Mediterranean Diet: a frozen diet

Alberto Roycor — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:35:41 +0000

Updated on March 14, 2017

March 14, 2017
Is Mediterranean Diet the nutrition pattern of the majority of the Mediterranean people?
Posted by Alberto Roycor Updated on March 14, 2017

Mediterranean Diet is a gift from the past.

Many people are lately asking whether Mediterranean Diet is the nutrition pattern of the majority of the Mediterranean people. Or more specifically if it is what Spanish, Italian or Greek people eat nowadays.

The answer is absolutely not. The proof is the dramatic increase of obesity among them.

The nutrition habits and lifestyle model have been changed in those countries by many factors. Some of them are their higher income economy, the foreign influence, the fast food, and a much more sedentary life, among others.

We could say that Mediterranean Diet is frozen in time. It is the diet that the average Mediterranean and normally poor people followed until approximately 1950, more or less.

The restrictions about meat were imposed by the scarcity. Bread and olive oil was in many places the main source of calories, as there were not many other things. Saturated fat was not banned, but olive oil was cheaper and easier to get. Fish was abundant, especially near to the coast. Vegetables and legumes were consumed daily. Whole bread was the only one in the market. There was not refined flour or “integral bread” (made out of refined flour and bran, without the wheat germen). At that time bran was given to the chickens, as people did not need to eat more fiber and in some way the popular though about it was not very favorable. Lately, it was discovered that it may cause decalcification to some old or not properly fed people.

Nowadays, Mediterranean Diet has to be carefully followed. Otherwise, you are out of the lifestyle. Natural products are not banned in the Diet. Nevertheless, followers have to be wise enough to balance the intake of the amount and the variety of food, according to their needs and health conditions. Artificial stuff, specially manufactured products containing trans fats has to be avoided at any cost. They are the origin of most diseases and the not well understood obesity.

Mediterranean Diet has to be rescued from the past.

Weight Loss Tip 5: Mediterranean Breakfast

Alberto Roycor — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:46:53 +0000

Updated on March 14, 2017

March 14, 2017
I would recommend that you’d have a big Mediterranean breakfast at home
Posted by Alberto Roycor Updated on March 14, 2017

Today we are going to talk about Mediterranean Breakfast. Long time ago it used to be a bowl of “coffee” (normally roast barley, as coffee was very rare and expensive), goat milk, non degermed flour traditional bread, olive oil and sometimes a salty sardine or a salty herring and maybe a tomato. This was the normal breakfast of a peasant who had to go to work from sunrise to sunset. More accommodated people used to send the maid to buy “churros” or had whiter bread and better olive oil. Logically, they had real coffee and the same goat milk. Nevertheless, the milk was not as good as the peasant one, as normally the shepherd, who milked the goats in customers’ own homes, used to bring the bucket with some water in it. He has previously asked permission in the preceding house to “wash” the recipient in the sink. Only expert housekeepers or housewives knew the trick.

Churros

The traditional bread was made with non degermed flour, from which they used to take away part of the bran, that has been proved later to be a dietary cause of osteoporosis. This is why bread made with “degermed whole wheat flour”, that is really degermed and refined flour with added bran (fake whole bread), should be rejected. Generally, almost 99% of the “whole bread” is faked. Nowadays, the germ normally is removed as in a short period of time it makes the flour turns rancid.

This picture of the bread was taken from the Cecipereza’s and her brother Salva’s blog, one of the persons who know more about bread in the World, apart from being an excellent humorist. The bread is really artisan, as it was made without yeast. It is not an unleavened bread, as you can see, as she uses a little of the dough of the previous days, as they used to do in ancient times. It is a homemade bread.

The name of her blog has nothing to do with a trade mark or brand. It comes from a personal anecdote who led to a pun impossible to translate into English (it has to be pronounced in Andalusian). You should try to read it from the same Cecipereza’s about page.

Artisan bread

Anyway, let’s come back to the XXI Century. Even today, breakfast continues being a not very important meal. Many people just have a coffee or a tea and go to work. Nevertheless, many of them have another breakfast two or three hours later.

I would advise you not to depend on any food establishment (you never know what they are giving to you). So, I would recommend that you’d have a big breakfast at home. I would choose tea, skimmed milk and no sugar (or any sweetener) in it. This is something that will take time to you. However, after you have accustomed your taste buds to unsweetened drinks, you’ll reject any overly sweet or even sweet drink. And you will get your reward in the form of a better health, as in the case of avoiding overly salty food. Artificial sweeteners are potentially dangerous. There is a long report of Dr. David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, in the Journal of the American Medical Association about it. “Artificially Sweetened Beverages, Cause for Concern”.

Wheat kernel

I would add to the breakfast a big amount of fruits (I’ll tell you later which are better), traditional bread, olive oil, dairy products and some fish, ham or even eggs. You can have, two or three times a week, an omelet with a yolk and two or three egg whites. Give the other yolks to your dog. You can also boil a dozen of eggs, keep them in the fridge and eat sometimes one or two whites.

With such a breakfast, you will be satisfied until lunch time. If the lunch is late, you can have one or two apples in the middle of the morning. Apples are clean, healthy and can be easily eaten without spoiling your shirt. Eating an apple half an hour before lunch has additional advantages: It prepares your stomach and will calm your hunger. (It’s a trick). Another one is taking strawberries before a cocktail party. You will not attack the canapés and your breath will be lovely.

And, at the lunch time, do what I said in “Weight Loss Tip 4: Start with a big salad” or boiled vegetables. (In the future “BS or BV”).

For dinner, what you eat will depend on the exercise you do, on the calories you burn. However, if you are very hungry go again for the BS or BV and something else. If you want dessert, take fruit.

Don’t forget, every time you are hungry in the middle of the main meals, go for a piece or two of fresh fruit.

bran – Mediterranean Diet

Mediterranean Diet: a frozen diet

Weight Loss Tip 5: Mediterranean Breakfast