Are you trying to lose weight? How are you going about it? Are you considering or using one of the popular diet plans? Whether you are trying to diet or not, it is helpful to examine diet plans to see what other peoples thoughts are on losing weight and being nutritionally healthy. In this blog I am going to examine the Mediterranean diet from the view point of a supplement provider.

Rather than digging into sites that directly promote the Mediterranean diet, which you can do on your own, I am going to use an ad from a supplement promoter. This will show you how they use diet plans to promote their products which are completely unassociated with the diet plan. I have obviously abbreviated their ad as it is quite long and I'm sure you would not want to take the time to read it (well at least I don't think you would, it is quite lengthy). Any comments that I interject in this ad are contained within braces [ ] to set them apart from their text.

Their ad goes like this:

"In case the word 'diet' stopped you, let me start first with this disclaimer: While the Mediterranean Diet plan includes the word diet, it’s not really a 'diet.' It’s more of a complete lifestyle—one derived from those who inhabit the various countries that border the Mediterranean Sea.

The full focus of the Mediterranean Diet plan includes mindful eating and sound nutrition habits. There’s no counting calories or adjusting macros. And it’s easy to follow as well as consumer-friendly, though, it was never intended to be commercialized worldwide. But then it was found to be effective as a weight-loss tool, and it rose to become somewhat of a sensation in the 1990s.

Today, we’ll dive into what the Mediterranean diet is, the most common foods, its potential benefits, as well as the research behind it.

But a brief note before we get started: like most diets, the Mediterranean Diet may be adjusted to suit your individual needs and preferences. Thus, the meal plan itself is not written in stone. It can be adapted to meet your lifestyle and eating habits. If you have questions about this, please comment below, and we’ll gladly discuss how to go about making adjustments.

[So far so good. They have been speaking the truth.]

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[Okay, so they couldn't get too far without putting a plug in for one of their products, but let's read on.]

In addition, if you have been diagnosed with a disease or illness, or are under the care of a physician, we recommend that you obtain prior approval before making any changes to your diet or exercise program.

[This is a disclaimer in case you have a medical problem after embracing their program.]

The Mediterranean Diet Plan

These guidelines are generic, but here is the intent:

• Compared to a traditional Western diet, the Mediterranean Diet is higher in fiber, phytonutrients, vitamins (e.g., folate), antioxidants, and minerals, and lower in sugars and refined starches
• Whole, natural foods (with limited processed foods)
• Seasonal, and when available, locally grown foods
• Main sources of daily nutrition come from vegetables, fruits, beans, potatoes, nuts, seeds, breads, and other whole-grain products
• Fats are made up of monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats (trans fats) over saturated fats (cholesterol) with olive oil being the predominant fat source
• Dairy includes moderate amounts of cheeses and yogurt and < 4 eggs per week
• Fish and poultry are suggested in low to moderate amounts
• And there is only a minimal inclusion of red meat (about once a month)
• Low to moderate amounts of red wine are suggested for adults–usually consumed with a meal

Exercise IS Part of the Mediterranean Diet Plan

[So far this is just the general consensus of what constitutes a healthy diet. The Mediterranean diet merely considers "healthy" foods that are commonly found in that region of the world.]

Our traditional Western diet doesn’t include exercise as a requirement, although it is recommended. The Mediterranean Diet—remember, it’s more of a lifestyle—not only encourages eating healthy foods but also places a huge emphasis on being active. The guidelines suggest a minimum of 2 ½ hours of moderate aerobic activity per week and suggest exercises that bring up your heart rate and increase your breathing. This may be one of the reasons this meal plan has been used as a treatment plan for people who have been diagnosed with heart conditions as a heart-healthy option.

Some of you may be familiar with Bob Harper, the celebrity trainer, fitness guru, and host of The Biggest Loser. Mr. Harper recently suffered a cardiac arrest and has adopted a Mediterranean Diet to help aide in his recovery. Harper said he has been following a Mediterranean Diet since his hospitalization, which involves eating mostly vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and peas, unrefined grains, olive oil, and fish. Meat, dairy, and saturated fats are eaten sparingly.

[What was he eating before this? He's a famous trainer, shouldn't he know how to eat well?]

Numerous studies have linked the Mediterranean Diet to a lower risk of cardiovascular problems, as well as other health benefits. There is research to suggest that adhering to a Mediterranean Diet can not only cause weight loss and help prevent heart attacks, strokes, and type 2 diabetes, but it can improve your quality of life and help relieve depressive symptoms.

[You can achieve these same results with ANY healthy diet. The operative word here is Healthy. Most diet programs are not very healthy, and the ones that are reasonably healthy could be improved significantly if you take the twists out of their diet that makes it unique from other diets.]

