EatRightLiveRight

Eat Right, Live Right
the Mediterranean Way
A Quick Guide to kick starting your metabolism,
controlling your weight and living a healthy fulfilling life
By Richard A. Saitta, M.D.
Medical Doctor and Author of Eating Your Way to Health...Mediterranean Style
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Avoiding certain foods will not help you control your weight. You have to eat a variety of fresh
foods to maintain good health and a healthy weight. Forty percent of your calories should
come from complex carbohydrates, up to 30 percent of calories from proteins and 30 percent
from fats. You’ve heard it before, but what does it mean? Here’s a simple guide to clear things
up and help you to control your weight and live healthy.
Carbohydrates:
All “carbs” are not equal. Cakes,
cookies, candies, ice cream, soft
drinks, and syrups are called
refined carbohydrates. As soon
as you eat them, they quickly
raise your blood sugar. An abuse
of these types of carbohydrates
will lead to diabetes and other
complications; not to mention
becoming overweight.
Pasta, bread, rice, potatoes and
grains are a different type of
carbohydrate. They belong to the
starch category. These should be
consumed in moderation.
Green leafy vegetables, fruits
and legumes are called complex
carbohydrates. They are good
sources of fibers, vitamins,
antioxidants and minerals. These
complex carbohydrates should
make up about 40 percent of your
daily caloric intake. That means
eat to your heart’s content!
Proteins:
All proteins are also not equal.
Animal proteins, red meats, poultry
and fish are valuable for nutrition
but should be eaten in moderation.
Lean red meat is a good source of
protein and is quickly absorbed by
the body as a source of iron. A
good lean steak is acceptable once
a month. Poultry and fish are leaner
and can be eaten more frequently.
Another excellent source of protein
that has taken a back seat is the
little, but powerful bean. Beans are
also full of fiber, a half cup serving
of cooked dry beans provides
about 25 percent to 30 percent
of the Daily Value of dietary fiber!
Fiber is what helps keep you
satisfied and regular.
Fats:
It’s a misconception that fat
is bad. All fats are not equal
either! Greasy, saturated and
hydrogenated fats are not healthy
at all and should be avoided.
However, one of the
healthiest sources of
fat is: olive oil.
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Your Health, Your Metabolism
and Your Weight Are in Your Hands
Poor metabolism and weight gain are
commonly associated with one another.
There is also the popular belief that there
is little that can be done to control both
metabolism and weight gain. I have
heard the following common complaints
in my 30 years of practicing medicine:
• “Doctor, my metabolism is shut off, I continually gain weight.”
• “Doctor, since my last pregnancy, my weight has continually
increased; my metabolism is now totally shut off.”
• “Doctor, it must be my thyroid. I cannot lose weight.
My mother had the same problem.”
• “Doctor, I have tried every diet and my weight has
not changed. I haven’t even dropped a pound!
• “Doctor, I give up, it’s my genes. I starve myself,
I am on the run the whole day and I still gain weight.”
I could go on and on. Physiologists
have a simple explanation for this
problematic weight gain. Your weight
obeys the basic laws of thermodynamics.
In other words, you should burn whatever
you ingest. If there is a surplus of
calories, it goes into your “belly”
as a fat deposit. If you burn
more than you eat, you lose
weight.
For the scientists, it seems to be as
easy as it sounds. In other words,
despite the fact that complex chemical
reactions happen in our body, the result
is simple…. controlling our metabolism
should be an easy task.
On your side, you believe that you
cannot do anything about your
metabolism except to starve yourself.
You need to look with a more critical
mind at these misconceptions. It took
a long time to accept that there was
a close connection between germs,
hygiene and infectious disease. Hand
washing and brushing your teeth are
widely accepted preventative measures
for hygiene and are almost instinctively
performed.
The connection between poor
nutrition and poor lifestyle, leading
to poor metabolism has not filtered
down to a widely accepted concept
yet. The power of food with its
micro and macro nutrient content is
totally ignored. Interestingly enough
scientists have recently discovered
that there is the equivalence of a
complex computerized system in your
body, which is centralized in your
brain and controls your metabolism.
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A body fueled with
the proper foods
and supplements
will recharge itself in
energy for optimum
functionality.
