What is a Mediterranean diet and how did I get it so wrong?

My parents are Greek and love to hold their traditions and pass them on to their kids. However I grew up in Australia where I wanted to be just like everyone else and eat their foods. So I was brought up with Greek dinners but packed a regular lunch to school and often had cereal for breakfast. Snacks were western local types too.

Here is what is a a Greek type of diet:

• Lots of meals with vegetables as their base
• A lot of those meals have tomato sauce bases which are rich in Lycopene
• Greeks love herbs, particularly oregano, dill, parsley, basil and put them in their cooked meals and fresh salads
• Main fats are olive oil (extra virgin of course) and a little margarine
• Meat isn't the main dish but incorporated into other dishes, such as stuffed peppers etc.
• Roasts and meat main courses are for special occasions
• Feta goes with everything, but only a little piece, perhaps one or two serves
• Fruit is mainly for children but adults can eat a serve often after meals
• Fruit juice is not encouraged, but sour cherry or tart cherry drinks are common for special occasions.
• Breakfast is often coffee or milk with bread or pastry or piece of fruit
• Lunch is at home and not packed, kids at school used to eat tiropita (cheese puff pastry) to hold them over till they get home for lunch usually by 1
• Lunch is the main meal of the day
• Rests often occur after lunch
• Dinner is small and accompanied by a walk in town afterwards by the whole family
• Snacking is usually seeds (or a few nuts), ie pumpkin seeds but they buy them unshelled and shell them while eating. This forces you to slow down and give you something to do
• Milk is mainly for babies or young children
• Yogurt can be a light meal or snack, usually plain with a touch of drizzled honey, delicious
• Meals are a group affair with other people or often crowds
• Fish is plentiful served more often than meat and served to even very young children
• Wine used to be made at home and everyone can have a sip even children
• A small glass is used for wine and you can have a little at meals
• Bread is allowed and served as an extra at meals but you only eat it for saucy dishes or if you weren't full with the veggie main
• Legumes are very popular and incorporated into soups, bakes, dishes and more
• Rice is used for a side for saucy dishes or in the stuffed vegetables and in soups or bakes
• Greeks eat bulgar, a cracked whole wheat
• Goat and lamb was the usual meat back in the day
• Sweets are for children or only in small quantities for special occasions
• Fasting from meats, dairy and oils was common before special occasions
• You have to sit down and eat, with no distractions just company, eating on the run is rude and uncouth
• Tea was popular and served often
• Chocolate was ONE piece wrapped and was delicious but overeating wasn't allowed
• Overeating or drinking too much were akin to sins and rude/crude behavior
• If you find that you aren't getting full by eating a regular portion then stop anyway, it isn't food that is the problem
• Water is served with all meals and for all visits

Read how I got it wrong in this post.

Nourishment while losing weight

I wanted to type 'diet' but it shouldn't be called diet cause of the negative connotations. And nutrition sounded official and clinical, of which I am neither. So the title 'nourishment' fits the bill.

I suspect that part of obesity is the expansion of the stomach. I am not a doctor and can't elaborate here, but my suspicion (cause of my health and fitness journey) leads me to believe that I eat more cause I don't get the 'full' feeling sooner. It is so hard to stop eating before you get the full feeling. However I suspect that I need to stop at 75-80% (almost) full at 20 mins post meal. That is also hard to do, eat for 20 minutes or slowly to register the almost full feeling and then stop. A lot of us eat so quickly and read/watch tv or otherwise distract ourselves while eating. No wonder we don't get the 'full' feeling sooner. Eating with others and focusing on your meal will allow you to register the almost full feeling sooner.

I don't always diet as I have tried and failed with a lot of them. However I think it is critical to feed ourselves well while trying to loose weight. If I don't feed myself sufficiently and well then I will reach for the chocolate bar. It is very important to eat plant based foods at every meal and your body will recognize them and reward you with the sufficiently full feeling sooner than any other type of food. If I can't get full during a meal I will try to eat an apple, cut fruit, more vegetables and other plant foods. Then I feel satiated.

