Mediterranean Diet

PinkandBlack87
PinkandBlack87 Posts: 41
edited November 13 in Food and Nutrition
This diet is getting popular. I want to share my experience with it. A few years ago when I lost like 30lbs I was on this diet without knowing it! I ate fresh fruits and veggies with lunch meat or some type of protein, but mostly fruits and veggies. This diet does work. The weight will melt off with exercise. The great thing about this diet is you can eat and eat and eat. I ate all the time. I ate big dinner plates piled with all sorts of veggies. I liked to dip my veggies in sour cream ranch dip that you mix yourself. My diet had little fat, so when it came to dips and dressing I used regular. Not anything low fat. I even ate bacon some mornings.
This diet does work and I encourage for people to try it! :)

Replies

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    edited February 2015
    The Mediterranean Diet is not a low fat diet. Olive oil is a key component, as are whole grains.

    While I don't doubt that it's possible to lose weight while following it, it's not a weight loss diet. It's a healthy eating diet that recommends eating more than just vegetables.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    edited February 2015
    PinkandBlack87 wrote: »
    This diet is getting popular. I want to share my experience with it. A few years ago when I lost like 30lbs I was on this diet without knowing it! I ate fresh fruits and veggies with lunch meat or some type of protein, but mostly fruits and veggies. This diet does work. The weight will melt off with exercise. The great thing about this diet is you can eat and eat and eat. I ate all the time. I ate big dinner plates piled with all sorts of veggies. I liked to dip my veggies in sour cream ranch dip that you mix yourself. My diet had little fat, so when it came to dips and dressing I used regular. Not anything low fat. I even ate bacon some mornings.
    This diet does work and I encourage for people to try it! :)

    if you "eat and eat and eat" on this diet into a surplus, then you will not lose weight.

    you can accomplish the same by just controlling portion sizes and putting yourself into a calorie deficit...
  • PinkandBlack87
    PinkandBlack87 Posts: 41
    I understand what you mean, I did lose 30lbs and went from a 15/16 to a 9/10 :) I gained it all back went I went through some severe depression
  • fevrale
    fevrale Posts: 170 Member
    PinkandBlack87 wrote: »
    This diet is getting popular. I want to share my experience with it. A few years ago when I lost like 30lbs I was on this diet without knowing it! I ate fresh fruits and veggies with lunch meat or some type of protein, but mostly fruits and veggies. This diet does work. The weight will melt off with exercise. The great thing about this diet is you can eat and eat and eat. I ate all the time. I ate big dinner plates piled with all sorts of veggies. I liked to dip my veggies in sour cream ranch dip that you mix yourself. My diet had little fat, so when it came to dips and dressing I used regular. Not anything low fat. I even ate bacon some mornings.
    This diet does work and I encourage for people to try it! :)

    The part about ranch dip made me giggle a little. When I studied abroad in Spain and Italy, my American classmates would always ask for ranch dressing. They were answered with blank stares. They also don't eat much processed lunch meat unless its salumi, serrano ham, prosciutto, capicola, and others that are filled with fat.

    The traditional Mediterranean diet is a healthy diet but won't necessarily bring about weight loss. Vegetables, fish, seafood, olive oil (120 calories per tablespoon), red wine (120 calories per five ounces), and such are good for you but you still need to watch calories if you want to lose weight. Plus, one of the most important part of the Mediterranean diet is the lifestyle. It's not just about eating olives and feta cheese, it's walking and moving naturally (cities are so walkable), the smaller portions, and eating meals socially.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    When I was first diagnosed diabetic about ten years ago, I left the doctor's office, my head reeling with all the information on how I would have to eat the rest of my life. I stumbled in to a little Mediterranean restaurant and saw a combo plate something like this.

    20-my-mediterranean-plate.jpg

    The food was so fresh and good and hit my palate so delicately, I still associate a Mediterranean plate as a beautifully balanced meal.

    I didn't think it was so new though.
  • PinkandBlack87
    PinkandBlack87 Posts: 41
    its not textbook Mediterranean diet. Its based on that concept. Of course with any weight loss diet you have to move. The job I had at that time was very physical and I exercised 5-6 days a week. That is why I was able to eat so much and still lose weight
  • PinkandBlack87
    PinkandBlack87 Posts: 41
    That looks delicious. I love eating fresh food, I love nature and what it offers
  • fevrale
    fevrale Posts: 170 Member
    I'm making this Med-inspired recipe tonight.

