, I’m not a doctor.
OK, I guess that was more like 25 cents but I hope someone finds it helpful. God bless.
Cholesterol issues mostly and the fact my weight has started creeping up over the last year.
In that case he’s probably talking about a “Mediterranean” diet that is high in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains (whole grain breads in moderation), legumes (think peas, beans, lentils, chick peas), and nuts (unsalted and roasted or raw almonds for example), olive oil and fish and chicken, and rather low in red meats and any animal fats including eggs, butter and cheeses and even yogurts unless low fat versions. Sorry. Lasagna is not part of a “Mediterranean” diet.
I can’t give you any advice on any particular cookbook but any that follow that basic outline would be good.
But keep in mind that cholesterol levels have a heredity component.
I eat lots of cheese and use butter, probably way too much butter, I love butter, and I eat eggs several times a week, I do eat more chicken and not so much red meats but when I do, I eat the most marbled (i.e. fatty) steaks or roasts I can find, but at my last physical 6 months ago, as has been the case for many years now, my overall cholesterol level (the combination of good and bad) was excellent for someone 55 years old, actually below the norm. Meanwhile my best friend who is my same age eats very little of those, and eats a mostly Mediterranean diet and is nearly a vegan, her cholesterol levels are through the roof.
But back in the early 2000’s I decided, after being tired of being overweight for many years and feeling tired and sick all the time, make some changes to my eating habits. I got into eating healthier foods, lots of fresh veggies, fresh fruits, lean proteins, whole grains, few if any processed foods, etc. But I didn’t think of it as a “diet” but just how I was going to eat. I also got into cooking at home and using herbs and spices and experimenting with various world cuisines prepared healthy, to make meals more interesting.
I also had to force myself to eat three meals a day and incorporate healthy snacks. Starvation diets, fad diets, fasting diets, purges,cleanses,are not at all healthy and should be avoided.
But I also didn’t deprive myself of occasional treats as long as I balanced them out by what I called the “two day rule”. If I wanted to have a slice of pizza for lunch or a slice of cake at a birthday party, I had to give up that day and or within the next day an approximate amount (sort of like the Weight Watchers’ Exchange equivalents) of carbs and fats and fruits. Surprisingly after a time I found that I’d rather forgo the pizza or birthday cake if it meant giving up fruit or eating a salad with no dressing what so ever, or giving up my morning cereal.
My advice is to think of eating healthier and not as a “diet”.
Also you need to move. Dietary changes can improve your health but without exercising, even light to moderate exercise like walking a couple of times a week for 20-30 minutes, a dietary change alone will not have all that great of an effect.
BTW I lost 70 pounds and have kept if off doing this.
As long as your doc is EDUCATED about “cholesterol” I’d listen....if they aren’t...well....many docs just look at total cholesterol, not the HDL, LDL, VLDL, small/large particle, issues, etc. TOTAL Cholesterol means NOTHING.
That said, as other posters have stated, there are many new ideas in nutrition, ie, intermittent fasting, eating only grassfed meat and dairy, etc. And, of course, carbs. I believe many of us really shouldn’t eat many carbs, including fruit. Everyone IS different. I lost about 20lbs about 3 years ago...and now I eat LOTS of GOOD FAT, ie. organic/grassfed butter, but have to avoid dairy for other reasons. I find if I get enough fat, I’m not that hungry and on the hunt for carbs. Good Luck. Check out Dr. Mercola’s website for lots of good info.
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