When we think about a Mediterranean style diet, like The Greek Diet™, most of us imagine sitting in a traditional Greek restaurant by the sea, dining on delicious meals that included fresh fish and mouthwatering, locally grown vegetables, along with crusty warm whole wheat bread dipped in olive oil, and oh yeah, let’s not forget the wine! You can even eat pasta! Sound’s fantastic doesn’t it? Well, if you follow the Mediterranean Diet you can eat like this every day (in moderation of course), improve your health, and best of all lose weight.
One thing to remember is that the word “diet” is in fact misleading when it comes to the Mediterranean way of eating; this isn’t the standard “diet” program like the familiar plans that are always on TV these days. It’s not just about losing weight; it’s about sustainable weight loss, focusing on your overall health, and enjoying your meals.
The Mediterranean diet is a habitual form of eating that for decades has been associated with extended life span and lower rates of a variety of chronic illnesses including cardiovascular disease, several cancers, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, asthma and even dementia. There isn’t another diet out there that can legitimately claim to do the same. It just makes sense that if you want to lose weight and keep if off that you follow an eating plan that has the potential of making you healthier and prolonging your life as well. There is a ton of research out there that has shown the potential benefits of The Greek Diet™ or another Mediterranean style nutrition approach.
The Mediterranean diet is a complete and well balanced plan based on filling, smart (and tasty) food choices that will keep your hunger at bay and leave you feeling satisfied energized. It’s a weight loss plan rich in fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seeds, beans, and nuts, providing healthy levels of micronutrients, vitamins and minerals and antioxidants. The plan also requires that you use extra virgin olive oil as your fat intake. Extra virgin olive oil is a highly digestible fat that is capable of aiding in the digestion of other unhealthy fats. Recent research has also suggested that olive oil is the key to the actual health benefits garnered by following the Mediterranean diet due to its phenol content, a group of weak acidic elements that repress the genes that result in inflammation, thereby decreasing the risk of arthritis and heart disease.
What makes the Mediterranean diet work isn’t just eating the suggested food choices; it’s consuming the proper combination of main essential nutrients like antioxidants and fiber which ultimately lead to a lower overall caloric intake. Nutritional experts always put an emphasis on the importance of feeling satisfied, the feeling that you’ve had enough to eat. With the Mediterranean diet, hunger is never an issue because fiber is filling and you’ll get plenty of it on this weight loss plan. Also you’ll lose weight a lot faster if you only consume a moderate amount of animal products.
Why not reap the rewards of the many weight loss benefits of the Mediterranean Diet? If you want to slim down and boost your overall health, the Mediterranean diet could be the answer for you.