Instead of helping to control your
appetite and metabolism, this
integrated computerized system is
unconsciously sabotaged no matter
how hard you control your food
intake. It appears to be easier to
gain weight than to lose it. All of
your hard work and effort to lose
weight does not mean that it was
done in vain; rather you were going
about it the wrong way!
We at Mediterranean Meals
emphasize the role of nutrition and
lifestyle as a tool of controlling your
metabolism. We will help you lose
weight in a healthy and lasting way.
We will help you better understand
the beneficial effects of food on your
weight control as well as the benefit
on your overall health.
Most of you are getting your
information from unspecialized
sources which contribute to more
confusion. The relationship
between food and weight control
is not attributed to one type of
food. You are convinced to believe
that by totally eliminating either
carbohydrates, fats or proteins
from your diet, you have found the
solution to your weight problems.
When you choose to eat a low fat
diet, you may have a tendency
to replace the calories from fat
calories to foods rich in refined
carbohydrates which eventually
will make you regain your weight
if not more. The profusion of fad
diets either self administered or
provided by friends is the source
of imbalanced nutritional habits as
well as the source of frustrations and
behavioral problems.
The results are that even though you
are eating less, you eat less of the
wrong food. For example instead of
eating whole grain crackers you opt
for the bleach-white table crackers.
The ideal diet is not one of these
extreme diets you have subjected
your body to. One of the main
reasons of regaining more weight is
the abuse of cyclical weight loss.
Poor nutrition is a cause of weight
gain as well as a source of poor
health. The consumption of refined
and processed foods void of any
nutritional value coupled with a
low level of physical activity will
unfortunately condemn you to regain
weight. We at Mediterranean Meals
will teach you a way of life and how
to lose weight the right and healthy
way.
Food is a mixture of thousands of
different ingredients which when
ingested during a certain time
of day will fuel your body and
enhance your metabolism. A well
nourished body does not crave
foods. Your brain, your nervous
system and your muscles must be
fed with the needed nutrients for
proper emotional, mental and
physical well being.
You will never pronounce the word
“fatigue” again. A body fueled with
the proper foods and supplements
will recharge itself in energy for
optimum functionality. We will
teach you how to concentrate on
the timing of food and supplement
intake to promote an effective
energy balance. Fatigue, lack of
energy and mental stress are the
most common reasons to excuse
yourself from any physical activity.
It’s up to you to put the right
foods in your body in order
to kick start your metabolism,
control your weight and live a
healthy fulfilling life!
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E.T.
N.E.A.T.
R.E.E.
T.E.E.
Metabolism 101
You can ask your doctor to test your thyroid function,
your blood sugar, cholesterol level as well as study
your genetic risk. To me the simplest and most
basic way to find out if your metabolism is off is
to squeeze the fat in front of your abdomen. The
thicker the fat layer, the slower your metabolism.
The abdomen is the warehouse for the body’s fat.
The abdominal fat, once thought to be a dormant
mass is now believed to be a very active tissue.
Your belly’s fat is part of a complex system which
includes your stomach, intestines and liver which are
all connected with your brain. All of these different
organs communicate with each other by producing
chemical messengers on demand. Pending on the
message sent to the brain, your metabolism is either
stimulated or slowed down.
Your metabolism is a collective process which
provides the necessary energy for good body
function. An easier way to understand energy and
metabolism is to draw a round pie and slice the pie
into several slices. Each slice represents a different
source of energy.
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R.E.E.: Resting Energy Expenditure
P.A.E.E.: Physical Activity Expenditure
E.T.: Energy Thermogenesis
N.E.A.T.: Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
T.E.E.: Thermic Effect of Food
1) Your R.E.E. ( Resting Energy Expenditure)
is the energy that your body burns in order to
function while at rest. For example, it is the
energy used by the body to breathe and to
blink your eyes. The larger your lean body
mass or the larger your muscle mass is, the
more efficiently your body burns calories.
2) Your P.A.E.E ( Physical Activity Energy
Expenditure) is the energy which can have
the greatest influence. The greater your
physical activity, the more you develop good
muscle mass, the more you burn calories.
3) Your T.E.E: Thermic effect of food can
be markedly improved according to the type
of food you eat. The longer it takes for you
to chew food and the longer it takes for your
digestive system to digest the food, the more
calories you burn.
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The Mediterranean
diet will improve,
health, suppress
your “bad genes”,
and turn your
fatigue into energy.
