Eat the Mediterranean Way!
Eating the Mediterranean Way
What’s not to love about the Mediterranean Diet? It’s good for you food that tastes good. Can it be used for weight loss? Sure, you just have to watch your portion sizes like any other meal plan. If you slow down your eating and savor the taste of the fresh foods, you can keep your portions in line.
To make it easier to change over to this way of eating, work on implementing one or two of the key foods at a time, rather than trying to change everything all at once. Key foods include:
• Olives and olive oil. Use olives for flavoring and olive oil for cooking and in salad dressings. Use it to replace butter and margarine.
• Fruits and vegetables. Lots of fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables. Eat fruit for dessert instead of white sugar, white flour, high fat refined products.
• Beans and nuts. Eat more vegetarian meals. Eat nuts for snacks but keep portion size in mind.
• Fish and poultry. Broiled, baked, or roasted. Avoid frying. Limit red meat to occasional consumption.
• Whole grains. Make your pasta, rice, and cereal whole grain. Avoid the white flour, refined foods.
• Some yogurt and cheese. If you haven’t tried Greek yogurt, you are missing something good.
• Red wine for those of you who have not had gastric bypass or gastric sleeve surgery. Drink some with dinner but watch portion size here too. We’re talking about one to two small (3 ounce) glasses a day.
You will notice that the Mediterranean Diet doesn’t include fast food, junk food, or processed foods. Feed your body well with the key foods in the Mediterranean Diet and you will feel better.
A couple more things, make it a lifestyle. Get moving! Take a walk, dance, or mow the lawn. Just get some physical activity daily. And enjoy the company of others and savor your foods.
Eat Smart…..
Vicki Bovee, MS, RDN, LD
Read about our non-surgical weight loss program, Health and Lifestyle.