Healthy living via the Mediterranean Diet

When I say diet, I don't mean your typical "starve yourself to lose weight" diet, but rather the traditional eating habits of the people in the Mediterranean region. I originally became interested in the eating habits and way of life subscribed to by the people of the region when we first moved to Bulgaria last year.

First off, I'm not a big guy. I'm 5' 9", and I've weighed between 150 and 160 lbs (68-72 kilograms) my whole life. However, back in 2005 I began to put on some weight, more than likely due to my mother's side of the family being somewhat heavy. My sister has done the same now that she hit her mid-20's. I went up to around 180 that winter, but I was eating like a pig, your typical "construction worker" diet, which basically consists of mornings at Village Inn, lunches at a burger joint (not necessarily fast food, just your typical greasy spoon restaurant, whatever was close to the jobsite), and dinners--which, while I cooked for myself, were never "healthy"--that usually consisted of some form of red meat. I would say that my daily diet usually consisted of 3000 to 3500 calories per day. And while I worked physically, I wasn't burning all of that off, and as a result, when winter hit, I began to pack on the pounds. So, in 2006's summer, I started jogging with my dog.

Within a few weeks I was up to a pretty regular 6 mile jog, 5-6 days a week. I started "watching" what I ate, and got my diet down to around 2k calories. I proceeded to drop back down to around 160 over the course of a few months and I kept it up all summer...until winter hit. I stopped jogging, and started eating heavier again...and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was shocked to find out that I had rocketed up to nearly 190 lbs. I bought a bike, started eating healthy again, and manged to drop to around 170. Then, in late 2007, the crisis started to hit. The housing market crashed, and I went from having a hard time finding work to little/no work at all, and I started binge-eating. By the time we left the States I had rocketed back up to 195 lbs, nearly all of it in my stomach.

When we got here in January of 2008 I decided I wanted to start living healthy. I started researching realistic food regimes. Not diets in the sense of a weight-loss program, but diet in the sense of a way of life, the daily intake of food and drink. I stumbled across some interesting articles regarding extra virgin olive oil and subsequently the Mediterranean Diet. I've been hooked ever since.

I won't go into all of the amazing long-term benefits of the Diet here. You can check out that information at Steve Parker's website and blog. He's a doctor who wrote a book about the Diet and promotes it on a daily basis via his blog. But for my own personal experiences, it's been amazing.

Last year I dropped from 195 lbs to 165 lbs in 6 months. That's 30 pounds in six months. And I'd say a good 90% of the weight loss was from simply eating healthy via the Diet. I don't starve myself, not in the least. The diet combines healthy groups of food that your body treats like your car treats premium fuel; it burns right through it. You see, many of the food combinations that Americans eat tend to lead to slow or poor digestion, which leads to the body being unable to process the food in a proper manner, which can lead to health issues and weight gain. Things like steak and potatoes. Not a good combo. Yet every restaurant you go to serves steak with a baked potato, or hamburger with fries. The reason the Mediterranean Diet is so helpful is it combines natural, healthy food combinations that go well together. Your body reacts by creating more energy, burning more fat, and processing at a much higher rate.

This winter I slacked a little, but who doesn't? I put on a few extra pounds (6-7, which is vanity for the most part) over the holidays, but this summer I decided to take it to the next level. While I have been a fan of the Diet for a year and a half, I haven't ever subscribed to it in full-force. I would say that last year I probably ate via the Diet 4 days a week, and the other three were filled with "cheating" and eating large portions, which counteracts the program to some degree. My wife, Evy decided she wanted to lose a few pounds (not that she needs it, as you can see from her/my blog pics...she's a tiny thing), so she decided to subscribe to the diet along with me. I'll be tracking our progress here via the blog from time to time.

We are at the two week mark today. We have "cheated" twice; we had pizza last weekend, and we had KFC last night for dinner. But other than that, for the past 14 days we have eaten only according to the Mediterranean Diet. That means fish a few times per week, a couple of pieces of bread per day, with plenty of greens, cheese, yogurt, and fruits, along with a glass or two of wine every night and plenty of water during the day. Our 2 week mark has shown my wife losing 2 kilograms, and myself having lost 3 kilograms. (She is at 48 kilograms (105 lbs) and I'm at 74 (163 lbs).

Now, neither one of us has exercised this past week. I have tried fairly hard since the winter months to keep a healthy regime up, doing 12 kilometers 4-5 times a week on the elliptical, combined with some weights and Pilates. Then, I read an article over at Dr. Steve's blog talking about how recent studies are showing that your daily intake of food has more to do with losing weight than actual fitness regimes do, and I decided to try it out and see. Now, granted, I understand that I'm doing a "short term" test, and there are several factors to take into consideration. One, I'm not a professional doctor or nutritionist in any way. I am simply a normal guy, interested in these things, and trying them out for myself. Two, I know this is a short-term thing, because I don't want to lose all the hard work I put into getting myself built up to this point. The first few weeks of weight lifting was hell, but I established a good 30 minute circuit routine that I don't want to backtrack out of completely. But I wanted to see just how much diet alone could help weight loss.

I lead a sedentary life. I sit in front of a computer all day and work. I get up around 7 or 8 and I go to bed around midnight, and I would say that only 3-4 hours of the day (on average) is spent out of the chair. That's when I go out for daily walks to the park with my wife, or walks around town, or random stuff around the house. I counteract that with a fairly progressive fitness regime.

My goal? To see how far I can go by letting my body work naturally. I have a number in my head that I am shooting for, but my overall goal is to take the Mediterranean Diet and apply it to my life with a 95% or greater mentality; that is, only cheating 2-3 times a month, rather than 2-3 times a week. I want to see just how far my body will go on its own, doing things naturally, when I'm feeding it premium food. I'm going to do one more week of no exercise, then I'm going to work my way back into my fitness regime. I'm at 163 lbs (74 kilograms) now, and I'm still quite flabby around my tummy. I would risk a guess and say that I could stand to lose another 10-15 lbs, but we'll wait and see.

One thing to remember is that the Mediterranean Diet isn't just about healthy living, it's about long-term benefits to your body. I've lived rather hard over the course of my life; I was a smoker for a lot of years, and I also chewed tobacco for 5 or 6. I've stopped smoking for periods of time (4-6 months a year) over the years, with my most recent stint coming to a stop back in January. I'd like to try and live as long as possible, so I'm trying to find a way of life that lets me do that. Portion control is important, as well as a good routine and healthy living. I was very bad about portion controls even up until this year, and I think I can attribute that to my Americanization. I have spent the last few months really working on that, and the past 2 weeks in particular have paid off. Where I used to be able to eat 4-5 pieces of pizza, for example, before I was full, I can now eat 1-2 and I'm stuffed. I can have a bottle of water and I feel full. A small bowl of soup will keep me satiated for the greater part of the day. A salad fills me up. I have shrunk my stomach to a healthy point now, and I plan on making sure it stays that way :)

Anyway! For more information you can check out the aforementioned blog and website of Steve Parker, M.D., and you can also read my articles on olive oil and the Mediterranean Diet over at Green Diva Mom. In addition, you can stop over to Stile Mediterraneo and dig on the amazing recipes and extra virgin olive oil facts that Cinzia and Marika post. These are two girls who live the Mediterranean Diet to its fullest, and it shows!

Best of luck, and I'll post more info as we go along :)