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The Mediterranean Diet: Introduction

Over the last thirty years the media has disseminated literally thousands of columns on nutrition information and how to eat healthy. The problem is that there have been so many different (and often over-simplified) messages: avoid fat, avoid trans-fats, eat whole grains, avoid all carbohydrates, all meat is bad, all meat is good, sugar is bad, don’t eat anything white, only a vegan diet is healthy, we should eat like Neanderthals…. Some of that…

The Mediterranean Diet IS a Diabetic Diet!

Over the years there have been a number of different strategies for diabetic diets. For a long time diabetics were taught to use exchange lists. That method worked well but was cumbersome for a lot of folks. More recently the training has focused on counting carbohydrates at each meal or snack. For diabetics who take insulin being careful with regulating when and what they eat is key and counting carbs works well for them.…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Vegetables

Do you consume more than 3.5 servings per day if you are male or 3.65 servings per day if you are female? A serving is… Yellow squash or zucchini 1 cup sliced Broccoli 1 cup chopped or florets Cauliflower 1 cup chopped or florets Green or wax beans 1 cup cooked Spinach 1 cup cooked Carrots 2 medium or 1 cup baby carrots Sweet potato 1 large baked (2 1⁄4” or more diameter) Score:…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Legumes

Do you consume more than 1/5 servings per day if you are male or 1/6 servings per day if you are female? A serving is… Dry beans and peas 1 cup whole cooked Peanut Butter 1 Tablespoon Tofu 2 ounces Peanuts 1/4 cup Hummus 2 Tablespoons Refried Beans 1/4 cup Score: Give yourself 1 point if you eat more than the recommended servings of legumes (on average) per day. Give yourself 0 points for…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Fruit or Nuts

Do you consume more than 3.5 servings per day if you are male or 3.6 servings per day if you are female? A serving is… • An orange or apple the size of a baseball • Seven 2 1/2 inch strawberries • 1 cup of dried fruit • 12 grapes • 24 almonds • 15 pecan halves • 14 walnut halves • 18 cashews Score: Give yourself 1 point if you eat more than…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Cereals or Grains

Do you consume more than 3.5 servings per day if you are male or 3.7 servings per day if you are female? A serving is… Oatmeal 1/2 cup cooked Popcorn 3 cups popped Brown Rice 1.2 cup cooked Cornbread 2 1/2 inch square piece Whole Wheat Pasta 2 ounces Whole Wheat Bread 1 slice Score: Give yourself 1 point if you eat more than the recommended servings of whole grains (on average) per day.…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Seafood

Do you consume more than 0.6 servings per day if you are male or 0.7 servings per day if you are female? A serving is… about the size of a deck of cards. Score: Give yourself 1 point if you eat more than the recommended servings of seafood (on average) per day. Give yourself 0 points for less than the recommended servings of seafood (on average) per day. Why is this important? Question 7:…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Oils & Fats

Most people think of olive oil when they think of the Mediterranean diet, but it is the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats that is most important. In most studies the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat is higher. A ratio of 1.6 to 1, with consumption of higher levels of unsaturated fats, adds a point to the score. The Mediterranean Diet is especially high in monounsaturated fat. Healthy fats include… Olive oil Canola…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Dairy

Do you consume more than 1.4 servings per day if you are male or 1.3 servings per day if you are female? A serving is… Milk 1 cup Yogurt 6 ounces Cottage Cheese 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese 1/2 ounce Kefir 6 ounces Swiss Cheese 1/2 ounce Score: Give yourself 1 point if you eat less than the recommended servings of dairy (on average) per day. Give yourself 0 points for more than the recommended…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Meat

Do you consume more than 4 ounces per day if you are male or 2.8  ounces per day if you are female? A serving is… Most people think that a serving of meat is much larger than it should be. Four ounces of beef, chicken, pork or lamb is about the size of a deck of cards. Take time to look at the package or, better yet, ask the butcher to cut your choices…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Alcohol

Do you drink between 5 and 25 grams of alcohol per day (10 and 50 grams for men)? 25 grams is the equivalent of about one drink: One twelve ounce beer One 5 ounce glass of wine One 1 ounce shot of spirits Score: Give yourself 1 point for between 5 & 25 grams per day (between 10 & 50 grams per day for men). Give yourself 0 points for less than between 5…