As you can see, there are steps you
can take to consciously control your
metabolism and weight. Most of the
time, you become your own enemy by
following diets and lifestyles which are
short term miracles but are long term
disasters for your weight and health.
When you starve yourself in
order to lose weight you are
inadvertently paralyzing your
metabolism. After eating poorly
for a certain period of time, you
reach a plateau and your weight does
not decrease any longer. Both your
fat tissue and your muscle mass in
particular shrink, but the actual fat loss
is minimal as the weight loss is mainly
due to the loss of water; not due to fat
tissue loss.
During this period of weight loss,
your muscles disintegrate and
become atrophic, and you therefore
burn fewer calories. While at a
plateau, realizing your minimal
improvement, you lose your motivation
and energy. When your energy is
low, you voluntarily decrease your
physical activity, therefore your
total energy expenditure decreases
markedly shutting off your metabolism
as a reflex defensive measure.
Unfortunately you will go back to your
old eating habits, regain more weight;
most of the time it is in the form of fat
and your muscle mass remains small.
The bottom line is that the fat tissue
piles up in your abdomen, when there
is no more room in your abdominal
fatty cells. Then the piled fat tissue
infiltrates your liver and your muscles
and your metabolism becomes very
inefficient. Your body loses its ability
to burn fat as a source of energy.
At this time during your battle of the
bulge, you feel defeated and in order
to try and lose the extra weight you’ve
put on, you decide to eat less again,
skip meals and starve yourself. This
of course leads you to consume foods
that are void of any nutritional value.
Once again you’re spinning on the
perpetual revolving yo-yo string!
Without you being conscious of it,
your starving stomach manufactures
and sends out messages to receptors
all over the body. These receptors are
part of this very sophisticated system
which centralizes all information about
your body’s energy storage as well
as its nutrients and antioxidant levels.
These messengers are massively
manufactured on demand. They
stimulate multiple organ receptors
including your liver, your intestines
and ultimately your brain.
The overstimulation of certain brain
zone messengers will induce a
constant craving of palatable foods,
particularly sweets. Your body is
going to crave sweets more and more
often. “Sweets” become a habit
forming, gratifying and rewarding
condition for your brain and your
body as well. Your promising diet, as
well as all of your resolutions turns you
into an unsatisfied, malnourished, unfit
person. In a short period of time, you
become even more overweight.
The diet that we at Mediterranean
Meals promote will teach you to
eat the right food and take the right
supplement at the right time. Our
eating strategy will boost your
metabolism. The right fueling
provided by the supplements will turn
your metabolism into the most efficient
system. Even your fat cells which
usually betray you will send favorable
messages to your brain through
special pathways. These messages
will make you feel full and therefore
will make you unconsciously decrease
food intake. Your health will improve,
your “bad genes” will be suppressed,
and your fatigue will turn into energy.
Your desire to exercise and maintain
an optimal health will be at its best.
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THE GENETIC FACTOR
Disease or conditions inheritance,
which is what you call genetic,
is not the principle predisposing
factor for the development of
chronic conditions such as weight
gain, hypertension, diabetes, heart
disease and stroke.
Even if your genes predispose you
toward easy weight gain, lifestyle
and good nutrition can modify and
decrease your chance of getting
fat. As a matter of fact the older
you get, the less influence your
genes will have on your good
health. Environmental factors are
more influential to your weight
gain and health. Even if you have
a strong possibility to easily gain
weight, you may not gain weight.
Eating the right food through the
Mediterranean Diet, may redirect
your genes.
Contrary to the common belief
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that genes are the only predictors
of your weight and other health
problems, there is a lot you can
do to prevent what we call, “the
luck of the draw.” Your genotype
map or your genes map is a Xerox
copy of the type of diseases or
conditions your body could develop
under unfavorable conditions.
Your nutrition, the food you eat
and your lifestyle have a major
impact over the way your genes
can be oriented. In other words,
your weight is in your hands. For
example, you are the only one who
can make the right food choices,
helping you to prevent becoming
an overweight, diabetic or cardiac
patient.
Genes do not specifically code for
a condition, but they may influence
your health status by weakening
or strengthening your body’s
immune system. Macro and micro
nutrients and antioxidants which
are part of the food you eat have
a specific influence on your gene
expression. These food constituents
break down into chemicals which
help to detoxify the body from
substances susceptible to turn on
disease processes in your body. In
the specific case of weight control,
these substances coming from food
components have a stimulating or
suppressing effect on your appetite.
