The Mediterranean Diet Effect
I know what all of you are thinking--haven't you already talked about this? And that answer would be yes. But here I am again. This year in my practicum class (where we basically practice being dietitians), we are focusing on the Mediterranean Diet. Specifically, we are focusing on simple steps to incorporate the diet into our lives. We found these steps at oldwayspt.org, which is a great resource if you are trying to slowly incorporate more nutritious foods. There are even handouts where they literally list different ways to use a number of different foods to prevent getting stuck in a rut with what you are eating.
For the next eight posts, I'm going to go over one of the steps listed on the website. Here are the steps:
1. Eat lots of vegetables (surprise, surprise!)
2. Change the way you think about meat
3. Enjoy some dairy products
4. Eat seafood twice a week
5. Cook a vegetarian meal one night a week
6. Use healthier fats
7. Switch to whole grains
8. For dessert, eat fresh fruit
It may seem like a lot at first, but that is why we recommend working on one step at a time. Coming from someone who has studied nutrition for years, and has tried to eat a variety of nutritious foods for even longer, I learned a lot during this process when we researched and looked at these eight steps in-depth.
I used to not be a big supporter of the Mediterranean Diet, even though I knew research has been documenting its amazingness for decades. And the reason for this was I figured that to eat the Mediterranean Diet meant to eat Mediterranean flavors. Though the Mediterranean encompasses a wide variety of flavors and cultures, I always associated Mediterranean flavors with only Greek flavors. And to be honest, I don't like Greek flavors. With the exception of baklava, but since that dish actually originates from Turkey, it's not technically a Greek flavor anyways.
As I learned more and more about the Mediterranean diet this semester, I am realizing that it's more of a pattern for eating, not a flavor profile. This was a huge eye-opener for me. I began to look at my diet differently and tried to find ways to change using the eight steps.
Specifically, the first step, eating lots of vegetables, was the one that grabbed my attention the most. I like vegetables, but there are a lot of vegetables I'm not too fond of in their raw state: celery, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, cabbage, and the list could go on. There are even some I don't like in their cooked state: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, zucchini, yellow squash, and others. Unless they are covered in bacon or Alfredo sauce. But I will eat most things covered in bacon and/or Alfredo sauce.
To move forward with the first step of vegetables, I had to do some introspection. Why was eating vegetables important to me? What could I do to incorporate them more and actually enjoy them? I wanted to get to the point where I didn't eat vegetables just because I'm a nutrition major and feel like I have to--I wanted to eat them because I like eating them.
Then one day I figured it out. I found that I was putting a giant heap of vegetables as a side on my plate, and that was it. I would have baby carrots, a small salad, or something of that nature to the side of my main dish. Let's be real. A vegetable side dish is generally not as delicious as the main dish with the exception of sweet potato casserole. But something tells me that sweet potato casserole doesn't really count as a vegetable.
If I wasn't eating vegetables as a side dish, then maybe I needed to pay more attention to them. Give them more of the spotlight. So I began incorporating them into the main part of my dish. I would make soups with TONS of vegetables and just a little meat. I would have whole grain salads with chopped raw vegetables, and I found I could eat raw vegetables if they were small and mixed with other yummy things. I would roast my favorite vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, parsnips) and mix them with whatever meat I was eating. And I found that it was so much more yummy and so much easier to incorporate vegetables when they aren't the afterthought.
Of course they aren't going to taste good if they are the afterthought! Does anything really taste good as an afterthought? Or if you just kind of throw it on the plate last minute because you know you need the nutrients from it, but that's as far as the thought went? I could go on and on about the health benefits of vegetables, but until you know how to make them taste good for yourself, then eating them will only make you hate them even more.
So how do we make them taste good? Imma be honest with you--I use Pinterest (and have only had a few 'Pinterest Fails' thus far). I have a vegetables board with all of my vegetable recipes that I want to try. But for the most part, I roast by veggies with some olive oil and a variety of different spices. I could literally eat the whole pan! I even made a pumpkin smoothie the other day with almond milk, vanilla yogurt, a banana, and cinnamon--so yummy! And I got that idea from Pinterest. Another great place to look is Food Network since you know you are getting recipes from professionals.
