Mediterranean Diet

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Anyone else on this diet? it was rated the No. 1 healthiest diet and I don't see much discussion on it.
I need a high fiber diet which Keto doesn't provide unless you eat mountains of vegetables. So far I have been pretty happy with it - too soon for me to give it a rating.
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Replies

  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
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    If I had to pick one official diet this is the one I would pick, because it's freakin' delicious and I have found the closer I adhere to its tenets, the easier it was to lose and then maintain my weight. It also covers a very wide variety of cuisines.

    For high fiber, you should be nailing it if you eat 8-10 servings of fruit and veg a day (keep the peels on and make sure you are picking higher fiber selections), with at least one serving being fiber-rich legumes.

    Be careful, because there are plenty of Mediterranean foods that can get you in trouble--olive oil in particular needs to be measured very carefully as it is calorie dense at 120 calories per tablespoon.

    Also, I tend to give myself a fairly liberal interpretation of the region, but things that are traditionally French like quiche Lorraine or Brie and Camembert are actually very Northern, dairy-based, and in the case of the Lorraine region actually were German for long stretches of time. So, if you are looking at every last calorie, you would probably want to avoid heavy quiches and pick lighter cheeses like feta or parmesan.

    I think a really important aspect of the diet is (like the French and Italians and other guardians of traditional cuisines) to bring discernment, pride, and an emphasis on excellence to what you are putting on your plate. It should be simple and beautiful, with good quality ingredients, whether you can afford the high priced organic veg from Whole Foods or you are creating meals with more economical selections from the Birdseye frozen veg section. So many people are ashamed of their food, but it should be a source of pleasure, love and pride.

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    zeejane03 wrote: »

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    Yep, I am on that thread, hence the hedging above to "keep the frickin' peels on, people!" and to actually CHECK WHAT YOU ARE EATING instead of assuming your peeled aubergines or whatnot are going to fit the bill. :D I have never had a problem hitting 25+ grams of fiber when eating 8+ veg servings, personally, but I guess some people can get themselves into trouble.

    I am in the school that includes potatoes as a veg, because I actually grow them and see how they work, as opposed to the school that regards them as Satanic White Foods That Are Of the Devil, so I don't call them out separately. But I happen to have a lot of thoughts on them! I would see them as an intrinsic part of the Mediterranean diet...however...they should be more along the lines of what you get in a Nicoise salad and not, say, gnocchi or pommes frites or pommes Anna. Fingerlings are especially good because they have a higher peel-to-flesh ratio, but even a big baked potato loaded up with Greek yougurt is amazingly delicious and nutritious.

    I deliberately didn't share my thoughts on the whole grains...my grain of choice is good old Scottish oats slathered with lashings of heavy cream and brown sugar, so, yeah. Not very Mediterranean! I self-flagellated with other whole grain breads for a while, but they don't get you that much more fiber than white breads (unless you are eating the crazy ones) and I would rather enjoy a nice white baguette and eat extra veg. Or hummus!

    Which reminds me that there's a gardening thread in the Food and Nutrition section that you should find and bump, since your voice would be great in that thread.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    Anyone else on this diet? it was rated the No. 1 healthiest diet and I don't see much discussion on it.

    The Med diet isn't really a named diet, but one version of a generally healthy eating pattern that lots of us try to follow. I don't eat in an especially Med way in terms of dishes chosen (I'm as likely to be inspired by some other part of the world) and I probably eat too much meat (although a good bit of it is fish) to be really within the parameters of what people mean by Med diet, but I try to eat in many ways that are similar. (I also am not a huge fan of the name, since the Med is a big place and there are some diverse styles of eating.)

    But lots of veg (ideally in season, but not now, nothing is in season where I live), some fruit (I tend to eat a lot more in the summer, when it is in season, since I adore local fruit), basically whole foods based. Variety of other healthy plant foods like oats and other whole grains, tubers, legumes. I largely use olive oil and sometimes avocado oil for cooking and in salad dressings. Stuff like that.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    zeejane03 wrote: »
    If I had to pick one official diet this is the one I would pick, because it's freakin' delicious and I have found the closer I adhere to its tenets, the easier it was to lose and then maintain my weight. It also covers a very wide variety of cuisines.

    For high fiber, you should be nailing it if you eat 8-10 servings of fruit and veg a day (keep the peels on and make sure you are picking higher fiber selections), with at least one serving being fiber-rich legumes.

    Be careful, because there are plenty of Mediterranean foods that can get you in trouble--olive oil in particular needs to be measured very carefully as it is calorie dense at 120 calories per tablespoon.

    Also, I tend to give myself a fairly liberal interpretation of the region, but things that are traditionally French like quiche Lorraine or Brie and Camembert are actually very Northern, dairy-based, and in the case of the Lorraine region actually were German for long stretches of time. So, if you are looking at every last calorie, you would probably want to avoid heavy quiches and pick lighter cheeses like feta or parmesan.