When there is an imbalance
between stimulating and
suppressing messengers,
unfavorable conditions happen.
Good foods lower disease
signals sent to your genes through
bioactive components. Food has
the intelligence to orchestrate
chemical reactions in the natural
way with more specificity and
precision than any drug can do!
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BODY BASICS
The type of food, as well as when
you take a supplement will make
you burn more calories and reduce
your caloric intake by curbing your
appetite.
We need four elements to remain
healthy: 1) water, 2) sunlight,
3) good food and 4) oxygen.
Unfortunately, the overuse or misuse
of either one of the four elements
will lead to disease formation. We
could not live without oxygen, but
this precious element could also be
the source of our destruction.
The theory of the free radical or
oxidation is the most accepted
theory in the scientific world. This
theory insinuates that we get
“oxidized” in a simple word, we
rust. For example, observe an iron
rod little by little, with the action of
water, wind and sun exposure, this
iron rod will rust. If you have ever
looked at a concrete pile reinforced
with iron rods, you might eventually
see some rusty spots on the
concrete surface. The rods have
been oxidized and have rusted.
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You can paint and repaint the rusty
spots, but in time the rusty spots will
reappear.
This is what happens to us. Our
arteries get plugged, our brain
gets damaged, our bones become
brittle and our lungs get darker due
to cigarette smoking or pollution.
Every part or organ in our body
is submitted to the damage of free
radicals.
Studies have shown that poor
nutrition and malnourishment
are reflected by a decrease in
blood levels of micronutrients and
trace elements as well as many
vitamins. Fat accumulation is also
generated by malnutrition which
also generates inflammation in
the body. Inflammation seems to
be at the base of many diseases.
One of the consequences of
malnutrition, inflammation and
obesity is a disease named
metabolic syndrome. Metabolic
syndrome is the generic name
of chronic conditions such as
obesity, hypertension, diabetes
mellitus and hyperlipidemia. All
of these conditions are the result
of inactivity and poor nutrition.
The increasing weight gain is
due to fat accumulation in your
abdomen which then moves into
your muscles. This is the birth of
an illness.
While eating high fat, high protein,
high refined carbohydrate diets,
you deprive yourself from essential
and healthy nutrients. Pizza dough
and hamburger buns are not
made with whole grain flour, but
rather with processed white flour.
White flour is bleached, stripped
of all nutritional elements and
fibers. Meat balls on the pizza or
the meat from the hamburgers is
usually rich in bad fat. The fat is
doubled by mayo or extra cheese
and reinforced by processed
tomato sauce and corn syrup.
Now you have a high refined
carbohydrate, high fat, high protein
diet. Oversized portions as well
as your inactivity will lead to being
overweight, if not obese.
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If poor nutrition
and lack of activity
continues, the arterial
walls continue to be
filled up and plaque
is formed, this is the
beginning of the end.
Usually, this type of food is eaten
over a short period of time which
overloads your body with sugar,
fat and protein at once. These
repetitive, unhealthy food assaults
will eventually have severe health
consequences on your body leading
to many debilitating diseases. High
blood pressure is not well tolerated
by your arteries. The inner lining
of your arteries, the side of the
artery always exposed to the blood
is subject to intrusive remodeling
and damages. The damages are
the initial stage of plaque formation
which eventually will block the
blood flow and trigger a heart
attack or stroke.
Your pancreas, the organ
responsible for the production of
insulin, the hormone that helps
to regulate blood sugar, will be
overworked. Eventually, your
pancreas won’t be able to provide
based on the overhauling demand
and will collapse. Your blood sugar
remains elevated and here is your
diabetes that Aunt Julia gave you
through her genes.
High fat and high cholesterol levels
will oxidize your L.D.L. (low density
lipoproteins) what we call the bad
cholesterol. Your liver which is
also overworked won’t be able to
clear up the excess fat. Oxidized
L.D.L. will penetrate the walls of the
arteries through the initial injury
triggered by the free radicals.
Rigidity or a loss of elasticity of the
artery will follow and here is your
hypertension that your mom gave
you after nine months of suffering
and tender love.
