June 23rd, 2008 -- Posted in food, general health |
I have put a few excerpts here from a great, if contradictory article about
the Mediterranean diet from The Telegraph.
In a nutshell Spain, Italy and a few countries, are bidding for the diet to be put on the world heritage list, which is fair comment after all everyone has heard of the benefits of following this kind of lifestyle.
However, there is an argument against because of the rising obesity in Europe as you can see from the clip below.
So is the Mediterranean diet rubbish? Of course it isn’t, the benefits of following the traditional style of food and cooking, using ingredients like olive oil and fish etc… has many benefits.
What is happening here is the same thing that is happening in Japan where obesity is rising, and that is through the introduction of rubbish fast food, and poor food choices.
If you want to find out more about the Mediterranean diet and how it can help you lose weight and increase longevity, take the time to click
here and check out this site
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Last year, in an exceptional case in the northern region of Asturias, social services removed a 10-year-old boy weighing 100 kg from the care of his grandparents because they would not stop overfeeding him.
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Yet, Spain’s problem with obesity does not undermine its case to have its traditional diet internationally recognised, says Chef Ferran Adria whose restaurant El Bulli was named best in the world by Restaurant Magazine.
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However, the diet it recommends is “based on the dietary traditions of Crete, Greece and southern Italy circa 1960 at a time when the rates of chronic disease were among the lowest in the world, and adult life expectancy was among the highest, even though medical services were limited”.
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June 10th, 2008 -- Posted in Weight Loss and Diets |
Healthy dieting should really be straightforward. After all having a healthy diet simply means having healthy eating habits. However, in todays world of obesity and the search for quick fixes healthy dieting now probably resembles something more along the lines of “How can I lose weight fast and feel as though I am not doing any long term damage to myself?”
Now I know that probably sounds a little harsh, but having previously spent 5 years working with people to help them lose weight, with one on one consultations, the consequences of what people are prepared to do to solve the problem of being overweight now in the shortest time possible regardless is staggering.
First of all lets look at the word diet. My understanding of this word is that your diet is what you eat on a daily basis, so to diet is simply to eat, but it is all about eating the right foods and in the right quantity, and, if you want to lose weight then you need to be burning up more food than you eat.
At this point I have probably lost most of the people reading this, as they would have heard that last line before, but the reason they have heard it before is because it is TRUE. And, surprisingly the people looking for the quick fix or the ones that generally do not want to exercise nor change their eating habits on a permanent basis.
On the whole your body needs a healthy variety of proteins, the right kind of carbohydrates, and essential fats. Now if you lose weight quickly overnight and then go back to eating a diet that does not consist of a balance of the three items listed above, you will sharp regain the lost weight and probably more, and once again be on the cycle of looking for a quick fix.
Whilst it is important to get the balance of your food right through having a balance of the previously mentioned food groups, we then come back to exercise. If you remember the title of this post is healthy dieting, and part of that has to be exercise, not only to produce a calorie deficit , but in fact to keep you healthy, after all even moderate exercise such as brisk walking for half an hour 3 to 5 times a week can bring enormous health benefits. Exercise increases your HDL (good cholesterol) levels, decreases LDL (bad cholesterol) levels and prevents heart diseases. It also improves your health and will drive away fatigue.
Also, try to keep your diet fiber rich by eating more vegetables and fruits-fill up on these foods that are good for you and you will not be inclined to binge on calorie laden junk food. Eat at least 5 servings of fruit and veg a day. These foods are packed with essential fibers, vitamins , and antioxidants. Eating nothing but a few tomato slices and a half cup of cottage cheese a day for eight weeks is certainly a fast way to lose weight , but it’s also terrible for your health. Your body won’t get the nutrients it needs, and then you’ll put it all back on anyway.
I’d love your comments on this subject, so feel free to leave them below
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