<p>So, what exactly is it? DH’s doc told him to follow that diet, so I googled it. Basically, all I found was lots of websites that say to eat “olive oil, fish, nuts, legumes, and veggies” but never anything very specific. And I’ve also seen whole-grain breads and pastas too.</p>
<p>But how much of any of that are you supposed to eat? We followed WW for awhile, which is mainly low-fat options, but if you wanted a piece of cake, you could eat it and add up the points. I guess I’m trying to rationalize eating nuts and whole-grain breads with the “points” system of WW, in which both nuts and whole-grain breads would carry a lot of points.</p>
<p>Does anybody have a source for a book or website or anything specific? I cook almost exclusively with olive oil already and we eat whole wheat and whole grain breads and pastas (about 50/50 each).</p>
<p>There are a lot of books and cookbooks on Amazon featuring the Mediterranean Diet. This is a really good one. You might check your local library as well. </p>
<p>If you have a kindle, or kindle app, you can download a few chapters of the kindle version to ‘preview’ for free to get an idea of what it’s about.</p>
<p>Also remember its not just the number of calories but the KIND of calories. 200 calories of whole grain bread or nuts provides different nutrients than 200 calories of cake.</p>
<p>Five or six years ago? The Atkins Diet was first published in Vogue Magazine in 1970 and his first Atkins Diet Revolution book was published in 1972. This diet was based on a 1963 JAMA study on a low sugar, high fat, high protein diet. It is hardly the latest diet fad…</p>
<p>As for Mediterranean Diet, the popular South Beach Diet book is probably what most people think of as “the Mediterranean diet”.</p>
<p>I think doctors should be a lot more specific - but most have no nutritional training. Typically it means more olive oil, less butter, more fish, less meat. More fresh vegetables. In the Mediterranean they also generally have moderate amounts of wine with dinner and often lunch as well, but I don’t know if your doctor was recommending that or not. I limit my wine to weekends because I can’t afford so many empty calories.</p>
<p>Personally I think the best diet is moderate amounts of meat, more fish if you like it, beans if you like them, lots of vegetables, as little sugar, bread, pasta and potatoes as you can live with. Don’t drink sugar in your drinks. Don’t drink juice, eat the fruit instead - in moderation.</p>
<p>My endocrinologist suggested the Mediterranean diet, and described it to me, and when I went home and googled it I realized he really meant atkins, not Mediterranean, and that he had no idea what the Mediterranean diet was.</p>
<p>Ancel Keys and the 7 country study (sometimes the 11 or 14 country study) brought the Mediterranean Diet to the world’s attention. Basically, three countries that were studied were outliers in certain ways. Japan, with a very low fat diet (mostly fish and veggies) had men living to a ripe and healthy old age. Finland, with lots of animal products, dairy, wheat and saturated fat, had men dying of heart disease in their 50’s. Crete, also had a high fat diet, but it was nearly all from olive oil, and those men lived to a ripe and healthy old age, just like the Japanese men. I believe that in both those countries the men studied lived in the islands so maybe the difference is just the salt air. Who knows? </p>
<p>In any case, it is the same as a “heart healthy” diet, emphasizing fruits, veggies, olive oil, wine, and less meat and little dairy fat. Go ahead and eat your nuts and whole grain bread, nuts are a very healthy source of fat as long as you don’t get those sugared ones which are impossible to stop eating!</p>
<p>If you haven’t been to WW in a while, they have completely revamped the points system. It is no longer based on fat / calories, but on a combo of fat / carbs / protein / fiber. It’s a lot healthier, and helps avoid the “trap” where previously, say, an apple was an equal choice to low-fat crackers. Now, the low-fat crackers “lose.” It winds up forcing you to limit your carbs - not to extremes, but you get a lot more food value and volume in fruits, vegetables, etc.</p>