As the process of poor nutrition
continues and as your activity
decreases, the arterial walls
continue to be filled up and the
plaque is formed. The plaque is
the beginning of the end. This
plaque will favor the formation of
the clot that will trigger your heart
attack or your stroke; Happy 50 th
or 60th birthday. You have been
diagnosed with hypertension,
diabetes, or heart disease. The
rich oversized diet is the source
of other conditions such as colon
cancer. High protein diets mean
diets low in fibers. A low fiber diet
will decrease your colon acidity
and deprive your healthy bacterial
intestinal flora from the necessary
nutrients.
Osteoporosis has a lot to do
with high animal protein diets as
well as your high consumption of
phosphorus rich soda drinks. High
refined carbohydrates will increase
your calcium loss through the urine.
Lack of activity will speed it up.
Once again it’s simple; food should
be consumed in its most natural
way. Processed foods end up
to be poor nutritional sources of
vitamins, minerals, antioxidants,
phyto-chemicals and fibers. Trace
elements play a major role as a
co-factor with antioxidants in the
metabolism and integrity of organ
functionality. Fibers bind toxins and
nourish the growth of good bacteria
in the intestines. Fortunately, our
body has a very sophisticated
antioxidant system to fight the
negative effects of nature.
With the help of a healthy
life-style as well as excellent
and appropriate nutrition,
our body can minimize the
effects of oxidation. It’s up to
you to eat the right way..the
Mediterranean way!
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Live to exercise, exercise to live
Exercise or physical activity in
general should not be a choice
because it is a necessity for
your well being. You are using
your muscles from all of your
daily activities such as; working,
cleaning, shopping, climbing stairs
or recreational exercises. If you
want to function well physically,
you have to feed your muscles
with the right foods and nutrients.
Good food, adequate beverages
and supplements have a major
beneficial effect on your health
and fitness.
You can have your blood sugar,
cholesterol, homocystine, cortisole,
bone density or your genetic tree
tested, but none of these tests will
replace the accuracy or reliability
of your health status, than being at
a perfect fitness level.
In order to get fit, you need to
get involved in good physical
activities as well as good nutrition.
Remember when you went to
exercise with your friend and you
were full of aches the following
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day? These aches and pains were
the result of the accumulated toxins
in the muscles due to the fact
that you were not physically fit.
Your muscles were malnourished,
therefore unable to eliminate
toxins. Your muscles did not have
the right nutrition to manufacture
the glycogen necessary for their
good functioning. Deficiency in
good sources of energy favors
easy fatigue and will discourage
you from getting involved in
healthy physical activity necessary
to control your weight.
Exercise and good nutrition are
both very important to maintain
mental and physical fitness and a
healthy weight. Physical fitness
is the most reliable health factor
for long term health. There is
not an ideal weight, but there is
ideal muscle mass. The more lean
muscle mass you have, the more
calories you will burn.
The better you feed your body
and your muscles, the better
your metabolism. When you
are physically active and
exercise regularly, your body
will manufacture a strong anti
oxidant. This anti oxidant will
protect your arteries. The anti
oxidant can repair the initial injury
of the arterial wall, the injury that
eventually will lead to the plaque
formation and prevent a heart
attack or a stroke. As previously
mentioned, arteriosclerosis, the
disease that obstructs the arteries
is a dynamic condition. It can go
both ways… good or bad.
Depending on what you are doing,
meaning exercising or not, eating
well or not; arteriosclerosis can
progress or regress. Your arteries
can get clogged or can reopen.
After a week of controlled regular
physical activity the coronary
artery, the artery that carries the
blood to the heart can recover
a good blood flow. If you have
good blood flow in your arteries
and good muscle mass you have
less of a chance to fatigue easily.
When your body has more energy
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After exercising, your
blood sugar becomes
ideal which makes it
easier for your muscles
to absorb dietary
proteins. All of the
organs in your body
send messages to each
other establishing a
conversation.
available, it means better tolerability
of pain for headaches, arthritis and
for stress. You can perform better
when you have energy; even your
immune system protects you better
from diseases.
After exercising, your blood sugar
becomes ideal which makes it
easier for your muscles to absorb
dietary proteins. All of the organs
in your body send messages to each
other establishing a conversation.
These organs also send signals
to your genes. Pending on the
types of signals or messages sent,
your genes take on a different
orientation.
When the message is favorable,
your genes will be suppressing the
outbreak of a disease or condition.
