THE MEDIA is on a constant chase to find the perfect diet.
Diet studies are published, the results are often oversimplified and misunderstood, and reporters and dieters stampede in different directions every three months or so.
It reminds me of the old saying about Hollywood, “Nobody knows anything.” Sometimes I think the diet world is like that, too.
But there is good news, and it’s what this book is based on: Losing weight doesn’t have to mean giving up flavor and satisfaction. There are Diet Booster Foods that can help you lose weight. And there is a pattern of healthy eating that is being increasingly championed by the best experts as optimal for both a healthy weight and overall health, a pattern I call a calorie-corrected, carb-corrected, Mediterranean-style diet pattern, a diet pattern that can include versions of almost all of your favorite foods.
As the experts at the Harvard School of Public Health point out, “If you are serious about losing weight, find a diet that appeals to your taste buds.” They add, “It should provide plenty of choices, have few restrictions, and be as good for your heart, bones, and brain as it is for your waistline. It should be a diet you are excited about trying, or at least not dreading. Most important, it should deliver fewer calories than you usually take in.”
Dr. Walter Willett, the Harvard School of Public Health’s healthy-eating guru, nails it for me when he puts it this way in an article titled “Ask the Expert: Controlling Your Weight” published on the school’s website: “The real issue is not losing weight—people can cut back on calories and lose weight on almost any diet—but keeping weight off over the long run. Thus it is more important to find a way of eating that you can stay with for the rest of your life. For this reason, any eating plan you choose should be satisfying and allow variety, and should also be nutritionally sound.” And the Mediterranean diet delivers on this, big-time.
The Mediterranean diet is the gold standard of diet patterns, and it’s the foundation of the eating plan in The Pound a Day Diet. Many of the dishes and recipes in this book are directly inspired or influenced by it, with my new twists and tweaks. And it can totally transform your body and your life.
According to research findings published in the world’s leading medical and health journals, the Mediterranean dietary pattern can:
• Lengthen your life
• Improve brain function
• Defend you from chronic diseases
• Fight certain cancers
• Lower your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and elevated bad cholesterol levels
• Protect you from type 2 diabetes
• Aid your weight loss and management efforts
• Keep away depression
• Safeguard you from Alzheimer’s disease
• Ward off Parkinson’s disease
• Ease rheumatoid arthritis
• Improve eye health
• Reduce risk of dental disease
• Help you breathe better
• Lead to healthier babies
• Lead to improved fertility
Best of all, a Mediterranean-style diet can help you lose weight and keep it off. A number of studies have shown it to be associated with healthier weight and lower levels of obesity, to be protective against weight gain, and to be an effective pattern for weight loss.
One of the most fascinating studies of the Mediterranean diet conducted with overweight people was performed at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The study compared weight loss on a moderate-fat Mediterranean diet with weight loss on a low-fat diet in a head-to-head showdown. The Mediterranean diet was high in fruits and vegetables, nuts, and whole grains, with olive oil being the main source of dietary fat. Both test diets stressed controlling portion sizes as a way of reducing calories.
The result? For sustained weight loss over the long haul, the Mediterranean diet rocked. Again, according to Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, “The group assigned to the Mediterranean diet lost an average of nine pounds in eighteen months, whereas volunteers assigned to a low-fat diet gained an average of six pounds during that time period. At the study’s end, only twenty percent of volunteers in the low-fat group were still following the diet, compared to fifty-four percent of those in the Mediterranean group.”
What accounted for the difference in weight loss? The secret boiled down to two words: pleasure and taste! According to Dr. Willett, “The Mediterranean group volunteers said that their diet regimen was enjoyable and was more flavorful than a low-fat diet.”
Pretty simple, right? When you love the way things taste, you’re likely to want to eat them over the long term. Other reasons the Mediterranean diet may be so good for your waistline: It’s relatively high in low-calorie Diet Booster Foods, it’s high in fiber, and it has a low glycemic index.
There is no one official definition, but in a nutshell, the Mediterranean diet means high consumption of olive oil, fruits and vegetables (including legumes like beans, peas, and lentils), and unrefined cereals like whole grains; moderate consumption of dairy products, mostly as cheese and yogurt; moderate consumption of wine; moderate-to-high consumption of fish; and low consumption of meat and meat products—all combined with daily physical activity. Meat is enjoyed, but less often than in the US and frequently as more of a garnish than a big main dish. Specifically, here are some major characteristics of the Mediterranean diet pattern, according to the food think tank Oldways Preservation Trust:
• Four or more servings of vegetables a day. A serving is ½ cup of raw or cooked vegetables, 1 cup of raw leafy greens, or ½ cup of vegetable juice.
• Four or more servings of fruit a day. A serving is ½ cup of fresh, frozen, or canned fruit, ¼ cup of dried fruit, one medium-sized piece of fruit, or ½ cup of fruit juice.
• Six or more servings of grain—mostly whole grain—a day. A serving is 1 cup of dry breakfast cereal; ½ cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta; or one slice of bread.
• Two or more servings of fish a week. A serving is 4 ounces.
• One serving of yogurt (1 cup) or cheese (1.5 to 2 ounces) a day.
• One serving of beans or nuts a day. For cooked beans, ½ cup is a serving; for nuts, it’s a handful (about 1½ ounces).
• If you enjoy alcohol, limit yourself to one or two drinks a day. One drink is 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1½ ounces of liquor.
• Olives and olive oil: Olives and olive oil are central to the Mediterranean diet. Olives are universally eaten whole and are widely used for cooking and flavoring in the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. Olive oil is the principal source of dietary fat used for cooking, for baking, and for dressing salads and vegetables. Extra virgin olive oil is highest in health-promoting fats, phytonutrients, and other important micronutrients.
• Herbs and spices: Herbs and spices add flavors and aromas to foods, reducing the need to add salt or fat when cooking. They are also rich in a broad range of health-promoting antioxidants, and are used liberally in Mediterranean cuisines. Herbs and spices also contribute to the national identities of the various Mediterranean cuisines.
Now that we’ve unlocked the secrets of calorie correction, calorie deficits, carb correction, Diet Booster Foods, and the Mediterranean diet—let’s put them all to work for you, and blast off the weight!