In Search of the Mediterranean Diet

The much touted Mediterranean Diet – which sounds positively delicious and enticing – both for its culinary delights and it’s weight-loss potential may be a mere fabrication. After all, who wouldn’t want to be sitting at a café in a warm sunny clime eating succulent tomatoes flavored with basil or oregano, knowing that what’s sensational for your taste buds is great for your heart and your waistline?

I need to tell you, I searched for this enticing food on our recent vacation to Italy. We ate near Naples, in Rome, in Florence, in Siena, and in the Chianti countryside. We all – our whole family - loved the food. It was quite Americanized as you would guess, it being that we saw far more American tourists than we did genuine Italians. Our grown children raved about the pizzas and pastas. I passed on their high-carb choices, and instead, when I could, ordered main courses with meat or fish, which oddly enough, seldom included a side vegetable.

Our entire 10 days in Italy, we never saw ristorante menus that included the famed Mediterranean ingredients: whole grains, abundant olive oil, balsamic vinegar, heavy breads rich in whole grains, polenta, abundant fresh vegetables, or fruit. We did see fabulous fresh fish. I wasn’t quite sure how to interpret these results.

Was the Mediterranean Diet a mere fabrication? Someone’s good idea for a healthy eating regime? Or were the ristorantes truly catering to American food tastes – I mean we did see plenty of bready pasta with virtually no healthful toppings on every street corner – kind of like you could in New York.

Upon returning home and after sorting through many emails, bills, and advertising fliers, I found a tiny research item on the Mediterranean Diet. Turns out the Italian town on which this diet was modeled, Pioppi, has abandoned their past way of eating. For a couple reasons: the young folk don’t want to eat as their parents, but instead prefer to imitate the American way of eating – yes, they’re gaining weight and having health issues, and because the cost of the healthy vegetables, fish, and fruit is too high for many budgets.

When Pat I were in Rome for our honeymoon 10 years ago, the ristorante food was different – more authentic - and much more aligned to the “Mediterranean Diet.” Of course, I report this with very fond memories of our romantic time in Rome which could be clouded by time and wistfulness.

What’s a person to do? Keep on eating the healthy foods. Find ways to pay for those vegetables and fruit which keep you healthy. If you occasionally cheat on your eating plan, you can make up for it by eating those 7-10 servings of vegetables and fruit daily while never overeating anything.

I need to tell you how I survived the high-carb overload potential of the ristorantes. Before the trip, I packed 12 packages of tuna, and 12 small serving-size tubs of peanut butter. I ate the tuna instead of the pastry at the continental breakfasts offered by our hotels, and I ate the peanut butter in emergency snack situations when I needed real food. And asked whoever in our group walked by a fruit stand to pick me up an apple or two.

So I guess it’s up to us as health-seeking, in-the-know folks to keep the vision of the Mediterranean
Diet alive. Good health is its own reward.

Let me tell you how. You know I exercise almost daily both aerobics, Pilates, yoga, and some strength training. Well, a couple weeks after we returned my right arm stopped working. And it really hurt. I had a hernia in my cervical spine brought on my years of lying on the sofa reading books or working puzzles with the book or puzzle propped in my lap. I actually did this to myself. I have hated sitting up straight when I could more comfortably slouch. The good news: it seems to be healing really fast. Most likely because I am a terrifically compliant patient, because I work with a stellar chiropractor, and because I’m in good physical shape and otherwise healthy. The bad and good news : I MUST sit up straight and totally stop slouching or else.

So now it’s time for watermelon, cherries, and fresh basil, garlic, and pine nut pesto. Long live the Mediterranean Diet.

Lucy Beale, author
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss Version 2
The Complete Idiot's Guide Glycemic Index Cookbook
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Well on a Budget
www.Lucybeale.com, http://lucybeale-weight-loss.blogspot.com/