    The typical version with lots of butter and phyllo dough runs around 600 calories per serving. This version is around 150 per slice.

    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/03/easy-crust-less-spinach-and-feta-pie.html
  • PinkandBlack87
    PinkandBlack87 Posts: 41
    Mmm that looks so yummy! Let me know how it taste!
  • fevrale
    fevrale Posts: 170 Member
    So good! I didn't even miss the dough.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    I have to keep reminding myself what people mean when they say 'mediterranean diet'. it's not what i've eaten when i've gone there, lol.

    seems sound enough, though. i'd try it if i didn't rely so much on red meat, or if i didn't have a hard time with most fish
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    The Mediterranean encompasses a large area of twenty countries and many cultures so Mediterranean Diet is pretty much a useless term, a misnomer if you will.
    http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/29/garden/eating-well.html

    The first survey of the relationship between diet and heart disease, in the 1960's, was based on the diet of Cretans, whose death rate due to heart disease was seven times lower than that for American men of the same age. Since that time Cretans have been increasing their intake of saturated fat and decreasing their intake of olive oil. They are also less physically active. By the 1980's their rate of heart disease had risen almost 30 percent.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    PinkandBlack87 wrote: »
    This diet is getting popular. I want to share my experience with it. A few years ago when I lost like 30lbs I was on this diet without knowing it! I ate fresh fruits and veggies with lunch meat or some type of protein, but mostly fruits and veggies. This diet does work. The weight will melt off with exercise. The great thing about this diet is you can eat and eat and eat. I ate all the time. I ate big dinner plates piled with all sorts of veggies. I liked to dip my veggies in sour cream ranch dip that you mix yourself. My diet had little fat, so when it came to dips and dressing I used regular. Not anything low fat. I even ate bacon some mornings.
    This diet does work and I encourage for people to try it! :)
    But this is not what mediterranean traditional eating is about: lots of vegetables, grains, fruit, dairy, olive oil, fish and little meat.
  • Jolinia
    Jolinia Posts: 846 Member
    The Blue Zone is an interesting read for healthy ways of eating. If I were going to try to copy a culture's diet, I think I could do worse than narrowing it down to Sardinia, Italy. But there is way more to health and long life than diet or even diet and exercise according to what the authors found.

    http://www.bluezones.com/expedition/sardinia/

  • honkytonks85
    honkytonks85 Posts: 669 Member
    I aim to eat like this yes - not to lose weight though because you still need a caloric deficit but it's good for overall health.
  • sarahmoo12
    sarahmoo12 Posts: 756 Member
    I love Mediterranean food im away to pintrest for some dinner recipes for tonight haha.... seriously though you just lost weight because you started eating better and even though it might have looked like more the cals were prob a lot lower being mostly fruit and veg but well done and good luck
  • sarahmoo12
    sarahmoo12 Posts: 756 Member
    fevrale wrote: »
    I'm making this Med-inspired recipe tonight.

    The typical version with lots of butter and phyllo dough runs around 600 calories per serving. This version is around 150 per slice.

    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/03/easy-crust-less-spinach-and-feta-pie.html

    sooo making this with sweet potato fries and black bean salad !!
  • PinkandBlack87
    PinkandBlack87 Posts: 41
    Oh yes I know that way of eating is just healthy eating, the more I thought about it I realized it was really close to the Mediterranean diet and I stunned myself. I was like that's awesome lol
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    The Mediterranean encompasses a large area of twenty countries and many cultures so Mediterranean Diet is pretty much a useless term, a misnomer if you will.
    http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/29/garden/eating-well.html

    The first survey of the relationship between diet and heart disease, in the 1960's, was based on the diet of Cretans, whose death rate due to heart disease was seven times lower than that for American men of the same age. Since that time Cretans have been increasing their intake of saturated fat and decreasing their intake of olive oil. They are also less physically active. By the 1980's their rate of heart disease had risen almost 30 percent.

    It's not a useless term, it's a diet based on traditional diets of the Mediterranean region. It's been around for many decades. Whether it is accurate for modern populations is irrelevant.

    Even if it were only accurate for a small segment of the Mediterranean region, it wouldn't make the term it inaccurate or useless.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories