Mediterranean diet

Mediterranean Diet - What is it?
By: Roy Barker

Well, to begin with, there isn't really any one Mediterranean Diet! There's a whole swag of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The basic Mediterranean Diet has common characteristics even if the sourrounding countries differ in culture, language and recipes to some extent.

* an extensive intake of fruits, vegetables, bread and cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds
* olive oil is a source of mono-unsaturated fat - common to the Mediterranean area
* some dairy products, fish and even poultry are consumed in sparing to moderate amounts, and some red meat(not much)
* eggs are consumed in low to moderate amount say 1 to 4 eggs a week
* fortunately wine is acceptable but in low quantities ie. 1 - 3 glasses per day

A good question to ask is - Does a Mediterranean-style diet follow American Heart Association dietary guidelines?

Mediterranean-style diets are often close to US dietary guidelines, but not exactly.

People who follow the average Mediterranean diet eat less saturated fat than those who eat the average American diet. In fact, saturated fat consumption is well within US dietary guidelines. More than half the fat calories in a Mediterranean diet come from mono-unsaturated fats (mainly from olive oil). Mono-unsaturated fat doesn't raise blood cholesterol levels the way saturated fat does.

The incidence of heart disease in Mediterranean countries is lower than in the United States. Death rates are lower, too.
However there are some who feel this may not be entirely due to the diet. Lifestyle factors (ie. more physical activity and extended social family support structures) may also play a part. At this stage this is just a theory. However the research tells all - the diet has existed for umpteen years.

If you would like further proof of the mediterranean diet benefits resulting from research and qualified researchers you could try visiting http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/348/26/2599 or http://my.webmd.com/content/article/67/80070.htm. Both of these sites give good 'food for thought'(excuse the pun).

"Olive oil plays a central role, but it is not alone," says Dimitrios Trichopoulos, MD, PhD, of Harvard School of Public Health.

"It's among the divine mix of several factors that, when used in combination, help provide strong evidence of something that is very important -- eating the proper diet can significantly reduce your risk of early death."

He and researchers from Greece studied some 22,000 adults, aged 20 to 86, from all regions of that country; most previous studies tracked only older people who were more likely to die during the study. The participants answered detailed questionnaires about their eating habits throughout the four-year study. Then they were rated on how closely they followed the key principles of the Mediterranean diet.

Sticking to the Mediterranean diet cut the risk of death from both heart disease and cancer. For every two points higher on this 0-to-9 scale -- with top numbers going to those most closely following the Mediterranean diet -- the death rate dropped by 25%.

The findings by Trichopoulos may also help explain why Asians, who typically use these other cooking oils, also have lower disease and death rates. Although they rarely use olive oil, they traditionally follow other principles of the Mediterranean diet -- lots of produce, legumes, nuts, and minimally processed grains, with little saturated fat.

"The message remains the same, and is consistent with other findings: A diet lower in saturated fats and higher in monounsaturated fats, and potentially, polyunsaturates, will result in better health outcomes," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, of Tufts University and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

"If the main message that Americans get is to just increase their olive or canola oil consumption, that's unfortunate because they will increase their caloric intake and they are already getting too many calories. What they need to do is eat more fruits, vegetables, and legumes and fewer foods rich in saturated fats."

Some of this information has been referenced from The New England Journal of Medicine, June 26, 2003. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology, Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, senior scientist and director, Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Researcher Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston; spokeswoman, American Heart Association.

So in a nutshell, there is sound evidence that the Mediterranean Diet can help reduce heart disease, cancer, weight gain and of course reduce the risk of early death. However, it would be a mistake to think this outcome is based on the use of Olive Oil alone. The diet is diverse and allows for taste and creativity which is often lacking in most other diets. This alone warrants further investigation from those who seek a healthy, easy diet that has flavour and is fullfilling. Remember too that just as in all worthwhile diets, moderate level exercise should not be overlooked.

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Mediterranean diet

Mediterranean Diet - What is it?
By: Roy Barker

Well, to begin with, there isn't really any one Mediterranean Diet! There's a whole swag of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. The basic Mediterranean Diet has common characteristics even if the sourrounding countries differ in culture, language and recipes to some extent.

* an extensive intake of fruits, vegetables, bread and cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds
* olive oil is a source of mono-unsaturated fat - common to the Mediterranean area
* some dairy products, fish and even poultry are consumed in sparing to moderate amounts, and some red meat(not much)
* eggs are consumed in low to moderate amount say 1 to 4 eggs a week
* fortunately wine is acceptable but in low quantities ie. 1 - 3 glasses per day

A good question to ask is - Does a Mediterranean-style diet follow American Heart Association dietary guidelines?

Mediterranean-style diets are often close to US dietary guidelines, but not exactly.

