The Mediterranean Lifestyle: A Guide to Health
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Healthy eating is a challenge these days since we are inundated with information on social media about the healthiest diets. The Mediterranean Diet simplifies things.
What’s more, often if we are looking to lose weight, we can reach our goal but have trouble maintaining that loss. (We have all been in that situation!) I have fought through countless injuries that put me in an unfortunate cycle of not being able to move, then continuing to eat as though I were still working out a lot, then gaining weight, then just eating because why not. Cardio has always been a part of my life because of training for one thing or another, until I hit a health road block and couldn’t really move at all.
As I was recovering, I had to rely totally on food to rebuild my body before I could start doing very light workouts. Something I had heard many times I now saw first-hand to be fundamentally true: nutrition is by far the largest part of the weight loss battle. If you don’t eat it, you don’t have to work it off.
Nutrition, therefore, is the key to weight loss. However, you do not need to deprive yourself to lose weight.
There is a regional way of eating that not only gives you this but also helps you prevent disease. In this blog post, I am sharing what I have learned through years of education and experience rebounding from a severe illness to help you lose weight for the long haul and boost your health overall.
With that, I will discuss:
• Why eating fat is good for you as long as you eat the right kind
• How you benefit from lowering inflammation in your body
• How focusing on what you NEED to eat versus what you shouldn’t shifts your mindset
• How to control cravings and excessive hunger
• How to enjoy eating out and still lose weight
• How to create a customized meal plan that works for you
So if you have struggled to lose weight while being satiated, losing interest in a subscribed diet plan while constantly being hungry and never reaching your ideal weight, then the Mediterranean Diet is something you need to try! Hunger and cravings go by the wayside as you eat like an Italian!
When I was on the doorstep of 40, I was admitted to the hospital with a virus and the explicit statement from a doctor that I would not live.
Well, that guy was wrong.
I started doing research as to how to rebuild my body and realized the Mediterranean diet was what I should use as a guide to healing. While I spent almost a month barely being able to get out of bed to walk my dog, I slowly started regaining energy thanks the amount of produce, healthy fats (think olive oil and avocado), protein, and complex carbs I was eating. I saw vast improvements in healing quickly and was amazing at how food is medicine that can heal your body.
Food shouldn’t be an enemy. It is fuel to keep your body systems humming and prevent chronic illness.
As I continued to gain strength, I was happy enough to be able to do the things I needed to live my normal life (see walking my dog above), but then I also noticed that suddenly my clothes were way too loose.
While I was focused on nourishing my body to help it survive, a side product was weight loss!
That mindset shift from focusing on what I “shouldn’t” eat to what my body needs has made keeping the weight off easy.
If you lived through the low fat diet craze of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, you may still have it in your head that fat is bad. Fat, however, is not your enemy. The key is eating the right kind of fat.
Then we heard that carbs were the enemy. Similarly, the key is eating healthy carbs that fuel your body, not the kind that is just empty calories.
There is one eating plan that makes things simple: the Mediterranean diet. This eating approach focuses on fruits and vegetables, fish, legumes, basically high quality whole foods that you would find on a plate in Capri.
The Mediterranean diet has topped experts’ lists of the best diets for years for good reasons: it is simple, delicious, and promotes total body health. You load your plate with things that nourish your body and taste really good, so you improve your health and lose weight without feeling deprived.
There are two big reasons I love the Mediterranean Diet:
The omega 3 fatty acids emphasized in the Mediterranean diet lower inflammation in your body.
This helps to prevent heart disease, fight cancer, and reduce pain), help you feel fuller longer, reduce fatty liver, and even help you sleep.
Coupled with the heavy focus on produce, not only will you be full, you will fight infections, boost your overall health, and as an added bonus, the weight falls off.
The delicious food that is at the heart of the Mediterranean diet means your taste buds will be happy, you won’t be deprived or have tons of cravings, and you can always find something to order when you’re eating out, with no counting or formulas to memorize. This also makes sticking with this eating plan a breeze so that it becomes a lifestyle change, not just a diet.
Let’s just give you a sneak peak of the kinds of meals you will have on a Mediterranean diet: Greek yogurt with fruit; roasted fish with tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil; a beautiful Greek salad with tomatoes, CHEESE, cucumbers, and olives; PASTA; and PIZZA! You will feel like you are indulging while you are actually doing something wonderful for your body and your waistline!
If that sounds like it’s right up your alley and you want learn more about the Mediterranean Diet, start with this quiz that will give you a custom meal plan for only $1. Click here to get started!
I wrote more about the benefits of eating the entire rainbow of fruits and vegetables in a separate post that I urge you to read. I hope it helps shift your focus to you want you need versus what you “can’t” have.
The three keys I learned from the Mediterranean diet that helped me lose 30 pounds and keep it off are:
1. Eat healthy fats to boost health and satiety
2. Focus on produce, as many servings as you can get
3. The first two keys combine to create delicious meals that you can enjoy at home or out with friends and do not leave you feeling hungry or deprived!
If you have never tried the Mediterranean lifestyle of eating, I encourage you to check it out - click here to take the customization quiz for $1, OR sign up for the 30 day challenge!
Once I began truly nourishing my body, I bounced back to health, my skin glowed, and I was 30 pounds lighter within the course of 3 months and have kept it off since. My cravings for sugar and salt subsided, and I actually look forward to eating the healthy meals I prepare. Yes, this actually made weight loss easy, and with the primary goal of improving my health, I feel better than ever.
If you are also ready to nourish your body, get control of your hunger and cravings, and as a side benefit lose the weight for good, get started with your custom meal plan now while it’s at a trial price - click here to get a custom meal plan just for you for $1, OR sign up for the 30 day challenge!
The biggest factor in losing weight for good is shifting your focus from what you shouldn’t eat to what you NEED to eat to thrive.
Even if you’re not ready to go all in on your weight loss goals, I have something that will help with this shift in thinking to lose weight, remove the fight in your head about what you “can” and “can’t” eat, and actually lose inches in your waistline. Get my FREE 3 day liver reset meal plan, which provides easy meals you can throw together that focus on produce and detox your most important fat-burning organ!
RELATED POSTS:
Three Keys to Shifting Your Attitude Toward Food
Why We Need to Eat the Rainbow
Supercharge Your Health and Weight Loss with This Organ
Strategies to Up Your Daily Produce Intake
Surviving a Health Crisis
