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The Mediterranean diet - the most recent significant diet observation globally. Ever wondered what it’s all about? As its name suggests, it’s the very food consumed by the inhabitants of countries along the coast of the Mediterranean. Over all, there are aprroximately 3 continents and 16 countries along this belt. The food habits and diet patterns vary across each of these different countries and sometimes even vary across different regions within each country.

What is all the bubbling hype?

What’s so special about the diet patterns of these folks that it is gaining so much attention? Recent studies show that the occurrence of cardiovascular disease and related disorders is lesser in this part of the world. While it could be due to differences in lifestyle, the important role played by the food and cooking preparation cannot be ignored.

Let’s Trace the origins

Origins of the Mediterranean diet date back to the Greek Island of Crete (just to start with) where it was seen that the Cretans and the Greek lived longer than people from other parts of the world. Also, those who died of coronary heart diseases and cancers were fewer.

Typical Characteristics

Mediterranean food is extremely rich in carbohydrates. The consumption of fruits, grains and vegetables are high. Potatoes, beans, nuts, seeds and cereals are widely used. Milk and milk products, egg are consumed in moderate quantities. So is wine. Very little red meat gets eaten. Instead, more fish is eaten which is good because it contains Omega-3 oils which are said to enhance the immune function.

A point to note

What is unique about the Mediterranean diet is the generous use of “olive oil”. Olive oil, as researched by Hippocrates the father of medicine, is said to have a lot of medicinal properties. It is said to add suppleness to the muscle and skin, and soothe the effects of harsh sun or water. The content of antioxidants is high in olive oil. These antioxidants are known to prevent arteries from becoming clogged and also discourage other chronic illnesses including cancer, bladder stones, urinary tract infection, ulcers, obesity and so on. This oil is special because it contains monounsaturated fatty acids which decrease cholesterol formation. Which helps to partly explain the low incidence of cardiovascular diseases in this part of the world. Apart from olive oil, canola or peanut oil are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. It is imperative however to realize that it is not just the olive oil that makes the diet so affective. It is said that it is a combination of all these things that work together.

The meal course

Typically, the Mediterranean diet begins with appetizers - largely salads. Bread is always there but never processed. Depending on the season, warm soups can be served along with bread. Vegetables, grains and greens form the core of the main course. To supplement this, fish and read meat are sometimes also served. The dessert is hassle-free with a cup of Turkish Coffee or a Moroccan tea or a pack of cookies. Mediterranean people also drink alcohol with their meal moderately.

To reap the full benefits of the Mediterranean diet, dieticians recommend that apart from following the diet, it is also necessary to have adequate quantity of water (At least 6 glasses a day). Moderate consumption of wine is also acceptable. For those who want to avoid concerns of alcohol in wine, the suggested alternative is purple grape juice since it offers the same heart health benefits as wine.

Four tips from the Greeks

1. Go Olive While shopping for food, you might look for canned foods that have the “fat-free” or “cholesterol-free” labels on them. While this is a step in the right direction, it does not protect you from the ill-effects of fats. Reason being, they might have high quantities of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils which increase triglyceride levels in blood. When you buy oils, pick olive, canola or peanut oils and fresh is always best.

2. Choose fruits, vegetables and cereals to meat. Have copious portions of food from plant sources. Use Fruits for your daily dessert. This will help you curtail consumption of sweets that contain sugar and saturated fats.

3. Minimize animal fats. Go low on cheese, butter and processed yoghurts. Consume fish and eggs moderately - eggs about 4 servings a week and fish about once a week. Contain red meat to once a month. Natural yoghurts and goats milk cheese and yoghurt ate acceptable.

4. Moderate wine. It’s acceptable for women to have a glass or two of wine with every meal and for men to have two to three. More than this would be excessive. This is said to assist with the reduction of heart disease and some cancers. However, beware of over consumption. It can lead to high blood pressure and weakening of the heart muscles. For those wary of alcohol, try purple grape juice.

Weight watchers worldwide are attracted to the diet simply because of the exceptional taste sensation and results speak for themselves. Keep in mind that like any diet, regular daily exercise (like walking)should be included to get the full benefits. The recipes can be exceptionally tasty which encourages you to eat more than you need at times. Presently, the Mediterranean diet is catching on all over the globe, partly due to immigration to other lands (awareness) but the diet itself is now catching the eye of professors and doctors who work closely with preventative medecine and diet research.

Author Ray Darken - Ray often writes for and works with The Mediterranean Diet. If this link is not working you can paste this one into your browser safe-and-easy-weightloss.com or if you’d like more news and broader access to diet and nutrition information try Diet Reviews & Tips. if this link isn’t working, you can paste this one into your browser diet-reviews-and-tips.com

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I hate the word “obese”. With as much as 60% of the Americans being fat, you’d wonder why there isn’t some sort of law suit against certain institutes, public facilities, theatres, and most of all the airlines. Why? The seats are to small.

