The healthiest and easiest Mediterranean diet to follow
Discover the benefits and keys of one of the most ideal diets for our health and figure. With weekly downloadable menu included.
Every day you get up with new diets, more blacklisted names of banned products and new superfoods. Quiet, we will make it easy for you. We will explain the benefits and keys of a super ideal diet for health, to lose weight and that, in addition, you know well: the Mediterranean diet.
MEDITERRANEAN DIET: WHAT IS IT?
You don’t have to embrace distant cultures. **The Mediterranean diet is ours, as always. **It consists of fruits and vegetables, cereals and legumes. The one with olive oil as captain of healthy fats, which you also find in dried fruits or blue fish such as sardines or anchovies. In addition, **the list of ingredients you need is already in your fridge or in the neighborhood market. **What we said, the healthiest and easiest to follow.
These foods are cooked, as our grandmothers already did, with healthy and tasty preparations. There is no Mediterranean cuisine without a good stir-fry that gives flavor or without the pots over low heat, with the chup chup. Steamed vegetables and grilled meats and fish are other weapons in the arsenal of the Mediterranean diet. Isn’t it true that your grandmother used to put a salad in the center of the table and a stew dish for each one? Let’s recover that healthy habit.
A diet with zero kilometer products (the traditional ones of our country and seasonal) ideal for health and, with some simple adjustments, to lose weight. We don’t say it. The Mediterranean diet is one of the most recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET
We talk about the Mediterranean diet but, in reality, it is more a change in your habits than a strict diet. A new way of eating that will only bring good things to your body. And is that studies such as PREDIMED (Prevention with Mediterranean Diet) have reached very interesting conclusions for heart and brain.
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**Strengthen your heart. **It reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases due to unsaturated fatty acids that have nuts or blue fish combined with nitrates from vegetables. The PREDIMED study indicates, for example, that fish-consuming countries such as Spain and Japan show low mortality due to cardiovascular diseases.
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**Lowers cholesterol. **Reduce the amount of blood “from the bad” by the abundant consumption of fish and vegetables and, also, why less red meat is eliminated or eaten.
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**Help your ideal weight. **The Mediterranean diet is very varied and with low caloric intake. If you combine it with physical exercise, you can get close to your ideal weight. Fighting against overweight also removes many diseases that worsen with physical fitness.
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**Good for diabetes. **The body’s glucose levels are regulated by the presence of complex carbohydrates in menus such as whole grain or high fiber foods. A substudy of the PREDIMED project has also observed that people who take whole grains have a higher concentration of insulin in their blood. Key factors for the prevention of type 2 diabetes.
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**Power the memory. **The Mediterranean diet improves cognitive function with foods that enhance memory such as, again, nuts with their fatty acids or bluefish.
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**Avoid mental deterioration. **Green leafy vegetables, which have many antioxidants, prevent cell degradation. Eat at least one serving to the day of such vegetables helps slow cognitive decline associated with aging, as suggested by a study published in the journal Neurology.
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**You sated. ** The main problem of many when we want to lose weight is that we are always hungry. In the Mediterranean diet, carbohydrates and fiber are satiating. Here is a list of satiating foods.
KEYS TO THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET
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**Not all fats are bad. **At this point, you know perfectly well that there are fats that are good and in this diet, healthy fats come from olive oil and fatty acids such as Omega 6 that have nuts.
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**Olive oil, the king. **Most of the fat you will consume will be beneficial and will come from the oil. Of course, it must be an extra virgin since during the refining process a large part of its antioxidant compounds is lost.
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**Protagonism of vegetables and fruits. **Choose the ones you like best. You should eat at least two servings a day, but they can be more. Do not forget that one of the portions should be raw. When it comes to fruit, you should take 3 or 4 pieces or its equivalent.
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**Goodbye red meat, hello fish. **The first that should disappear (or be reduced almost to zero) is red meat. You should earn the fish, specifically 2 to 3 servings of bluefish a week such as sardines, tuna or salmon.
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**Lean meats **Bet on lean meats. Better yet if they come from poultry such as chicken or turkey. But, eye, it is not mandatory that they be present at all meals.
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**Always nuts. **The other great healthy fat from the Mediterranean diet along with olive oil. They provide a large amount of fiber and antioxidants.
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**Do not set aside cereals. **Like fats, they have a very bad reputation. In the Mediterranean diet, bread is essential to provide us with fiber, but you have to choose a whole grain one such as rye or oats. White flours have gone to a better life.
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**Without fear of legumes. **Take 3 servings a week. They have a high protein content with the advantage of not providing saturated fat. Use them as a main course, you don’t always need meat.
MEDITERRANEAN DIET TO LOSE WEIGHT? YES
You are reading that the Mediterranean diet is so good and that it is basically what we already eat in this area of the world. Imagine you wonder, why don’t you lose weight? Without realizing it, the lifestyle we lead today has taken us away from the real foundations of Mediterranean food and has changed it in some places.
To lose weight you just have to go back to the roots, recover from the grandmother’s cookbook those dishes that are already light and that you are sure to master. With adjusting the portions and some ingredients you will have enough. In addition, the Mediterranean diet allows you, choosing well, to be able to eat at the restaurant or make the vermouth on a Sunday. Here are tricks and some examples that you can apply to your Mediterranean diet.
***Fill yourself with vegetables. **Accompany all meals of a good salad. Also, put vegetables everywhere, not just as a starter. Let it be the garnish of the second, that accompanies the filling of the mini in the morning or as an ingredient of a milkshake in the afternoon.
***The fruit, for dessert. **Another myth that the Mediterranean diet is ahead. Dessert fruit does not make you fat. Not only that, but that it is the healthiest option to finish the meal.
***He pecks with his head. **Take a moment to think about healthy snacks that you will take to work or what you will snack while cooking. Our land has very good options such as lupines (very rich in fiber and low calories) or you can make some vegetable chips (cut very thin and roasted in the oven).
***Power the vermouth. **If you are going to take the vermouth, do not feel guilty. Turn it into a main meal and choose with your eye what you ask for. Avoid caloric tapas like french fries or cured cheese and bet, for example, on anchovies. And if the beer is 0% or you drink carbonated water with a slice of lemon, better than better.
***The mini ham. **Iberian ham contains good fats. Specifically, the main monounsaturated fatty acid it contains is oleic acid, the same as olive oil. Without abusing him, take him in a mini in the middle of the morning one day a week. It will be a fight that will give you strength.
***Prepare your jam. **The problem is the added sugar of the purchased version. You can make it at home with very ripe fruit and cinnamon or accompanied by a date, over very low heat. You will not miss the sugar.
***Reduced rations. **When we want to lose weight, the key to the Mediterranean diet is to eat the same but reduce the amount. This helps our mind since we have the feeling of continuing to “eat everything.” To lose weight, you will have to adjust the amounts of fruit, reduce the consumption of nuts to half a handful every day and limit the bread to small or specific rations such as the mini mid-morning a couple of days.
Recover from your grandmother’s cookbook those light dishes that you already master
*Buy less and cook more. When you go shopping, stay as far away as you can from highly processed products such as industrial pastries and preparations. They are a pump for your health and your weight. Buy ingredients and cook yourself at home.
*A good rest. In order for the benefits of the Mediterranean diet to settle, you need to accompany it with regular exercise and a good rest. At this point, she helps you. Eat foods rich in tryptophan at night, which help you sleep better. For example, whole grains, spinach or plums.
*Eat calmly. Try to make all meals taking your time to savor the food. Sitting and in no hurry. It will help you feel more satiated. These mindfulness exercises will help you eat with less anxiety.