A lot of times I am too lazy to make myself a meal, lunch for instance, since I am home often during the day. Then I find I crave sweets and chocolate, it is like my body is trying to get satiated without a meal and chocolate will do the trick. Anyway chocolate and cravings and other addictive foods will be mentioned in another post. I just want to mention that we need to feed ourselves healthily with plant and other foods and to not neglect or starve ourselves regardless of where we are, who we are with etc.

You can't feed yourself well if you don't have good food at hand. A huge part of eating well, is getting in to a food shopping routine, find a favorite store, finding a shopping list that works for you and sticking to it. If you take your favorite junk foods off the list then make sure you have something to substitute them with. Don't deprive yourself of nutrients and nourishment. Buy lots of plant based foods, whether fresh (important to have something fresh at every meal cause it helps the gut), frozen, or canned/processed. Get in to a grocery shopping routine to make sure you can nourish yourself well. There are lots of options for groceries these days if you don't or can't shop often. Shop Amazon - Subscribe & Save is great for bulk & staples, Peapod is very reasonable (they also take coupons) and in most neighborhoods nowadays, and there is the store pickup options at lots of local stores (they will collect your items and you just need to pay and take items home). Those conveniences may be worth it in saving time & money, and avoiding temptations.

Do you have something that works? Share below.

@myHFjourney

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Can Eating Fruits and Vegetables Help People To Manage Their Weight?

Weight loss surgery is it an option?

If you have been obese for a while you may have considered weight loss surgery. It seems like a cop-out, the easy way out. Since I have blood sugar issues, managing my blood sugar while trying to diet is very difficult. I can workout 3+ times a week but if I don't manage my blood sugar, I don't lose the weight. So recently I have considered weight loss surgery because of the difficulty involved and the implications of diabetes. It would be negligent to not consider all options, in fact Dr Oz mentioned in one of his episodes that weight loss surgery is the underperformed surgery he thinks you should be getting. 

So out of swimsuit season desperation I have looked at the implications of surgery and if I can manage the lifestyle. I found a couple of great links for weight loss post surgery diets and tried them out to see if they is manageable.  One is the Highland Hospital Bariatric Surgery Center 3 month – 6 month bariatric lifestyle meal plan (1000 – 1300 Calories Daily, 60 Grams Protein Daily) The bariatric meal plan consisting of a tips section,

• Potential problem foods, 
• my favorite section is the Sample meal plan, 
• Food groups and serving sizes,
• Keeping active
• and a very important Protein tally.

There is a puree and soft foods plan after the weight loss surgery but you graduate to a low calorie regular diet. Except that you have three small well balanced meals daily plus one to two snacks as needed. Can you manage that? You may have to consider the plan if you opt for the surgery.

Another great site is the Gastric Bypass Diet by GI care.  It has a vitamin and supplement section,

• Nutrition facts
• Special considerations
• Fluids
• The abc's of eating right
• a Sample menu

But by far my favorite is by the University of California San Francisco Medical Center on Dietary Guidelines After Bariatric Surgery, it has a General Guidelines section

• Fluids, protein, supplements sections
• Diet progression after bariatric surgery, Diet in the hospital, 
• Diet for the first two weeks post-surgery, Diet for weeks two to four post-surgery
• Recommended meal plan for weeks two to eight until two months post-surgery with a sample menu, 
• Recommended meal plan for two to six months post-surgery with a sample menu, 
• Recommended meal plan for six months post-surgery and Beyond and long-term dietary guidelines

My favorite menu is the sample menu for the Recommended Meal Plan for Two to Six Months Post-Surgery. Out of curiosity I thought I would attempt this plan and I have some interesting observations. In this plan you eat almost every 2 hours but you eat a little at each time, there 8 possible meals. You can eat 900-1000 calories in the day so each meal is only 120 calories or so, or maybe 200 for meals and 100 for snacks. So it is like continual snacking, which is similar to my usual eating pattern trying to satisfy my blood sugar levels. The meals don't satisfy you as they are so small but since you will eat again in 2 hours you can tolerate the discomfort. Also my blood sugar is balanced better if I eat healthy foods for my 1000 calories rather than any calories.