[Pretty good up to this point. but now they are going to bring in some information that they use to promote some of their other products. This next bit of information has a bit of truth but has been stretched to fit their information concerning their supplement.]

Another health benefit appears to be its effect on healthy insulin levels. As we get older, our hormones may lose some of their ability to properly convert the food we eat into energy, which is critical in fueling our cells. When this occurs, several things can occur, one of these being insulin resistance, which can wreak havoc on one’s ability to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. To combat a sluggish metabolism and insulin resistance, we need to reevaluate our diet and discover ways to properly fuel our bodies. Research has shown a reduction in insulin resistance in people who are following a Mediterranean Diet.

[Again, the health benefits claimed here can be achieved with any truly healthy diet. What they have done in this section is skewed the information (created a fallacy) to introduce one of their products. I have addressed the issues of insulin, sugar metabolism and insulin resistance in other blogs and my book.]

Enter the “Blue Zone”

The “Blue Zone,” which includes five regions in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the U.S., has been identified by researchers as having the highest concentrations of centenarians in the world.

[Note that the traditional U.S. diet is blamed for the high incidence of obesity and heart disease in this country. So how can we be part of this "Blue Zone"?]

Their diets focus on the following:

• Stop eating when your stomach is 80 percent full to avoid weight gain.
• Eat the smallest meal of the day in the late afternoon or evening.
• Eat mostly plants, especially beans. And eat meat rarely, in small portions of 3 to 4 ounces. Blue Zoners eat these small portions just five times a month, on average.
• Drink alcohol moderately and regularly; i.e., 1 – 2 glasses a day.

Sound familiar?

Dan Buettner has written several publications outlining just how impactful this way of life has been on the quality of life and longevity of the people living in these regions. The important thing to understand about what is different about the Blue Zone is the focus being on community and actively pursuing health and wellness. There is tremendous social support, and the community encourages and reinforces healthy behaviors.

I have always said how crucial social support is in allowing us to reach our own goals, as well as good nutrition, regular exercise, and stress management. The people living in these regions have turned these healthy habits into permanent behaviors, and it has allowed them to be among the healthiest people in the world, largely free of afflictions like heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes.

Is the Mediterranean Diet Plan Right for You?

While eating healthy isn’t a new concept, learning which foods are effective in promoting optimal health, body composition, and performance for you as an individual may be something you haven’t quite mastered yet. There are various meal plans and diets circulating, and while there isn’t a one-size-fits-all plan, it is about discovering what is the most manageable and effective approach for you. The Mediterranean Diet is only one such approach."

[There are many fallacies that come from this last paragraph. Depending on how they spin the information, they can stretch the truth to fit about anything they would like people to believe and have a product which addresses the issue they create.]

COMMENTARY:

There is a lot of truth in their ad. However, they intermix Mediterranean diet information with their own information promoting their supplements and suggest using several of them in addition to using the Mediterranean diet plan or something similar. What is really missing is the overall picture of what is going on. The facts are, there are many groups of people in the world who live healthily with good longevity and they all eat differently than the Mediterranean diet. There are many variations of diets that result in good health, but they all have one thing in common. That is, they all consume foods in appropriate amounts from the 5 major food groups. I have a great discussion of this in my book, so I'm not going to elaborate on it here. Just be aware that there are many ways to eat healthily to achieve optimal nutrition. You DO NOT NEED ANY SUPPLEMENTS OF ANY KIND to be healthy. Diet plans have various thoughts on how to eat well, but they expect to convert you to their eating style instead of teaching you how to develop your own healthy eating style, and this includes the Mediterranean diet.

So is the Mediterranean diet a good diet to follow? For the most part yes, but there are parts of it that will still compromise your optimal nutrition and you probably don't want to change your diet drastically enough to conform to this diet. There are MANY ways to eat healthily. The best thing to do is learn the few facts about nutrition and health that you need to know to make appropriate food choices and learn to eat healthily from the good foods you like. That is what my book is all about: Teaching you the things you need to know so that you can learn to be healthy eating good foods that you like and not be deceived by all of the lies and fallacies being promoted by the diet and supplement industries.

If you really want to know the truth about diet plans, supplements, exercise, etc., it is contained in my book "LIES EXPOSED!" If you have any questions or comments, please reply on my Facebook at www.facebook.com/healthfiascorevealed, twitter at www.twitter.com/drmelinehealth or email me at DrMeline@HealthFiascoRevealed.com. There is also a contact page on my website www.HealthFiascoRevealed.com. Until next blog.

Mediterranean Diet

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