People who follow the average Mediterranean diet eat less saturated fat than those who eat the average American diet. In fact, saturated fat consumption is well within US dietary guidelines. More than half the fat calories in a Mediterranean diet come from mono-unsaturated fats (mainly from olive oil). Mono-unsaturated fat doesn't raise blood cholesterol levels the way saturated fat does.

The incidence of heart disease in Mediterranean countries is lower than in the United States. Death rates are lower, too.
However there are some who feel this may not be entirely due to the diet. Lifestyle factors (ie. more physical activity and extended social family support structures) may also play a part. At this stage this is just a theory. However the research tells all - the diet has existed for umpteen years.

If you would like further proof of the mediterranean diet benefits resulting from research and qualified researchers you could try visiting http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/348/26/2599 or http://my.webmd.com/content/article/67/80070.htm. Both of these sites give good 'food for thought'(excuse the pun).

"Olive oil plays a central role, but it is not alone," says Dimitrios Trichopoulos, MD, PhD, of Harvard School of Public Health.

"It's among the divine mix of several factors that, when used in combination, help provide strong evidence of something that is very important -- eating the proper diet can significantly reduce your risk of early death."

He and researchers from Greece studied some 22,000 adults, aged 20 to 86, from all regions of that country; most previous studies tracked only older people who were more likely to die during the study. The participants answered detailed questionnaires about their eating habits throughout the four-year study. Then they were rated on how closely they followed the key principles of the Mediterranean diet.

Sticking to the Mediterranean diet cut the risk of death from both heart disease and cancer. For every two points higher on this 0-to-9 scale -- with top numbers going to those most closely following the Mediterranean diet -- the death rate dropped by 25%.

The findings by Trichopoulos may also help explain why Asians, who typically use these other cooking oils, also have lower disease and death rates. Although they rarely use olive oil, they traditionally follow other principles of the Mediterranean diet -- lots of produce, legumes, nuts, and minimally processed grains, with little saturated fat.

"The message remains the same, and is consistent with other findings: A diet lower in saturated fats and higher in monounsaturated fats, and potentially, polyunsaturates, will result in better health outcomes," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, of Tufts University and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

"If the main message that Americans get is to just increase their olive or canola oil consumption, that's unfortunate because they will increase their caloric intake and they are already getting too many calories. What they need to do is eat more fruits, vegetables, and legumes and fewer foods rich in saturated fats."

Some of this information has been referenced from The New England Journal of Medicine, June 26, 2003. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology, Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, senior scientist and director, Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Researcher Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston; spokeswoman, American Heart Association.

So in a nutshell, there is sound evidence that the Mediterranean Diet can help reduce heart disease, cancer, weight gain and of course reduce the risk of early death. However, it would be a mistake to think this outcome is based on the use of Olive Oil alone. The diet is diverse and allows for taste and creativity which is often lacking in most other diets. This alone warrants further investigation from those who seek a healthy, easy diet that has flavour and is fullfilling. Remember too that just as in all worthwhile diets, moderate level exercise should not be overlooked.

Article Source: http://www.dietarticles.info

Publisher & author: Roy Barker. Roy has an indepth and long established background with the vitamins, minerals and health industry and has researched and experimented with many diets over a thirty year period. Roy is also the author of Safe and Easy Weightloss, a downloadable e-book based on the popular Mediterranean Diet. It can be viewed at www.safe-and-easy-weightloss.com.

Take Your Health Into Your Own Hands

I want to share about a powerful medicinal rain forest herb that is that is extracted from a rare form of Cat's Claw and processed in the United States and is in wide use by people who have health problems and also by those who are healthy and want to stay that way. Samento, the most powerful immune enhancing herb on the planet.

Samento is a rare, very pure form of Cat's Claw that has anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and anti-oxidant properties. Studies show it to be beneficial in the treatment of a wide range of immune system related conditions, not only for people but pets as well. The beneficial properties of Samento are attributed to the pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids, POAs, that are found in the plant and act on the cellular immune system and demonstrate powerful modulating properties.

Cat's Claw root extract has been studied for its ability to help wipe out cancer cells. Scientists discovered POAs help increase the number of killer T-cells. These specialized T-cells not only kill virus-infected cells, but seek cancer cells. Once killer T-cells find a cancerous cell, they bind themselves to it, releasing toxic chemicals inside the cell. These chemicals puncture the cancer cell's membrane, causing it to burst and die.

Unlike traditional Cat's Claw products, Samento does not contain a group of chemical antagonists called tetracyclic oxindole alkaloids (TOAs) that act upon the central nervous system and greatly inhibit its effectiveness. Samento contains a standardized amount of pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids (POAs)that act on the cellular immune system and demonstrate powerful immune system modulating properties. According to research conducted in Austria, traditional Cat's Claw products may contain as much as 80% TOAs, and as little as 1% TOAs can cause a 30% reduction in immune system modulating properties that POAs provide. This may explain why large dosages, at times far exceeding 20,000 mg per day, of traditional Cat's Claw containing TOAs are required to obtain some results in treating the previously mentioned immune system related conditions.