    I think a really important aspect of the diet is (like the French and Italians and other guardians of traditional cuisines) to bring discernment, pride, and an emphasis on excellence to what you are putting on your plate. It should be simple and beautiful, with good quality ingredients, whether you can afford the high priced organic veg from Whole Foods or you are creating meals with more economical selections from the Birdseye frozen veg section. So many people are ashamed of their food, but it should be a source of pleasure, love and pride.

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    I disagree. I find that if I have a variety of veg and some fruit and a serving of legumes, I'll generally be over 30, even if I don't happen to eat grains or potatoes (which only have 2 g per 100) that day. I might pick up some from other foods, like nuts or seeds, of course.

    I would be interested in seeing what veg/fruit combo, with a serving of legumes, would hit over 30g (genuinely interested). On a high veg/fruit day I hit around 20g from those, if I add a serving of beans I'd still be under a bit. Wondering what I could add to get my veg/fruit fiber numbers up :)
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited January 2019
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    zeejane03 wrote: »

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    Yep, I am on that thread, hence the hedging above to "keep the frickin' peels on, people!" and to actually CHECK WHAT YOU ARE EATING instead of assuming your peeled aubergines or whatnot are going to fit the bill. :D I have never had a problem hitting 25+ grams of fiber when eating 8+ veg servings, personally, but I guess some people can get themselves into trouble.

    I am in the school that includes potatoes as a veg, because I actually grow them and see how they work, as opposed to the school that regards them as Satanic White Foods That Are Of the Devil, so I don't call them out separately. But I happen to have a lot of thoughts on them! I would see them as an intrinsic part of the Mediterranean diet...however...they should be more along the lines of what you get in a Nicoise salad and not, say, gnocchi or pommes frites or pommes Anna. Fingerlings are especially good because they have a higher peel-to-flesh ratio, but even a big baked potato loaded up with Greek yougurt is amazingly delicious and nutritious.

    I deliberately didn't share my thoughts on the whole grains...my grain of choice is good old Scottish oats slathered with lashings of heavy cream and brown sugar, so, yeah. Not very Mediterranean! I self-flagellated with other whole grain breads for a while, but they don't get you that much more fiber than white breads (unless you are eating the crazy ones) and I would rather enjoy a nice white baguette and eat extra veg. Or hummus!

    This topic came up at the dinner table yesterday, while we were visiting family. We ended up pausing dinner and raided the cupboards/fridge and going over a bunch of nutrition labels to look at fiber numbers :D There were a few that were pretty surprising-peas for example are higher fiber, which I didn't know about, but most everything else we checked was pretty dismal, ouch!
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
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    zeejane03 wrote: »

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    Yep, I am on that thread, hence the hedging above to "keep the frickin' peels on, people!" and to actually CHECK WHAT YOU ARE EATING instead of assuming your peeled aubergines or whatnot are going to fit the bill. :D I have never had a problem hitting 25+ grams of fiber when eating 8+ veg servings, personally, but I guess some people can get themselves into trouble.

    I am in the school that includes potatoes as a veg, because I actually grow them and see how they work, as opposed to the school that regards them as Satanic White Foods That Are Of the Devil, so I don't call them out separately. But I happen to have a lot of thoughts on them! I would see them as an intrinsic part of the Mediterranean diet...however...they should be more along the lines of what you get in a Nicoise salad and not, say, gnocchi or pommes frites or pommes Anna. Fingerlings are especially good because they have a higher peel-to-flesh ratio, but even a big baked potato loaded up with Greek yougurt is amazingly delicious and nutritious.

    I deliberately didn't share my thoughts on the whole grains...my grain of choice is good old Scottish oats slathered with lashings of heavy cream and brown sugar, so, yeah. Not very Mediterranean! I self-flagellated with other whole grain breads for a while, but they don't get you that much more fiber than white breads (unless you are eating the crazy ones) and I would rather enjoy a nice white baguette and eat extra veg. Or hummus!

    OMG, actual, crusty, whole grain breads, with some seeds and whole grains (as opposed to just whole grain flour) thrown in are one of my favorite foods in the world! I just had to learn to weigh out a serving, rather than sitting down with a loaf and some butter. Or even a loaf and some salted olive oil.

    Don't get me wrong...I can go to town on a really awesome whole grain artisan loaf, but when it comes to my day to day slices for the occasional sammich, or the sourdough loaves or pie crusts I bake, or the stuff at restaurants that really makes me go weak in the knees, it is all white, and delicious. Pro tip: try them with butter AND olive oil.

