In the Mediterranean Diet you can find delicious meals.

Mediterranean Diet Groups can be the answer to preserve this Lifestyle from disappearing. Latest report reveals that Spain has reached the highest rate of child obesity in European Union and almost equals USA level. Apart from Governmental actions as controlling food publicity, regulating school meals, banning some types of products, most of them related to trans fats, some further actions must be taken by the population. Nevertheless, the first measure is to involve citizens in new lifestyle patterns and educate them. And to make clear to parents that their way of life is going to be followed by their children.

When you go to the supermarket and see the trolleys of some families, you can easily understand why all the members of those families are condemned to be obese. If you look at the people who push the trolleys, we will confirm this fact. Generally, all of them are overweight.

It has been observed that joining a proper group can be the best therapy to learn how to change your unhealthy habits.

Your environment is extremely relevant to develop healthy habits. If your family context is not positive, you should try changing it. It is a difficult task that needs time and patience. It is clear that joining an appropriate group can be the best therapy to learn how to change your unhealthy habits.

Mediterranean Groups can be the solution.

Yesterday, one of these Mediterranean Diet Groups met to enjoy a Mediterranean meal. It was not a typical menu of salad, vegetables, grilled meat of fish. It was a “puchero”. It is a very ancient and traditional Mediterranean meal. To make it, you cook together different types of meats as veal, pork, chicken, fresh bacon, “chorizo” (a type of Spanish sausage), “morcilla” (black pudding) and some vegetables and legumes as cabbage, celery and chickpeas. Before of that they enjoyed a superb “jamón iberico” (Iberian ham).

None of them is overweight. But none of them has these types of food daily. The secret is to balance the food intake and to do frequent exercise.

Is any of them overweight?.

Dont let people confuse you. Stick to the easy Mediterranean Diet

Easy Mediterranean Diet

Rachel Laudan is one of the persons who think that Mediterranean Diet claims to be the present food pattern of the Mediterranean people, including Spanish one. She seems to have a vast knowledge of the Spanish gastronomy and probably knows that in this country, the habits of the population have derived towards a “global fattening pattern” whose awards should be conceded to the fast-food companies, manufacturing food organizations and especially to the “godfathers” of the trans fat industry.

I know many people who follow the easy Mediterranean Diet, including myself. A light version of the one discovered by Mr. Ancel Keys, whom Mrs. Laudan does not seem to admire too much. Anyway, he was a person which every American citizen should be proud of.

The real Mediterranean Diet followers have the advantages of being allowed to eat many delicious things forbidden to other dieters. We have practically no restrictions in natural products and enjoy from time to time foods as “jamón ibérico”, “cocido madrileño”or “bacalao al pil pil”. But we are careful of not eating more calories that the amount we spend. This is what Rachel Laudan call “Mediterranean life-style.” We burn many calories in sports, outside activities and of course making love. Fifty years ago, Mediterranean people had long working days, most of them in the country, and for the number of children they used to have, we may infer that they also had the same type of free enjoyment.

That people did not pass many health controls. So we cannot say how their constants were. I can talk about ours. Our glucose is invariably around 100, our “bad cholesterol” is very low, our “good cholesterol” higher than average, our heart rate about 50-60 in bed (relaxed), our blood pressure around 70-110, and even we suffer a very low incidence of other problems as cancer, asthma, Parkinson, Alzheimer and so on…

By the way, apart from many other antioxidants, we drink good wine, especially red

Ii is very important to keep the arteries clean

A Mediterranean diet enriched with either olive oil or nuts may reverse atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries in a single year, as demonstrated in a trial with 187 volunteers at the University of Navarra.

The participants, aged 55 years and with high cardiovascular risk, were divided randomly into three groups. Two of them were given detailed instructions on how to follow properly a Mediterranean diet, through quarterly interviews with dietitians nutritionists formed for this specific task and directed by Ana Sánchez-Tainter, Specialist in Human Nutrition and Dietetics at the academic center.

According to these experts, one of the groups following a Mediterranean diet pattern received 15 liters of olive oil each quarter. “On the other group,” says Ana Sánchez-Taint “nuts were provided for volunteers, who consumed 30 grams per day of walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts.” Finally, the third group was given instructions and materials to follow a diet low in fat.

In all subjects was measured the thickness of the carotid artery by ultrasound, both at baseline and after one year. “Then we could see that those who had thicker arteries, due to atherosclerosis, significantly improved their condition and there was a significant regression of lesions in all the subjects who followed a Mediterranean diet enriched with virgin olive oil or nuts. Improvement was not among those who did not have a wall thickening of the artery at baseline” said Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez, project director and Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Navarra (Spain).