{"id":2599,"date":"2009-03-24T11:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-24T11:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/the-mediterranean-makeover-their-diet-our-culture-preventing-diabetes-anyway.html"},"modified":"2016-09-21T10:22:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T14:22:23","slug":"the-mediterranean-makeover-their-diet-our-culture-preventing-diabetes-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2599","title":{"rendered":"The Mediterranean Makeover: Their diet; our culture; preventing diabetes anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The logic is straightforward. We know that preventing diabetes is better than fighting the disease after it has developed. We also know that the Mediterranean diet can prevent the development of diabetes in the first place. Thus, in theory, we should be able to apply this approach to prevent the development of the disease.<\/p>\n

It sounds easy enough, but the solution is not so simple. How, for example, does one become Greek, or French, or Spanish, or Italian, if you live on this side of the Atlantic? Yes, they are healthy. And, yes, the closer you adhere to their diet, the less likely you are to develop diabetes. But we are not them, nor do have their food, their relaxed lifestyle, or their cultural predisposition toward daily life activity.<\/p>\n

So how do we take the Mediterranean diet out of the Mediterranean, and still make it work for us? The key is, just as they do in their region, to relax a bit. Don\u2019t try to force fit every iota of their food choices and behavioral habits into our lives. More specifically, don\u2019t try to rigidly mirror the fats, carbs, and proteins of their diets. They aren\u2019t micromanaging molecules, and you shouldn\u2019t either.<\/p>\n

The alternative is to try a bit softer. Emulate the principles of the Mediterranean diet rather than the exhaustive details. So what are those general rules?<\/p>\n

Eat food. If it ain\u2019t food, don\u2019t eat it. All healthy cultures eat food, and avoid synthetics. Whether they\u2019re eating brie on baguettes, pasta al pomodoro, or a standard Greek salad, everything they do eat is a real food \u2013 no synthetics, no hydrogenated oils, and no dyes. Just food.<\/p>\n

Love your food \u2026 really. To love your food, you need to eat small by the bite. Have you ever watched Italians eat? No one is gobbling their burrito in the car at the red light, no one orders massive quantities of food, or feels that 39 cents justifies an extra pound of French fries. As importantly, if you love your food, you need to take your time. You have to take 2 hours to eat your lunch, but at least take 30 minutes to enjoy it.<\/p>\n

When you eat small and take your time, not only do you enjoy it more, but you give your brain a chance to register that you are full before you overeat. Thus, you control portions; thus you control calories; thus you control your weight. And all you have done is learned to love your food again.<\/p>\n

The Mediterranean diet clearly helps prevent the onset of diabetes for those living in the Mediterranean region. To get those results on our continent, we can\u2019t teleport to and from the Portofino piazza, but we can apply the general rules that make their successful lifestyle work.<\/p>\n

Relax. Eat food. Love your food again. These basic elements can be plugged into our lifestyle, so that we can reverse the trends, eat healthfully, and prevent diabetes before it ever starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The logic is straightforward. We know that preventing diabetes is better than fighting the disease after it has developed. We also know that the Mediterranean diet can prevent the development … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[494,227,285],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-culture-of-health","category-mediterranean-diet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-FV","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2781,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2781","url_meta":{"origin":2599,"position":0},"title":"Mediterranean Diet for Diabetes Prevention","author":"Will Clower","date":"May 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you surprized by this? The Mediterranean diet is protective for heart disease, obesity, and now Type 2 diabetes. In our own work, we have shown that our Mediterranean diet can also be effective in treating and reversing the glucose instabilities of uncontrolled diabetes. See our data here.These are our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2773,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2773","url_meta":{"origin":2599,"position":1},"title":"Olive oil-rich Med diet may protect against diabetes","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Eating a traditional Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of developing diabetes by a whopping 83 per cent, says a new study.In our work on providing the Mediterranean diet for Americans, we have found the same thing \u2026 that hallmarks of diabetes, such as high blood sugar, are controlled with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mediterranean diet"","block_context":{"text":"Mediterranean diet","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=285"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4593,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=4593","url_meta":{"origin":2599,"position":2},"title":"The Magic Mediterranean diet is not a panacea. It never was.","author":"Will Clower","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Like magic, the Mediterranean Diet seems to cure all ills -- diabetes, heart disease, obesity, crappy food choices. But it can't cure all of them. You still need\u00a0to move and be active. Crazy right?\u00a0 This study\u00a0looked at 3,358 young people (between 18 and 30 y.o.) with prediabetes, and then followed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activity"","block_context":{"text":"Activity","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=528"},"img":{"alt_text":"magic-hat-electric","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/magic-hat-electric-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2496,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2496","url_meta":{"origin":2599,"position":3},"title":"Eight Remedies Treat Diabetes Naturally","author":"Will Clower","date":"October 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This article talks about the link between the Mediterranean diet and control of diabetes.Interesting that the Med Diet is so effective as a behavioral approach that requires no meds. Eight Remedies Treat Diabetes Naturally","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4748,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=4748","url_meta":{"origin":2599,"position":4},"title":"Mediterranean diet high in healthy fat NOT associated with weight gain","author":"Will Clower","date":"December 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Focus on low-fat diets and lack of differentiation between healthy and unhealthy fat has led to \u2018paradoxical policies\u2019 about healthy eating. Eating a non-calorie restricted Mediterranean diet high in vegetable fats such as olive oil or nuts does not lead to significant weight gain compared to a low-fat diet, according\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2135,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2135","url_meta":{"origin":2599,"position":5},"title":"Mediterranean Diet Lowers Risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes","author":"Will Clower","date":"March 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Try the \"blood type\" theory or the \"low carb\" theory or the \"eat every three hours\" theory or the \"food combining\" theory ... and hope hope hope that it will turn out to work!\u00a0Good luck with that.Alternatively, you could just do what healthy people do. 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