    And...now I am thinking about all the delicious breads...THANKS Y'ALL!
  • saresimsr36
    saresimsr36 Posts: 128 Member
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    I do keto, but am experiencing some negative skin reactions. I'm intrigued with this diet. Its rated the no 1 for heart health, plus it includes wine.
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
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    zeejane03 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    zeejane03 wrote: »
    If I had to pick one official diet this is the one I would pick, because it's freakin' delicious and I have found the closer I adhere to its tenets, the easier it was to lose and then maintain my weight. It also covers a very wide variety of cuisines.

    For high fiber, you should be nailing it if you eat 8-10 servings of fruit and veg a day (keep the peels on and make sure you are picking higher fiber selections), with at least one serving being fiber-rich legumes.

    Be careful, because there are plenty of Mediterranean foods that can get you in trouble--olive oil in particular needs to be measured very carefully as it is calorie dense at 120 calories per tablespoon.

    Also, I tend to give myself a fairly liberal interpretation of the region, but things that are traditionally French like quiche Lorraine or Brie and Camembert are actually very Northern, dairy-based, and in the case of the Lorraine region actually were German for long stretches of time. So, if you are looking at every last calorie, you would probably want to avoid heavy quiches and pick lighter cheeses like feta or parmesan.

    I think a really important aspect of the diet is (like the French and Italians and other guardians of traditional cuisines) to bring discernment, pride, and an emphasis on excellence to what you are putting on your plate. It should be simple and beautiful, with good quality ingredients, whether you can afford the high priced organic veg from Whole Foods or you are creating meals with more economical selections from the Birdseye frozen veg section. So many people are ashamed of their food, but it should be a source of pleasure, love and pride.

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    I disagree. I find that if I have a variety of veg and some fruit and a serving of legumes, I'll generally be over 30, even if I don't happen to eat grains or potatoes (which only have 2 g per 100) that day. I might pick up some from other foods, like nuts or seeds, of course.

    I would be interested in seeing what veg/fruit combo, with a serving of legumes, would hit over 30g (genuinely interested). On a high veg/fruit day I hit around 20g from those, if I add a serving of beans I'd still be under a bit. Wondering what I could add to get my veg/fruit fiber numbers up :)

    I am just getting back into logging after quite a long while off, but here is a recent day. This is including grains too, but unless you are cutting them out completely, they are going to be there, making a contribution, as "background noise" at least.

    Oatmeal--4 g
    box raisins--2 g
    .25 cup quinoia--1 g
    1 c broccoli--4 g
    1/2 c apple--2 g
    Chipotle mild salsa--1 g
    Chipotle chips (not a full bag)--2 g
    2/3 Chipotle burrito white rice/mild salsa/corn salsa/black beans --10 g
    3 clementines--4 g
    1 oz popcorn--2 g

    For a total of 32 g for a normal day with 8-ish servings.

    A group of us have done a challenge from time to time involving 10+ servings of fruit and veg a day; when you get THAT much fiber (in addition to the "background noise" fiber from your run of mill diet, it does, let's say, interesting things to your deposits at the Brown & Company Fidelity Fiduciary Depository Corp. till you get things straightened out. (My secret weapon/nemesis/downfall is a full bag of dried blueberries--8 g fiber for 190 calories).

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    zeejane03 wrote: »
    If I had to pick one official diet this is the one I would pick, because it's freakin' delicious and I have found the closer I adhere to its tenets, the easier it was to lose and then maintain my weight. It also covers a very wide variety of cuisines.

    For high fiber, you should be nailing it if you eat 8-10 servings of fruit and veg a day (keep the peels on and make sure you are picking higher fiber selections), with at least one serving being fiber-rich legumes.

    Be careful, because there are plenty of Mediterranean foods that can get you in trouble--olive oil in particular needs to be measured very carefully as it is calorie dense at 120 calories per tablespoon.

    Also, I tend to give myself a fairly liberal interpretation of the region, but things that are traditionally French like quiche Lorraine or Brie and Camembert are actually very Northern, dairy-based, and in the case of the Lorraine region actually were German for long stretches of time. So, if you are looking at every last calorie, you would probably want to avoid heavy quiches and pick lighter cheeses like feta or parmesan.

    I think a really important aspect of the diet is (like the French and Italians and other guardians of traditional cuisines) to bring discernment, pride, and an emphasis on excellence to what you are putting on your plate. It should be simple and beautiful, with good quality ingredients, whether you can afford the high priced organic veg from Whole Foods or you are creating meals with more economical selections from the Birdseye frozen veg section. So many people are ashamed of their food, but it should be a source of pleasure, love and pride.

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    Potatoes and legumes are vegetables.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    zeejane03 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    zeejane03 wrote: »
    If I had to pick one official diet this is the one I would pick, because it's freakin' delicious and I have found the closer I adhere to its tenets, the easier it was to lose and then maintain my weight. It also covers a very wide variety of cuisines.

