Mediterranean Diet?

thinking_thinly

Anyone follow this WOE? I was impressed by the study that came out earlier in the year, and the general WOE that this diet entails. Anyone have success loosing weight and maintaining this way? My current WOE isn't that far off, so it wouldn't be a drastic change... I just would like to hear some feedback

shalysewrightbethea

I don't follow it strictly but rather have incorporated it into my diet. I eat a combination of Indian, oriental, Mediteranian, Spanish, Italian. I look and find the healthiest vegetarian versions, but we do eat a lot of Mediteranian because it filling tasty and not excessively fatty

Lorix94

Add an Italian
I use some bodybuilding-like foods but my diet is pretty italian

CeriGrindrod

You can only trial and error :-) the results are down to YOUR body.. X x

141by2016

I just went to an awesome lecture on this, and there is a lot of data to show that this WOE is important for maintaining optimal health. There is a guy who has an integrative medicine clinic here in Oregon who runs http://www.goodfoodgreatmedicine.com/ and has a lot of good suggestions and recipes.

thinking_thinly

Thank you all for your replies!

brtty82

So I went to a dietitian and he suggested this way of eating. Having a hard time getting onboard bc I don’t really like olives, capers or feta and keep seeing these ingredients pip up in recipes. Any subs or alternative WOE you all suggest?

AnnPT77

Focus more on the concepts of the WOE: Lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains; some fish/seafood, nuts, olive oil; lower amounts of highly-processed foods, refined foods, red meat and sugary sweet stuff. You don't need to eat specifically olives, capers or feta, if you don't like them.

This is an overview of the concept, from a mainstream source:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/16037-mediterranean-diet,

Honestly, almost any WOE that has mostly whole foods, doesn't go crazy on Omega-6 fats (some are fine, but most people get too few Omega-3s for balance), refined products and added sugar is probably going to have benefits.

It's not essential to make a complete shift all at once. You can gradually move your eating in that kind of direction, choosing foods you enjoy.

neanderthin

brtty82 wrote: »

So I went to a dietitian and he suggested this way of eating. Having a hard time getting onboard bc I don’t really like olives, capers or feta and keep seeing these ingredients pip up in recipes. Any subs or alternative WOE you all suggest?

Take an Italian ciabatta roll, make some nice meatballs and get some imported Italian tomatoes and make a tomato sauce and put it all together and add it to the ciabatta, a tasty Mediterranean meat ball sub. just kidding, but I would do it.

MargaretYakoda

brtty82 wrote: »

So I went to a dietitian and he suggested this way of eating. Having a hard time getting onboard bc I don’t really like olives, capers or feta and keep seeing these ingredients pip up in recipes. Any subs or alternative WOE you all suggest?

I also detest capers and feta.

@annpt77 is right. It’s not about the feta and capers. It’s about eating more veggies and healthy protein (think fish and lean meat) with a small amount of healthy fats.

Here’s a salmon recipe that includes capers that my family has used many times. We just don’t use the capers. It’s delicious.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/mediterranean-diet/complete-mediterranean-diet-food-list-day-meal-plan/

yirara

This might be interesting for some: https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you/

Based roughly on Mediterranean/Asian/lots of other diets and is meant to be a) healthier for the environment for the average person (not everyone can buy organic, fully methane and other bad stuff compensated meat or go to hunt) and to keep people healthy and happy. Interestingly, this is pretty much how I eat naturally.

Adventurista

141by2016 wrote: »

I just went to an awesome lecture on this, and there is a lot of data to show that this WOE is important for maintaining optimal health. There is a guy who has an integrative medicine clinic here in Oregon who runs http://www.goodfoodgreatmedicine.com/ and has a lot of good suggestions and recipes.

@141by2016 ~ i have his Great Food, Great Medicine cookbook (co-authored with his sister, for practical recipes.)

It was highly recommended by a heart doctor for someone in the family, and was worth getting (i buy very few cookbooks, and use quite a few of the recipes regularly.) Think mom called and ordered 2 directly. It is a spiral bound paperback, with regular 8 1/2 × 11" pages, i think, and it opens and lies flat on the counter.

Adventurista

thinking_thinly wrote: »

Anyone follow this WOE? I was impressed by the study that came out earlier in the year, and the general WOE that this diet entails. Anyone have success loosing weight and maintaining this way? My current WOE isn't that far off, so it wouldn't be a drastic change... I just would like to hear some feedback

@thinking_thinly - yes, i often follow/use ingredients of mediteranean WOE combined with a myplate approach for meal design, and calorie/carb counting for quantity with Mfp tracker, adjusted towards low carb 25-35g carbs per meal, up to 4 meals a day (5+/- hours apart.)

neanderthin

yirara wrote: »

This might be interesting for some: https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you/

Based roughly on Mediterranean/Asian/lots of other diets and is meant to be a) healthier for the environment for the average person (not everyone can buy organic, fully methane and other bad stuff compensated meat or go to hunt) and to keep people healthy and happy. Interestingly, this is pretty much how I eat naturally.

It's always good to get a wider perspective as opposed to research that only supports ones beliefs and I'm not saying this applies to you personally, just in general. Anyway food for thought.

https://nature.com/articles/s41538-024-00249-y

AdahPotatah2024

I've eaten mostly Mediterranean influenced diet since I started buying my own food at 16. I was always a healthy weight size 6/7 womens until after my pregnancy. During a particularly stressful period I ballooned up to around 160. I've lost 15 or so lbs and am a pretty healthy weight, now, size 8.
I just love all the typical foods like feta, olives, nuts, caprese salads, pasta and Italian bread..the minestrone and bean soups..wine. It's all the best tasting foods. There was actually a study showing that we get more nutrients from eating foods that taste good to us!😋

earlybirdlady

I do love this WOE and have eaten like this most of my life so it’s also somewhat of a comfort for me. The Mediterranean Dish on Instagram has some delicious ideas if you’re looking for recipes.