Think about this for a second, now there is more fat people than there are skinny. Being embarrassed because of your fat isn’t the only problem though. If you don’t start losing weight, chances are a lot greater, you’ll pay for it in the long run. If you don’t have any physical problems that are apparent to you, they may be sneaking up on you.

Hey, I’m on your side. I hate the ideal of going on a plane and hoping that somebody sitting next to me will be skinny. With that said, there may only be a 40% chance of that happening. It’s been rumored that fat people may have to start paying for 2 seats when going on board the air craft. Now these are only minor costs. Especially since you may not fly that much.

The serious problems that I’d like to drown you with is the medical problems. If you are anything like the majority in your class, it’s already affecting you emotionally. I can sympathize with you at the clothes store. It is highly embarrassing.

Sometimes, you try every way possible to make yourself happy with the body you have. It only works temporarily. I even find my self justifying my size. I find clothes that are sloppy. They hide the most when you are wearing oversized clothes. However, when you pass by a mirror at the mall, you discover how ridiculously fat you really are. What is worse, the clothes make you look bigger.

Well, if you are not affected emotionally with all this then maybe it’s time to look at some other problems. Heart problems may slip up on you. Diabetes can be another. However, you’ve obviously heard all this stuff before. It’s not secret. Every time you’ve ever went to a doctor, they tell you to lose weight. Easier said than done.

I do have a way. It’s not the only way. I am sure you’ve tried slim fast, dexatrim, the atkins diet, and some of those crazy diets like the grape fruit diet.

Before you or anyone can lose weight, it’s best to get a little knowledge. Now rest assured that if you try to starve your body, it’s natural for it to attempt to protect itself. This is why its important for you to understand that no one can lose weight for you.

If you truly want to lose weight, you must understand that a true pound is worth 3500 calories. If you try to lose a pound in one day, the body will try to save itself. If you trick the body and retrain your body into a routine, then you will more than likely have success and still be happy.

Okay, if your ready to lose all that emotional stress, that embarrassment and most of all that weight, then I have 10 super simple steps to help you and get you back to a healthy body.

Tags: diets, lose weight, natural weight lossdiets, lose weight, natural weight loss

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I would guess you are familiar with the video recorder and I am sure you’ve had to enlist the help of a small child to help you program it so you can record your favorite soap opera. Do you remember all the numbers and dates you had to enter in order to make the program work?

The computer you are reading this on has a program behind it - this webpage has code behind it that tells the computer how to display the words in a meaningful format.

Do you know, that just as you can program a VCR or a webpage, so you can program yourself?

Did you know that you are doing this all the time every single day and you are probably not aware of it!

And did you know that probably 80-90% of this programming is negative?

When you talk to yourself you are programming your sub-conscious mind. So if you look in the mirror and say, “Wow I look fat” your sub-conscious mind says, “I’m fat - must make sure it happens”.
Your sub-conscious mind is incredibly powerful yet so few people ever really bother to access its abilities. In fact most people are happy to let it run riot and cause chaos!

Here’s another of my favorites for you. You will, I bet, frequently say to people “I’m trying to lose weight” but do you actually know what it means?

Let’s start by looking at the word try as in trying in the above sentence. You know the dictionary definition of try, but what does it really mean?

Try means that you will give it a go, put a bit of effort in to it, but you won’t give it your all because you don’t really want to achieve it. And the nice thing for you is that you can tell everyone you tried afterwards and enjoy their sympathy when it didn’t work.

Try basically means you are HAPPY TO FAIL!

Now let’s look at the last two words in that sentence “lose weight”.

What would you do if you lost your car keys? Think about it what would you do?

You would find them again, wouldn’t you?

Whenever you say lose, it is implicit in the word that you are going to find it again. So when you say “lose weight” you are telling your sub-conscious “I want to shed a bit of weight and then find it again sometime in the future please.” And guess what? Your sub-conscious obliges!

So how do we improve that sentence?

If you had an old sofa you no longer wanted, you wouldn’t try to lose it would you?

What would you do?

You would GET RID OF it, wouldn’t you? You don’t want to find your old sofa turning back up on your doorstep in six months time and asking if you missed it? Or worse still, turning up with a matching chair and pouf too?

So now let’s rephrase our original sentence (I am trying to lose weight) into something that will program your sub-conscious for success.

“I am getting rid of weight”

Say it to yourself now - how does it feel?

This simple change in language may sound childish and ridiculous, but do it and notice the difference - just this tiny change can make a massive difference in your weight loss program.

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