    For high fiber, you should be nailing it if you eat 8-10 servings of fruit and veg a day (keep the peels on and make sure you are picking higher fiber selections), with at least one serving being fiber-rich legumes.

    Be careful, because there are plenty of Mediterranean foods that can get you in trouble--olive oil in particular needs to be measured very carefully as it is calorie dense at 120 calories per tablespoon.

    Also, I tend to give myself a fairly liberal interpretation of the region, but things that are traditionally French like quiche Lorraine or Brie and Camembert are actually very Northern, dairy-based, and in the case of the Lorraine region actually were German for long stretches of time. So, if you are looking at every last calorie, you would probably want to avoid heavy quiches and pick lighter cheeses like feta or parmesan.

    I think a really important aspect of the diet is (like the French and Italians and other guardians of traditional cuisines) to bring discernment, pride, and an emphasis on excellence to what you are putting on your plate. It should be simple and beautiful, with good quality ingredients, whether you can afford the high priced organic veg from Whole Foods or you are creating meals with more economical selections from the Birdseye frozen veg section. So many people are ashamed of their food, but it should be a source of pleasure, love and pride.

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    I disagree. I find that if I have a variety of veg and some fruit and a serving of legumes, I'll generally be over 30, even if I don't happen to eat grains or potatoes (which only have 2 g per 100) that day. I might pick up some from other foods, like nuts or seeds, of course.

    I would be interested in seeing what veg/fruit combo, with a serving of legumes, would hit over 30g (genuinely interested). On a high veg/fruit day I hit around 20g from those, if I add a serving of beans I'd still be under a bit. Wondering what I could add to get my veg/fruit fiber numbers up :)

    I am just getting back into logging after quite a long while off, but here is a recent day. This is including grains too, but unless you are cutting them out completely, they are going to be there, making a contribution, as "background noise" at least.

    Oatmeal--4 g
    box raisins--2 g
    .25 cup quinoia--1 g
    1 c broccoli--4 g
    1/2 c apple--2 g
    Chipotle mild salsa--1 g
    Chipotle chips (not a full bag)--2 g
    2/3 Chipotle burrito white rice/mild salsa/corn salsa/black beans --10 g
    3 clementines--4 g
    1 oz popcorn--2 g

    For a total of 32 g for a normal day with 8-ish servings.

    A group of us have done a challenge from time to time involving 10+ servings of fruit and veg a day; when you get THAT much fiber (in addition to the "background noise" fiber from your run of mill diet, it does, let's say, interesting things to your deposits at the Brown & Company Fidelity Fiduciary Depository Corp. till you get things straightened out. (My secret weapon/nemesis/downfall is a full bag of dried blueberries--8 g fiber for 190 calories).

    Reaching your fiber goal with the helps of chips and salsa, that's truly smart living!
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited January 2019
    Options
    zeejane03 wrote: »
    If I had to pick one official diet this is the one I would pick, because it's freakin' delicious and I have found the closer I adhere to its tenets, the easier it was to lose and then maintain my weight. It also covers a very wide variety of cuisines.

    For high fiber, you should be nailing it if you eat 8-10 servings of fruit and veg a day (keep the peels on and make sure you are picking higher fiber selections), with at least one serving being fiber-rich legumes.

    Be careful, because there are plenty of Mediterranean foods that can get you in trouble--olive oil in particular needs to be measured very carefully as it is calorie dense at 120 calories per tablespoon.

    Also, I tend to give myself a fairly liberal interpretation of the region, but things that are traditionally French like quiche Lorraine or Brie and Camembert are actually very Northern, dairy-based, and in the case of the Lorraine region actually were German for long stretches of time. So, if you are looking at every last calorie, you would probably want to avoid heavy quiches and pick lighter cheeses like feta or parmesan.

    I think a really important aspect of the diet is (like the French and Italians and other guardians of traditional cuisines) to bring discernment, pride, and an emphasis on excellence to what you are putting on your plate. It should be simple and beautiful, with good quality ingredients, whether you can afford the high priced organic veg from Whole Foods or you are creating meals with more economical selections from the Birdseye frozen veg section. So many people are ashamed of their food, but it should be a source of pleasure, love and pride.

    There's a thread in the debate section that goes into this a bit more, it's actually pretty hard to get the recommended fiber, 30+ grams a day, just from vegetables/fruit. A serving of legumes would help, but most likely you'll still come short unless you're also eating whole grains, potatoes etc.

    Potatoes and legumes are vegetables.

    The newer '10 a Day' recommendations counts sweet potatoes but other potatoes don't; legumes count as one serving, regardless of how many servings you have. The NIH's recommendations (DASH), puts potatoes in the vegetable column, but separates legumes into a different category. I've always mentally separated potatoes and legumes from other vegetables, just how my brain is wired :)

    anyways, sorry OP I got us way off topic here!