I haven't weight myself as I tend not to but I have noticed I am not as bloated and it only has been a couple of days. Today was Fathers day and I did splurge a little on half restaurant salad, glass of wine and cake but I was still only 1500 calories for the day. But I might have blood sugar issues later in the evening cause the wine and the cake don't help balance your blood sugar. That is the thing about blood sugar, it doesn't take a break. Take care of yourself before you ruin your pancreas. 

So instead of doing the surgery I am experimenting with the surgery diets to see if it is something I can do, and a side benefit may be that I finally lose some weight. I still have a long way to go but a start is better than doing nothing.

I really don't like the post surgery diets the liquids diet, the puree foods diet, and soft foods sounds boring. Surgery may be something I still need to do sometime, but for now lets see what happens with the sample diets for long term weight management for surgery patients. 

@myHFjourney

Tools to help with fitness

You don't need a lot of equipment to get fit, but there are tools out there to help you lose weight. Here's a review of some useful and popular ones recommended by me. Check with your doctor before changing your routine.

Pedometers are useful as they track how many steps you take. Doctors suggest you get to 10,000 steps a day to get fit. It will be surprising to see how few steps you take in a day and inspire you to walk more. The one I use is the Fitbit One Wireless Activity Plus Sleep Tracker. It has add on products such as the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale and more.

I love reading and my favorite health books right now are anything by Michael Pollan, he is the leader, and very few people will dispute any of his suggestions or ideas. He advocates natural foods, slow cooking, whole foods and more. Nothing to hate there.

Also because of my current health requirements I love anything by Mark Hyman and Daniel Amen (in particular the Daniel Plan ). Both are well regarded leader in their field and their ideas are well thought out and convincing. If you hate shopping and cooking try some subscription services, there are lots out there Medifast has a lot of options and does all the work for you!

As for fitness tools, as suggested in my previous post Here's step one! Get moving I love the mini rebounder trampolines. There are also workout routines at Muscle and Fitness tips.

You could also use sneakers for walking outdoors. I love champion c9 sneakers, they are a consumer reports best buy and available at Target and you can't beat the price!

For weight management you can't go wrong with Weight Watchers any of their programs are top notch and work. They are also approved my the medical community and gimmick free.

An other tool to help if you aren't using a food plan such as Medifast or Weight Watchers is SparkPeople. It is more than just a food plan or fitness tracker, there is a lot of information and peer reviewed articles on the site. There are communities to help you with your journey and fitness challenges for a whole lot of conditions.

Again, you don't need a lot of tools and equipment to get started. But some of the above tools will make your life a lot easier as it takes a long time to get fit and maintain your fitness.

Good luck with your journey. Please comment below on your favorite tools for health and fitness, I'd love to hear about them.

@myHFjourney

Check out this site about sugar and weight 10poundpledge.com/sugar and lets give up sugar!

New Alzheimers study now recruiting for cutting edge treatment.

In the past year or so it was discovered that there might be a connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Apparently Alzheimer’s is affected by insulin and there is a significant correlation between high blood sugar levels and Alzheimer’s. Just one more thing you need to know if you are pre-diabetic, right? But all knowledge is a good thing, and it is good to know that ANY attempt you make to lower your blood sugar can help protect your brain as well. A good diet and exercise may ultimately help prevent cognitive delays, including Alzheimer’s.

In fact, the correlation between diabetes and Alzheimer’s is so high, that doctors are now referring to Alzheimer’s as a Type 3 diabetes. In an article published in November 2008 by the National Institute of Health, authors Suzanne M. de la Monte, M.D., M.P.H. and Jack R. Wands, M.D. conclude that "Altogether, the results from these studies provide strong evidence in support of the hypothesis that AD represents a form of diabetes mellitus that selectively afflicts the brain." (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/)

Another article, by Edward R. Rosick, DO, MPH, DABHM, published in the November 2006 issue of Life Extension Magazine states that "The emerging connection between diabetes and Alzheimer's is yet another compelling reason for those who value their health to address issues of impaired insulin sensitivity before it is too late. Although diabetes is an emerging epidemic, it is also wholly preventable and reversible through strategies that incorporate dietary changes, lifestyle modifications, and nutritional supplementation."  (http://www.lef.org/magazine/2006/12/report_alzheimer/page-01)

Alzheimer’s is a topic very close to my heart as my Grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s for many years. In the later stages of the disease, it became very difficult to care for her. She didn't recognize the friends and family who were taking care of her and was terrified of what they were doing to her and why they were there. She forgot how to execute basic functions like eating, going to the bathroom and other self-care skills. Sometimes she would get frustrated, violent or forceful in her attempt to understand what was going on around her.