Good nutrition, regular physical
activity and good fitness as well as
favorable environmental conditions
are all factors that can positively
influence your genes. A good
messenger example is insulin.
Insulin is a hormone or messenger
produced by your pancreas, an
organ part of your digestive system.
Insulin has an important role in
the control of your blood sugar.
When there is not enough insulin
or for metabolic reasons, your
insulin does not work well, you will
develop uncontrolled blood sugar or
diabetes.
The initial stage of diabetes is
weight gain due to increased
abdominal fat as well as fat
infiltration in your muscles. Fat
infiltration is a major reason for
your insulin to be inefficient or not
working. The blood sugar is not
used by the fat that is infiltrated in
your muscles; therefore it stays in
the blood and damages the eyes,
the brain, the kidneys as well as
the arteries. Exercise can favor the
sugar to be burned by the muscles
even when insulin is absent.
Exercise and physical activity have
to be taken as serious as a medical
prescription. You have to commit
yourself and dedicate your time to
it. Brushing your teeth and taking
a shower are normal current daily
activities and so should exercising.
Before starting your exercise
program, always consult your
physician.
For psychological reasons, it is
better to exercise in the morning
before breakfast, but exercising is a
plus for your wellbeing any time you
dedicate your time to it. Always get
professional advice for appropriate,
safe and comfortable exercise and
equipment.
The exercise has to start with
a warm up period as well as
stretching. A minimum of 30
minutes a day is necessary to get
valuable benefits. Increase your
activity little by little. Even a small
increase in exercise or physical
activity is associated with physical
and muscle fitness and health
improvements.
You should have 1/3 of your
exercise program dedicated to
weight training. It is easier and
faster to build up muscle than to
build up fitness regardless of age.
Learn how to breathe properly in
harmony with physical activity.
Yoga classes will teach you how to
breathe properly.
Be sure to hydrate yourself
by drinking water before,
during and after exercising.
It is the best source of
hydration!
Learn how to take your pulse. As
your fitness improves, your heart
rate should decrease.
Keep it up and
keep moving!
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You Have To
Want To Eat
Healthy!
Before you go forward,
you have to want to be healthy.
That’s the first step you must take
on a journey that will fulfill you
from within and ultimately reshape
you on the outside. You need to
make a conscious decision that
you’re going to put the right foods
in your body, no matter what
cravings come along to undermine
all of the hard work you’ve put
into transforming your new way
of living and eating. When your
body is fueled with the right foods
you feel good. A well balanced
meal containing the right amount
and types of protein, carbohydrates
and fats is essential to the
functionality of every organ in your
body. A great motivational tool to
keep those good foods coming into
your system is remembering how
You good Have it felt when To Want your body To Eat was
Healthy! nourished correctly!
Before you go forward,
you have to want to be healthy.
That’s the first step you must take
on a journey that will fulfill you
from within and ultimately reshape
you on the outside. You need to
make a conscious decision that
you’re going to put the right foods
in your body, no matter what
cravings come along to undermine
all of the hard work you’ve put
into transforming your new way of
living and eating. When your body
is fueled with the right foods you
feel good. A well balanced meal
containing the right amount and
types of protein, carbohydrates and
fats is essential to the functionality
of every organ in your body. A
great motivational tool to keep those
good foods coming into your system
is remembering how good it felt
when your body was nourished
Get Motivated
Surround yourself with healthy
images. Get your household
involved! Get their support and
take the time to cook healthy meals
together and sit down to enjoy
them. Cooking a meal together is
actually saving you money that you
would be spending on take-out,
and it’s having you spend quality
time with a loved one. That should
be motivational enough. And
cooking Get Motivated is not only easy to do, but
it’s rewarding when you see the
difference Surround yourself in the way with you healthy will look
and images. feel. Get You’re your controlling household what
goes involved! into your Get their body. support Buy only and
fruits, take the low time fat to yogurts, cook healthy vegetables, meals
fish, together nuts, and legumes, sit down etc……You to enjoy
will them. see Cooking how full a you meal feel together as well is
as actually the diversity saving and you money bounty that you
exists would in be the spending produce on section take-out, of your
supermarket.
and it’s having you spend quality
time with a loved one. That should
be motivational enough. And
cooking is not only easy to do, but
it’s rewarding when you see the
difference in the way you will look
and feel. You’re controlling what
goes into your body. Buy only
fruits, low fat yogurts, vegetables,
fish, nuts, legumes, etc……You
will see how full you feel as well
as the diversity and bounty that
exists in the produce section of your
supermarket.
www.medimeals.com
Stay Motivated!