Mediterranean Diet Score: Conclusion

Conclusion and Your Score There is no passing or failing grade for this test. The higher your score, the better. A “perfect” Mediterranean style diet would be a score of 9, and if you’re living on snack food and soda, it’s likely your score will be closer to zero. Improving your score can have a dramatic impact on your health. One of the largest Mediterranean diet studies showed that a two point increase in…

Legumes Really Satisfy

Legumes, which include beans (such as red beans, navy beans, soy beans), lentils, peas, and edible pods (such as okra, snap peas and snow peas) are one of the nine tenets of the Mediterranean Diet. We know that adding legumes to your diet helps you reduce your risk of heart disease and colon cancer, helps improve cholesterol scores, and can even help you improve your blood pressure. They’re high in fiber, which makes them…

Mediterranean Diet Advantages Not Limited to Normal Weight

A lot of articles about research studies make it sound like overweight or obesity is a direct cause of conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. This isn’t true. While we know that there is a statistical link between having excess body weight and having heart disease, cancer or diabetes, we still do not fully understand the mechanism by which having body weight above the norm might contribute to or cause these conditions. While…

Just a little olive oil

Olive oil has a well-deserved reputation for helping to reduce the risk of heart disease. Most of that reputation is from research into the Mediterranean Diet, so named because it is a collection of dietary habits followed by those in the region of the Mediterranean Sea (see our article on the Mediterranean Diet for more details). Certainly it would be ideal if everyone could follow the Mediterranean Diet, but it’s unrealistic to think that…

‘Normal’ BMI may mask risk in non-whites

Much of the talk about the obesity epidemic centers around Body Mass Index (BMI), a mathematical means of describing the interaction between height and body weight that allows public health researchers to class large groups of people into categories that are described as “underweight,” “normal weight,” “overweight,” and “obese.” The trouble with BMI, of course, is that its usefulness is limited for those who are extremely tall or short or who are particularly muscular.…

Macronutrients vs. Overall Diet: Which is More Important?

It’s an axiom among dietitians that “people eat food, not macronutrients.” That’s one of the reasons that we find fad diets to be so silly: so many of them demonize entire classes of foods (“all oils are bad,” “avoid all carbohydrates,” “don’t eat animal products”). While there are those who may find these diets work for them, the vast majority of people can’t live with those diets for the long term. The good news…

Mediterranean Diet Good for More Than Your Physical Health

If you’ve been following us for a while you know that following a Mediterranean-style Diet can help reduce your risk of many chronic diseases, from heart disease to cancer, and help you manage or improve such conditions as diabetes and poor cholesterol scores. We also know that it may help reduce your risk of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. Other studies have indicated that your diet may have an effect…

Mediterranean Diet and Alzheimer’s Disease

Being able to reproduce the results of a study is key to verifying any conclusions drawn from research. A number of years ago a group of scientists claimed to have mastered “Cold Fusion,” but in followup experiments no one has been able to reproduce such an effect. Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas and his colleagues published a study this year on a group of elderly subjects that indicated eating a Mediterranean style diet resulted in a…

Mediterranean Diet and Breast Cancer Risk

In the past we’ve reported on the links (or lack thereof) between soy and breast cancer (good for breast cancer survivors [Bite 12/09/09], may help reduce overall risk [Bite 08/27/08]), calcium supplements and breast cancer (makes no difference [Bite 02/11/09]), red meat (may increase risk [Bite 11/15/06]), and grapefruit (does not increase risk [Bite 07/23/08]). We know that following a Mediterranean style diet is linked with lower incidence of heart disease, high blood pressure,…

Mediterranean Diet and Esophageal Cancer

Less than 10% of those in Iran who are diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma survive for 5 years or more past diagnosis. (By way of comparison, 84% of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK survive 5 years or more.) Esophageal cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world and fourth most common in developing countries. It is even more common in what is known as the “esophageal cancer belt,”…

Mediterranean Diet and Quality of Life

We know that following a Mediterranean style diet can help prevent a number of chronic diseases and conditions – from improving insulin levels and cholesterol scores to preventing heart attack and stroke. But health is more than just lack of disease – it’s also about quality of life. It might sound pretty hard to quantify one’s quality of life, but researchers at the RAND Corporation have taken a stab at it by developing what…