Research has already determined that there may be a link between blood sugars and Alzheimer’s and currently there is a cutting edge study researching treatment for Alzheimer’s patients (http://alzheimersstudy.com/). The website states that "Currently three studies are underway to investigate whether a research drug called idalopirdine, given in addition to the Alzheimer’s medicine, donepezil, rivastigmine or galantamine, improves brain functioning in areas such as memory, thinking and reasoning." If you have someone currently taking Alzheimer’s medication, please forward information on this important research and treatment to his or her caretakers. There is even an online prescreener available to see if you might qualify. (https://alzheimersstudy.com/screener/ )

If you have trouble with high blood sugar, you now know how important this study might be to you. Please forward this post to anyone you know with friends or loved ones that suffer from Alzheimer’s. This may provide benefits to help the patient and patient costs are covered (even if you don't have insurance). Participation in the study will help progress this research through FDA approval and ultimately allow for the findings to be released for the benefit of the general public in managing this disastrous disease.

@myHFjourney 

How did I get the Greek diet so wrong?

I think I covered most of the main points of the Greek diet in my previous post here. Well how did I do it so wrong to get to a pre-diabetic stage? Well I grew up in Australia leaning toward a western diet, just like everyone else.

• I ate cereal for breakfast
• By 11 am I was usually starving
• I ate a regular packed lunch (since eating away from home or a cold meal isn't really a Greek thing)
• I snacked on western snacks after school
• We ate our Greek dinners but often had dessert afterwards
• We didn't walk after meals, in some towns there is nowhere to walk to
• We gravitated towards the western diet of more meat for meals, it was more affordable after all
• Since we ate like it was a special occasion every day, for special occasions we would go overboard
• We didn't fast as much
• Sweets were for everyone not just children
• Fatty meats were used not just lean goat and lamb, ie beef and pork
• Legumes gave you gas and hence were unpopular
• No rest after lunch made you hungry again by 3
• Pastas and noodles were popular fusion cuisine when I was growing up
• Fruit was popular and healthy and not limited
• Snacking was chips and cookies instead of nuts/seeds
• Yogurt had sweeteners and additives
• We gravitated towards processed prepared foods often
• Snacks can be eaten alone, or sometimes meals too
• Snacks can be eaten on the run, in the car, didn't sit for meals
• Chocolate was ONE whole bar and often not as delicious as that one/first piece
• If you weren't full you keep eating till you were

So it is unsurprising that I developed complications, in fact a lot of immigrants that move to a Western country will eventually develop problems similar to the locals.

So now my goal is to try to go back to the original Greek diet and avoid processed foods as much as possible. I also have to give up on my sweet tooth and just let sweets go from my diet. Hopefully pre diabetes is reversible or manageable and I haven't done permanent damage.

What are you eating in your home?

@myHFjourney

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Back to Basics, again!

One thing I have noted these past few months is that setbacks will happen. I've been trying to follow a healthy diet (for pre diabetes) and need to prep mostly every meal. Once in a while I don't feel like cooking or prepping anything and inevitably end up eating junk (cookies, crackers etc). Once this happens it is too easy to give in and go back to eating junk. Then I need to remember the basics of healthy eating and for me this is:

