Mediterranean Diet In a Day For Dummies

By Meri Raffetto and Wendy Jo Peterson

The way to eat if you want to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The Mediterranean diet is a way of life – one where you eats lots of fresh food and slow down. More technically, the Mediterranean diet is a modern set of guidelines inspired by traditional diet patters of southern Italy, the Greek island of Crete, and other parts of Greece. For decades, doctors and nutritional experts have observed and confirmed that Mediterranean countries have much lower occurrences of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes in their citizens than northern European countries and the United States.  Mediterranean Diet In a Day For Dummies quickly gets you started on this healthy, delicious eating plan. With focused content and expert advice, you’ll get a quick introduction to Mediterranean lifestyle principles and how they can help with disease prevention, weight management, and overall wellness. You’ll discover how to tie all the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle concepts together and see what a Mediterranean Food Guide Pyramid looks like. With a focus on eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and seafood; eating less meat; and choosing healthy fats such as olive oil. The lifestyle also includes a focus the importance of fun activities, time shared with family and friends and an overall passion for life! With helpful charts and tables, you’ll get listings of antioxidant-rich foods, health benefits by the color of your food, and cooking charts. You’ll get detailed steps for building your meals with the Mediterranean mindset and easy-to-follow plans that list the foods, oils, herbs and spices, and cooking times that make it easy to get started. You’ll even get a peek at a sample meal makeover – taking a traditional meal and making it a Mediterranean meal.    

Related Title: When you are ready for recipes, make your next book purchase, Mediterranean Diet Cookbook For Dummies. With over 150 recipes it is a terrific follow up to this get started guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Mar 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781118715369

Book preview

Introduction

Research has shown that people who live in various regions of the Mediterranean coast have less heart disease and better longevity than the rest of us. Results of a study of more than 7,000 people in Spain, published on the New England Journal of Medicine’s website in February 2013, indicate that 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes, and heart disease–related deaths are preventable among people at high risk. How? By eating the key components of a Mediterranean diet: olive oil, nuts, fish, beans, and lots of fruits and vegetables. (Drinking a glass of wine with a meal got the thumbs up as well!) In this book, we share some details of these eating habits and how they affect your health and well-being.

We know that changing habits isn’t always easy. Altering eating habits can be especially challenging because doing so requires slowing down a bit, which is at odds with many people’s busy lifestyles. Our goal here is to show you that implementing a Mediterranean diet can be simple and flavorful. You don’t have to follow a strict dietary plan or omit any foods; in fact, the Mediterranean diet is more about adding than taking away. This book is here to help you make small changes so you can find more balance in your life — starting today!

What You Can Do In A Day

We don’t expect you to change your eating habits in an instant. However, we do think you’ll find the advice in this book easy to incorporate into your meal and snack choices right away. (Used to snacking on chips or cookies every evening? Try some walnuts or hazelnuts instead. Easy!) You may need more time to adjust what you stock in your pantry and the types of meals you prepare (or to get into the mindset of preparing a meal for yourself if you’re used to eating out). But whether you’re eating dinner at home or at a restaurant tonight, you can immediately start making choices that incorporate some of the advice you read here.

Foolish Assumptions

When writing this book, we made a few assumptions about you, our dear reader:

check.png You’re looking for meal-planning tips that will help you succeed with your health and weight-loss goals.

check.png You’re looking for ways to get more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants into your diet.

check.png You’re used to the standard American way of eating and wonder whether anything associated with the word diet can be yummy and satisfying.

check.png You’ve seen the recent media buzz around the Mediterranean Diet and want to know what it’s all about.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout this book you’ll notice small graphics in the margins, called icons. These symbols are meant to draw your attention to particular ideas.

remember_4c.eps Even if you forget everything else in this book, remember the paragraphs marked with this icon. They help you make good choices and stay on track with your health goals.

tip_4c.eps This helpful icon marks important information that can save you time and energy, so make sure you don’t overlook it.

warning_4c.eps Watch out for this icon; it warns you about potential problems and common pitfalls of implementing a Mediterranean diet into your lifestyle.

5minuteexercise.eps Take a break from the text for a quick exercise designed to help you get a better grasp of eating the Mediterranean way. This icon shows you what to do.

exploresomemore.eps When you see this icon, head to this book's companion website at www.dummies.com/inaday/mediterraneandiet. Online, you'll find information that supplements the topics that we cover in this book.

Chapter 1

Journey to Club Med: What’s This Diet All About?

In This Chapter

arrow Exploring the origins of the Mediterranean diet

arrow Focusing on Mediterranean lifestyle habits

arrow Peeking at the Mediterranean food guide pyramid

When you picture the Mediterranean diet, you may imagine the sea lapping up on a beach near a quaint village whose residents are lounging and eating fresh grapes and olives. That picture is a good start.

The Mediterranean diet is a way of life — one where you eat lots of fresh food and slow down. More technically, the Mediterranean diet is a modern set of guidelines inspired by traditional diet patterns of southern Italy, the Greek island of Crete, and other parts of Greece. The lifestyle was first researched in the 1960s, and in 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially recognized this diet pattern to be part of the cultural heritage of Italy, Greece, Spain, and Morocco. A more rural lifestyle is a common thread among all these regions.

Research shows that following a traditional Mediterranean diet significantly reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, heart attack, and stroke. In early 2013, for example, the website of the New England Journal of Medicine published results of a study of 7,447 people at high risk of having cardiovascular problems. Some study participants followed a Mediterranean diet — increasing their intake of plant-based foods, seafood, and healthy fats and decreasing intake of processed meat, red meat, and commercial baked goods, for example — and supplemented with olive oil. Others followed a Mediterranean diet and supplemented with nuts. A control group was asked to follow a lowfat diet (but actually didn’t change its dietary habits much at all). Study results indicated that eating the traditional Mediterranean diet substantially reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart disease -related death among this high-risk population.

The key word here is traditional. The Mediterranean region is changing, with faster-paced lifestyles and more modern conveniences. These changes bring with them an increased prevalence of the ills we’re trying to avoid.

remember_4c.eps For the purposes of this book, when you think of a Mediterranean lifestyle and dietary patterns, the focus is on the traditional habits seen at least 50 years ago in the regions we note here. For instance, if you visited northern Italy on a recent trip, you may not have experienced any of the dietary patterns we promote in this book. So no, that huge portion of butter-laden pasta you had doesn’t qualify for this diet.

Although diet is a big component of the health benefits experienced in the Mediterranean, all the lifestyle patterns combined, including physical activity and relaxation, may provide insight into the health benefits found in this region. This