POAs also are beneficial to individuals with HIV and AIDS. HIV attacks helper T-cells. While the body initially makes more new helper T-cells, its ability to replace these cells gradually fades. Without helper T-cells, killer T-cells can't kill infected cells very well. By slowly depleting helper T-cells and making killer T-cells less effective, infections are able to slowly overwhelm the body.

Because the POAs found in Cat's Claw extracts increase production of helper T-cells, researchers studying these powerful plant compounds are confident Cat's Claw has a role in HIV and AIDS treatment.

TOAs have different effects in the body, none helping the immune system cells. When POAs and TOAs are mixed, the TOAs work against the POAs. Even as little as 1% TOA content can cause POAs to lose their ability to beneficially modulate the immune system. Choose a product with no TOAs or the smallest percent possible.

Chemotype identification takes significant time and costs money. For these reasons, many Cat's Claw distributors don't distinguish between the chemotypes. The POAs and TOAs are often mixed and sold as a Cat's Claw product. No mention of any alkaloid content is made on many Cat's Claw products' packaging. If the product label doesn't give the amount of TOAs, chances are it contains TOAs. Usually product label will state "TOA free".

Even before Samento appeared on the market, a lot of evidence had been accumulated regarding the helplessness of conventional medicine on the one hand and the unsuspected therapeutic possibilities of the so-called alternative, natural or complementary treatments on the other hand.

Samento interacts with the psyche and the mind, as well as with the cells, the tissues and the body. It has been serving human health successfully even before the birth of modern medicine and this is only one of the reasons why many contemporary physicians are avoiding it, frightened by it, renouncing it without even knowing it. Modern medicine has reached incredible depths, but lost sight of the whole. It gained control of the cell, but lost hold of the human. The narrow experts have reached a high peak, but it proved to be a razor's edge on which the doctor and his patient are balancing between life and death.

If your doctor won't hear about herbs and other natural remedies, if he refuses to read the appropriate books or periodicals on this subject, consider if the time has not come to look for a more caring, skilled, responsible, real doctor. At the end of day you are the one who pays the bill and what it's all about is not a drink after the heavy working hours of the doctor, but a life - your life, not the doctor's.
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Lose Weight Fast While Eating What You Like

On a good diet program you can lose weight easily and safely. The new research based no starvation diets are what you really should try.These are diets which do not require you to be an expert cook and are low in cost.

You definitely do not need expensive foods and/or diet supplements. Actually you can choose the foods you like eating rather than having to eat from a list you don't want.

You should consider one of the new no hunger diets. All these diets are new on the scene and you should seriously consider them since they are all proven top weight loss programs.

So you might ask what is new with this type of diet and how does it differ from all the other weight loss diets being promoted everywhere? The secrets and methods of these diets are very simple.

They operate on the idea of shifting calories and adjusting the ratio of nutrients in the kind of food you consume. The foods you eat actually speed up your metabolism. This helps to use up a lot of calories and fat which you have accumulated in your body over a period of time. In addition these new diets help you keep your metabolism steady so as to burn up fat.

These modern research based programs provide you with fast weight loss at a safe and healthy rate. Don't be fooled into the idea that you could lose 30 pounds in a week or so. There are many ads out there that make ridiculous claims of this kind. It just isn't true as we all really know.

Total starvation will obviously bring a lot of weight loss but it is extremely dangerous. These new diets provide you with a way to lose weight safely by eating fat burning foods rather than by eliminating important foods from your daily diet.

Pleasant and enjoyable exercise such as a walk every day will help to hasten your weight loss. These programs have online forums on their websites. Here you can discuss your weight loss problems or share your opinion,which can be of great help. One of the unusual ideas is that you should eat four meals daily,at intervals of least 2 1/2 hours between meals.

Many nutritionists and diet experts suggest that you should have six small meals per day to keep your blood sugar count steady. However this will not help you to shed pounds. With the normal three meals per day your blood sugar level may vary widely during the day. Eating four meals per day evens out your blood sugar level. This is beneficial and you will not be hungry.

Another new idea is rotating your meals. You will have a carbohydrate rich meal for breakfast. Then later you have a meal which is rich in protein. you repeat this throughout the day. The digestive system is believed to digest the meals more quickly in this way.

All these diets have been demonstrated to work well. So which should be your choice? Really it boils down to personal choice.Consider what each of these programs is offering and which of them appeals most to you.

Are you really tired of being overweight? You will get rid of excessive fat quickly if you use a new research based no hunger diet. In a very few weeks you can be a new thinner and healthier person. Be sure to have a look at these diets.
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