1. Eating unprocessed foods, foods from the ground and from animals.
2. Whole grain products, ie no white flour or white rice or other processed grains.
3. Eating only until I am 80% full 
4. Eating a raw food for every meal (salad or fruit etc)
5. Having cooked vegetables for every meal (prepping and cooking get tiresome but necessary and delicious)
6. Thinking ahead about meals and not leaving it till last minute, tiring and boring but necessary
7. Avoiding even home made baked goods as they are very likely to be processed or baking infrequently
8. Making use of a slow cooker or foods that are not quick fried
9. Choosing organic and natural foods where possible, reduces your toxicity levels
10. Choosing different colors of foods for my meals (looks nice and diversifies the nutrients)

Those are my main general rules which are sometimes difficult to follow if you are in a bad mood and want to gorge on cookies. It is almost impossible to gorge on vegetables in the same way and perhaps we shouldn't be using food in that way. But yes oh so tempting. My snacks need to be fruit, veg and nuts/seeds.

For special occasions we can and should have a treat but as a society we have too many of those celebrations every week. Kids go to a lot of birthday parties, communities have town days and fairs and you could conceivably have lots of these special occasions. So perhaps stray only on the most important days or the days that mean the most to you. It won't feel like a celebration if you have too many of them or too often.

Ugh, so hard sometimes and almost goes against the grain, remember 2/3 rds of us are overweight or obese so everyone else is eating like this too. Lets inspire each other with how to deal with setbacks and refocus. Suggestions welcome!

@myHFjourney

Blood sugar and hunger pangs

So for the past couple of weeks I've been reading the The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! by Dr Mark Hyman. And I've become aware of processed carbs and their effect on my body. It is amazing how they can shut down my body really quick by putting me in a mini coma/nap after a meal full of refined carbs. I've also become aware that I need to have healthy food in the house and have shopped for healthy foods. I am not following the plan completely yet as I am still reading the book, clearing out my cupboards and shopping for my new pantry ingredients. I will still have additional snacks and regular lunches for my kids but I am hoping they give the healthier dinners a try. In the summer we usually eat healthy with our CSA (community supported agriculture) food co-ops anyway. Most of Dr Hyman's meals are GFCF (Gluten & Casein free) with very few processed foods.

I have been trying out some of the meals in the book even tho I am in the prep phase and I can say I feel like a new person already and I haven't even started. I am dreading seeing my doctor next week as I am suspecting my Blood Sugars are elevated, perhaps more than the pre-diabetic stage, we shall see.  I can also feel the effects of eating refined carbs like never before! I am aware of the effects on my body and can feel them taking over and taking hold. It isn't pretty, I may get tired, I get ravenous hunger pangs perhaps an hour or two after a meal where my body is forcing me to eat again even after a very full starchy meal. Insulin isn't my friend when I want to lose weight. My body isn't as bloated as it was before just from the minimal changes I have done in the prep phase. I don't weigh myself often as it makes me sad but my clothes feel looser.

Now that the weather is better, I have been getting out and walking with friends, keeping my activity level going too. If you are getting any of these symptoms, see a professional, don't rely on a blog for your health and safety. But if you are in a similar position it is interesting to compare and contrast plans. Or perhaps you are healthy as a horse but need inspiration on 'what not to do'! LOL either way, do keep reading and keep coming back.

Thanks

@myHFjourney 

Hypo/hyperglycemia or blood sugar imbalances

Anything over 190 Lbs for my height is obese and have had trouble loosing weight for years perhaps over a decade. Just recently I have had some symptoms that brought to light a possible reason for my troubles. Severe tiredness, in particular after meals (especially after starchy processed meals), extreme hunger an hour or two after a meal in particular if the meal didn't have enough protein or good fat or too many starchy carbs.

The condition was never severe enough to make me faint even tho I have had nice naps after a big meal.  I could get jittery if I skipped a meal or had too much coffee.

This condition makes losing weight VERY difficult but necessary.  All those attempts I have made have been crucial but have been wasted cause I was watching calories or fat or carbs but not necessarily glucose. 

I have to admit to myself that I am in that special category of prediabetic or have hypoglycemia linked with hyperglycemia and have to watch the carbs/fiber like a hawk. No more processed carbs over 15 pts for me without cause. Only fiber or natural carbs, or low glycemic foods or unprocessed foods. The biggest downer for me is there is NO cheating on this plan!! OH NO, blood sugar doesn't give you a day off. I can't have a snack one day a week, I will go hypo immediately(short for hypoglycemic) unless my condition is reversed. UGH how did I get in to this? I have to think of the positives, that I can do my best and will do my best and perhaps my hypo will reverse.

