The MediterrAsian Diet
MediterrAsian is a site that has been around since 2004. It showcases the best aspects of both a Mediterranean style of eating along with traditional Asian dietary habits.
Ric Watson and Trudy Thelander (who created the site) recently published a book - The Mediterrasian Way.
It's both a cookbook and diet book.
Mediterrasian Way argues that the key to health and weight management is to follow the traditional diets of countries like Japan, China, Spain, Greece, Morocco, and Italy. Numerous studies are cited (such as the famous China Study - ref).
These dietary practices are best explained using the Oldways pyramids (see below).
There are a few things in the book that don't make sense. Soy beans are encouraged - but the book also mentions using soy burgers, hot dogs, and TVP to up your soy intake. These are highly processed forms of Soy - and are hardly a traditional eating practice.
The book also encourages eating plenty of carbohydrates (pasta and rice are a staple in the Mediterrasian way). Most of our obesity problems are because we eat too much. We don't need any encouragement to eat more carbohydrates.
This is one of the problems that arises when looking at historical or traditional diets. People ate according to the availability of local resources - and for most of the working class this was nothing like the abundance of food we have now.
On the whole the Mediterrasian Way is a sensible book. It is marketed as a "Cookbook" although recipes actually only comprise about half of the book - the other half is all about the dietary guidelines. I would have preferred more Mediterranean recipes!
Note: If you are interested in this style of eating, see also Dr Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live (blog here).
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The web site is just more low fat dogma. Who needs another low fat diet book.
ReplySo you should have more sweets than meat? Eating organic, grass-fed meat is a lot healthier than sweets (or copious amounts of soy, for that matter!)
Reply"low fat dogma?" As if eating high fat was a key to healthy weight loss?
ReplySo a typical day of food would consist of starches, fruits and vegetables, nuts, oils, cheese, and booze?
ReplyFrances: The MediterrAsian site encourages people to eat good fats from olive oil, oily fish, nuts and avocados. It even says you can eat real cheese and yogurt (not the low fat kind) in moderation. What is low fat about that?
Jim: Carbs from foods such as grains (including rice, pasta and bread), fruits, vegetables and legumes have been a staple part of Mediterranean and Asian diets for centuries -- and it's certainly done them no harm. Dozens of meticulously conducted studies have shown that Mediterranean and Asian diets are associated with long lifespans, low rates of obesity, and low rates of illnesses such as heart disease, Alzheimer's disease and cancers of the breast, prostate and colon. Studies have also shown that when Mediterraneans and Asians abandon their traditional diets in favor of a Western-style diet they get fatter and their rates of these diseases increases substantially.
ReplyI wouldn't call it low-fat dogma. And I have no problem with rice/grains in moderation - but moderation is something we have a problem with -- along with a plethora of added sugars.
ReplyJim (Foster), I agree that people in the Western world are eating too much sugar and other junk.
This book and the MediterrAsian site advise people to stop eating this Western way and start eating the traditional (and highly pleasurable) Mediterranean and Asian way instead.
Your reaction is to ridicule traditional Mediterranean and Asian diets for containing too many carbs, ridicule the authors for advising that people eat a soy burger instead of a high saturated fat beef burger (by the way, only 3 recipes out of over 150 in the book contain processed soy products), and you finish by saying the book doesn't contain enough Mediterranean recipes -- even though the book is supposed to contain a mixture of both Mediterranean and Asian recipes.
I really expected more of a fair and balanced review than that.
3 Fat Chicks on a Diet, who have reviewed dozens of diet books on their site since 1997, have just reviewed the book and said it "has easily earned a spot on our shelf of favorite diet and cookbooks, and helped keep our halos intact!" And Library Journal recommends the book for people "who are interested in a lifestyle not just a diet."
ReplySo you have construed this statement: "I would have preferred more Mediterranean recipes!" as ridicule?
I really like the Mediterranean way of eating and I eat sushi many times a week. Why would I ridicule that?
so... again... I would have liked even more recipes to go with the good ones that are already there?
Are you connected/affiliated with the authors in some way?
ReplyFoodoo = advertizment.
ReplyThis diet is bunk. The thin people in these countries don't wolf down carbs, as displayed in that pyramid, but they do eat as much meat as they can.
I'm talking people in the country-sides of Greece and Japan. These books are talking about Greek and Japanese cities and restaurants... Where fat people live.
Meat is the human maker. Look at cavemen, look at monkeys, and look at yourself. Is it meat that has made you fat, or was it those donuts, ice cream and mounds of pasta, crackers and cereals?
It's meat that made you smart and strong, containing the essential proteins and fats. It's the carbs that made you fat, with an overabundance of non-essential energy.
If you don't believe in the power of meat, try this: Eat only meat and vegetables for 2 weeks. And water. NOTHING ELSE. Eat as much as you want! No caffeine.
But make sure to include fatty meats. Tons of juicy greasy fat for fuel and for hormonal balance.
Then come back here and tell me how evil it all was, after you've lost 10-15 pounds and experienced level energy for the first time in you can't remember how long.
ReplySorry for the outburst - I feel better now.
ReplyKailash,
That is the very idea - that people don't "wolf down" carbs, or anything else for that matter. People on the traditional mediterranean diets eat well-balanced meals and ENJOY eating them without overeating.
If you take a closer look at the pyramid, poultry and fish are recommended in higher amounts. This would give them all the protein and good fats they will need to thrive.
ReplyJim, I've posted comments on your blog before -- and in fact I commented on a post you did a couple of weeks ago called "Which Are You: Healthy Eater or Food Nazi?" and said it was a "great post."
I also know that you're a supporter of the Mediterranean diet, and that you eat sushi regularly.
That's why it surprises me that you would say that the traditional Mediterranean diet and Asian diet contain too many carbs.
ReplyMany people out there do overeat carbohydrates - often, I believe, because of the inability of highly-processed carbs to satisfy appetite.
For some of these people they need to be advised to moderate carbohydrate intake to some degree.
Historical diets were based around food availability/scarcity - so very few people would overeat. Now it is easy.
That's why one of the biggest messages we need to hear is that of moderation and portion control.
I find that eating a higher carb diet I find it more difficult to moderate portion... anyway....
Let's get this summed up. The MediterrAsian book and site are both excellent overall. However there are various things we all agree/disagree with.
If it works for you - by all means follow the regime.
ReplyWhere can i get this book? I really need it. I am open to try everything to loose weight. Everything besides pills. I have tried them and they don`t work. The natural diets are the best.
Reply