Do not fall into any temptations.
Get rid of everything you are not
supposed to eat from inside your
home. Remember Variety, Balance
and Moderation! Do not deprive
your body of anything. If you
crave sweets, have a piece of fruit
or make yourself a fruit smoothie.
The combination of the fruit and
protein will satisfy your craving
and make you feel full and satisfied
longer. You are more likely to stay
motivated if you feel good and
satisfied. Keep a variety of fruits
and vegetables in the house. If it’s
something crunchy you crave, then
munch on some almonds or walnuts.
Keep your taste buds refreshed by
introducing a new and different
fruit, vegetable, fish and lean meat
recipe to your collection.
1-877-MediMeals

Eat Breakfast!
Eat your breakfast!!! This IS the
most important meal of the day.
This is your essential FUEL… YOUR
KICK START TO YOUR DAY! You
need to set a healthy pace for the
rest of the day. The distribution of
our food intake is just as important
as the total amount of caloric
intake. Our eating habits have
an influence on our snacking,
which usually involves foods high
in calories and low in nutritional
value. There is a close relationship
between weight problems and the
amount of time spent for breakfast.
People believe that by skipping
breakfast they will decrease their
caloric intake for the day. The
variety of food available for a fast
and small breakfast is narrowed
down to Danishes, doughnuts,
and cookies which are all less
healthy and high in caloric
content. Breakfast should provide
30 percent of your total daily
caloric intake. We should make
our breakfast food adequate and
diversified by including quality
proteins, carbohydrates and fats.
Failing to do so will tempt you to
increase the frequency of snacking
on unhealthy foods during the rest
of the day. A high fiber cereal
and fruit can increase your mental
alertness. By eating a healthy and
well balanced breakfast you will
fuel your body with energy and
help motivate you to work well,
think clearly and feel good!
www.medimeals.com
Stay Active!
It is important that you stay
physically active. Physical activity
provides for a great quick pick me
up and a feel good motivator. Take
the stairs whenever possible; park
your car at the end of the parking
lot row. It is known that when
staying active, it is less likely to get
colds and respiratory infections.
Also, by staying active your
endorphins are elevated, making
you feel better and when you feel
better you are more inclined to eat
better!
Eat Plenty of
Fruits and
Vegetables
A good rule of thumb is to eat fruits
and vegetables of many different
colors. The darker and richer
the color, the more nutrient rich
the fruit and/ or vegetable. They
are packed with vitamins and
antioxidants. Fruits and vegetables
are also packed with fiber and it’s
that fiber that will help you stay
full and more satisfied, therefore
keeping you away from overeating
foods full of empty calories. The
Mediterranean Diet is made up
of functional foods. These types
of foods contain specific health
or medical benefits, including
the prevention and treatment of
diseases beyond basic nutritional
functions.
Eat of the
Land and Sea
The Mediterranean Diet is not one
of those “diets” that constrains
you into eating only certain foods
while totally avoiding others. The
“diet” or rather lifestyle is very
diverse and allows you to reap the
benefits of this great earth we live
on. Processed foods and foods
containing preservatives etc. are not
natural. Why would anyone want
to put something that is unnatural
inside their body? It is important
to eat what Mother Nature has
provided for us. The fruits,
vegetables, nuts, legumes, etc, that
grow naturally in the ground is what
the Mediterranean Diet adheres to;
the bounty of the earth.
Fish and other animals are
also eaten, but red meat in
small quantities. Because most
of the countries that make up
the Mediterranean region are
surrounded by water, fish is one
of the mostly consumed forms of
protein. Don’t let the scare of
mercury deter you. If you eat
garlic, which is another staple of
the Mediterranean kitchen, you will
be able to chelate (remove certain
heavy metals from the bloodstream)
the mercury. But the benefits
of eating fish which are high in
Omega 3 fatty acids, outweighs
any of the negative effects. The
land and the sea are there to
be enjoyed and that’s what
we will provide for you at
Mediterranean Meals!
DON’T FORGET TO DRINK
PLENTY OF WATER!
1-877-MediMeals