I have a physical scheduled soon and have regular medical care and suggest you do too.

At least now I know why my journey has been so hard. But now I know I CAN"T cheat ever until my condition is reversed! A big hurdle for someone obese. Give me some love people...

@myHFjourney

How I dropped my cholesterol over 50 points!

I've always had high cholesterol numbers since I was a young adult with normal weight. But I've always loved food and chocolate and snacks. Growing up my mother cooked traditional Greek vegetable dishes mostly, so why was my cholesterol so high? My parents had high cholesterol most of their lives too. Doctors told me it was genetic and I need to be cautious with lifestyle. I would also have periods of activity bursts throughout my life lasting for weeks or months at a time.

I went for a blood test physical a few years ago and my cholesterol was in the high but normal range! My cholesterol was usually in the mid two hundreds and on this occasion it was 187! I was amazed, and looking back there were some major changes I had made but didn’t know they contributed to this drop.

We had joined a farm co-op that summer and prior to that we had a veggie share box from a co-op in the spring so I had been eating a LOT of vegetables for most of the year. We ordered the full box share and my kids are picky eaters so I would get more than my fair share of the veggie boxes so I would be eating a LOT of vegetables on a daily basis.

I was focusing on organic and natural products too but I suspect the amount of veggies I was eating had more impact than the organic nature of the vegetables. However I would recommend you minimize your exposure to chemicals and buy organic when you can.

I was gardening and spending a lot of time outdoors with my kids. Perhaps vitamin D also contributed. But I suspect the amount of vegetables I was eating was a bigger factor in my unusual cholesterol drop than vit D or activity levels or anything else. I was still overweight and still trying to fit activity in my lifestyle. So I suspect the amount of veggies I ate daily was the major factor in surprising me with such a major drop in a key health number.

Do you have high cholesterol? Any interesting findings from your history?

@myHFjourney

Welcome!

Hi folks,

This is my very first post in my new blog. Previously I had a blog called NJmum.blogspot.com and it did well, but now I want to write more and created this blog.

I need to get fit and healthy. I wanted to write about diet and exercise and blog my diary but didn't want to limit myself on just diet and exercise. After all my end goal is being healthy not weight loss alone. So my initial posts may include diet alterations, exercise improvements, shopping tips, fitness tips and more.

I need to tell you my background and statistics. I have high cholesterol, I always have, and my diet doesn't help (chocolate anyone?) but some improvements I have made have done WONDERS for my cholesterol and it won't be a surprise which ones. I am clinically obese, wow being obese is so easy ie the level for obesity is SO low (or does it just seem so to me?) anyway I am not just overweight but yes, ahem, obese. I have high bloodsugars, at the prediabetic level. Yep let it get so out of hand that I joined the scary ranks of those that are waiting for diabetes. That scares me a LOT, diabetes is no joke, my uncle had it and it was horrible, I will tell you about that later on. I've checked my thyroid umpteen times and it working like clockwork. My hormones could use a little work but it is what it is as I am in the peri-menopause stage (when did I get middle aged?).

I recently made some changes, actually it has been years of changes all contributing to this point and I will explain the background changes in another post (so much to write). I started exercising well actually getting steps in, and will tell you how I did it with snow and ice outside yet managed to get 10,000 steps everyday. My cousin took a photo of me and I was horrified at the picture, I hate taking photos of me, as anyone in denial does. I denied my image and can't see obesity when I look in the mirror (Katie Hopkins, it is true). Perhaps it has been that changes have crept up gradually but I do see some weight that needs to come off my middle but I don't seem horrendously fat as I would have thought at my weight.

I will also make diet changes but will do those in the future as first I want to commit to my 10K steps to get the ball rolling. Rome wasn't built in a day.

I will tell you all the shortcuts that work for me. Lets do this folks. Join me.

@myHFjourney

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