I hope you all have renewed faith in your ability to try vegetables--find the ones you like and experiment until you know exactly how you like them. Use recipe websites for ideas. And try to incorporate delicious and incredibly healthy veggies in more ways than just raw baby carrots or a salad on a plate. My upcoming cookbook will have a variety of veggie-filled recipes for you all to try!
For the next eight posts, I'm going to go over one of the steps listed on the website. Here are the steps:
1. Eat lots of vegetables (surprise, surprise!)
2. Change the way you think about meat
3. Enjoy some dairy products
4. Eat seafood twice a week
5. Cook a vegetarian meal one night a week
6. Use healthier fats
7. Switch to whole grains
8. For dessert, eat fresh fruit
It may seem like a lot at first, but that is why we recommend working on one step at a time. Coming from someone who has studied nutrition for years, and has tried to eat a variety of nutritious foods for even longer, I learned a lot during this process when we researched and looked at these eight steps in-depth.
I used to not be a big supporter of the Mediterranean Diet, even though I knew research has been documenting its amazingness for decades. And the reason for this was I figured that to eat the Mediterranean Diet meant to eat Mediterranean flavors. Though the Mediterranean encompasses a wide variety of flavors and cultures, I always associated Mediterranean flavors with only Greek flavors. And to be honest, I don't like Greek flavors. With the exception of baklava, but since that dish actually originates from Turkey, it's not technically a Greek flavor anyways.
As I learned more and more about the Mediterranean diet this semester, I am realizing that it's more of a pattern for eating, not a flavor profile. This was a huge eye-opener for me. I began to look at my diet differently and tried to find ways to change using the eight steps.
To move forward with the first step of vegetables, I had to do some introspection. Why was eating vegetables important to me? What could I do to incorporate them more and actually enjoy them? I wanted to get to the point where I didn't eat vegetables just because I'm a nutrition major and feel like I have to--I wanted to eat them because I like eating them.
Then one day I figured it out. I found that I was putting a giant heap of vegetables as a side on my plate, and that was it. I would have baby carrots, a small salad, or something of that nature to the side of my main dish. Let's be real. A vegetable side dish is generally not as delicious as the main dish with the exception of sweet potato casserole. But something tells me that sweet potato casserole doesn't really count as a vegetable.
If I wasn't eating vegetables as a side dish, then maybe I needed to pay more attention to them. Give them more of the spotlight. So I began incorporating them into the main part of my dish. I would make soups with TONS of vegetables and just a little meat. I would have whole grain salads with chopped raw vegetables, and I found I could eat raw vegetables if they were small and mixed with other yummy things. I would roast my favorite vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, parsnips) and mix them with whatever meat I was eating. And I found that it was so much more yummy and so much easier to incorporate vegetables when they aren't the afterthought.
Of course they aren't going to taste good if they are the afterthought! Does anything really taste good as an afterthought? Or if you just kind of throw it on the plate last minute because you know you need the nutrients from it, but that's as far as the thought went? I could go on and on about the health benefits of vegetables, but until you know how to make them taste good for yourself, then eating them will only make you hate them even more.So how do we make them taste good? Imma be honest with you--I use Pinterest (and have only had a few 'Pinterest Fails' thus far). I have a vegetables board with all of my vegetable recipes that I want to try. But for the most part, I roast by veggies with some olive oil and a variety of different spices. I could literally eat the whole pan! I even made a pumpkin smoothie the other day with almond milk, vanilla yogurt, a banana, and cinnamon--so yummy! And I got that idea from Pinterest. Another great place to look is Food Network since you know you are getting recipes from professionals.
I hope you all have renewed faith in your ability to try vegetables--find the ones you like and experiment until you know exactly how you like them. Use recipe websites for ideas. And try to incorporate delicious and incredibly healthy veggies in more ways than just raw baby carrots or a salad on a plate. My upcoming cookbook will have a variety of veggie-filled recipes for you all to try!
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