Dr. Shmuel Shields - Guard Your Health Series (Eat for Health the Mediterranean Way) Part 5

welcome back everybody uh we're continuing with our series on guard your health my name is dr shmuel shields i'm the author of a book called lachaim 18 chapters to live by and part of the talk today is from from the book so i just want to start off by saying that we are obligated to take care of ourselves and to do what we can to protect our health efforts are in man's hands and results are in hashem's hands so having said that i want to talk today about the mediterranean diet which is kind of a misnomer it's not really a diet but it's a way of eating it's a lifestyle for countries that border the mediterranean sea for many many years they've been eating a certain way and we have discovered there's been a tremendous amount of research that supports the health benefits to the mediterranean way of eating and some of the things that i think make the mediterranean way of eating so successful is that number one it is sustainable which means it's something you can stick with because many dietary plans out there and again i've been a practicing nutritionist for many years and in all the years that i've been practicing i've never put anybody on a diet why because diets basically don't work you may get some short-term results but to maintain weight loss you can't do it long-term on a diet and i never really liked the first three letters of the word diet anyway so having said that what i like about the mediterranean way of eating or focusing on more of a lifestyle or eating for health i think is a better approach so i mentioned it's sustainable what makes it sustainable it doesn't exclude any food groups once you run into a situation where you're excluding food groups i'm talking major food groups not just staying away from candy and cake but once you take carbs out of the picture and you take things like beans and legumes out of the picture and you take you know whole even whole grains you know which are part of the carbohydrate family but even whole grains once you knock that out of the picture and once you take uh gluten out of the picture you're not left with much to eat and it's hard for people to sustain those kind of limits limitations in in a diet so what's beautiful about the mediterranean it is sustainable because it doesn't eliminate food groups it's satiates its filling because it's made up of whole foods whole foods tend to have more of a filling effect it's very hard to overeat a whole food item for example a processed food like potato chips or pretzels or cookies a person could sit down and finish a whole bag or a whole box and not even feel like they did anything when it comes to whole foods very difficult to sit down and eat six apples or to eat four or five sweet potatoes or to polish off a head of cabbage very hard because these foods have some of the amazing ingredients that hashem put into them called fiber which tend to have a filling effect in the gut in the stomach and it's a little bit hard to really abuse or overdo or overeat these types of foods so because the mediterranean is made up of of whole foods uh it becomes it satiates and it satisfies you know our appetite and so on and certainly it's it's affordable in the sense that because animal products are limited animal products tend to be a little more costly it tends to be a little bit more affordable also so it does have a lot of benefits and one of the main benefits to us are the health benefits and i want to just give you a little feel for some of the health benefits and again this is based on decades of research the mediterranean way of eating is probably the most well researched way of eating ever and i just want to share with you some of the basics okay we mentioned it's plant-based it's high in fiber it's high in antioxidants which are basically nutrients that protect the cells of the body it's also high in something called phytochemicals these are basically chemicals that are found in many of the foods that we eat many of the whole unprocessed foods that provide protection to the body to the blood vessels to the cells the brain the eyes and so on so research has shown that a high adherence to the mediterranean way of eating is linked to a lower risk for mortality and chronic diseases it also has an anti-inflammatory effect this way of eating because we're using certain kinds of foods that reduce inflammation in the body certain kinds of oils certain kinds of elements in the foods that have an anti-inflammatory effect and many researchers today and scientists believe that the inflammatory process that takes place naturally in the body is one of the major causes of chronic illness and disease today so anything we can do to reduce inflammation is going to be a good thing and the mediterranean way of eating accomplishes that goal when it comes to something called metabolic syndrome which is very prevalent in today's world which basically means obesity accompanied by hypertension and also an elevated triglyceride level the mediterranean way of eating has been shown very helpful in reducing uh the risk of metabolic syndrome and then for somebody already has been diagnosed with it to basically control and uh reverse that that syndrome uh there are benefits to cognitive health brain health memory again this is all backed by studies and research you can certainly go online google it look for the research on cognitive health and the mediterranean way of eating you'll find you know a number of studies and and papers and things on that the microbiome the variety of friendly bacteria healthy bacteria in the gut is also supported through a mediterranean way of eating longevity there have been longevity studies promoting the mediterranean way of eating and certainly its ability to reduce the risk for heart disease cancer diabetes and obesity has been significant as well and even if somebody is already diagnosed with an illness like this or with a condition like this many times the mediterranean way of eating uh you know being consistent with this way of eating can better manage these conditions and sometimes even reverse you know some of these types of conditions okay having said that i just want to give you some highlights today of the mediterranean way of eating with some very brief explanations but in my nutrition practice i often you know direct my patients to this way of eating i will adopt it adapted i should say for each person's specific needs so even the mediterranean way of eating can and should be tweaked depending on the health condition and other factors that i might determine when i do an evaluation so let me just give you the highlights so you'll have a better understanding of how it works so what you'll find interesting is that number one many people feel a good meal plan or a healthy way of eating or a healthy diet has to be fat-free it's not true at all as men as a matter of fact healthy fats are essential for good health and even for the health of the heart the blood vessels the brain we need a healthy amount of fats on a regular basis so the mediterranean way of eating is not a low-fat meal plan approximately 30 to 40 percent of the calories in the mediterranean way of eating are from fats and oils but the big difference is the fats and oils that are primarily part of the mediterranean way of eating are healthy fats and oils which we'll talk about in a moment and i just want to share with you that um the eskimos have the fattiest diet in the world they eat whale blubber and oils and fats from these kind of sea animals and fish and so on and they have excellent cardiovascular health so we can see that it's something about these healthy fats that promote healthy blood vessels and so on um okay so let's uh let's talk about some of the benefits to the actually just a little overview of what makes up a mediterranean kind of meal plan kind of foods that are primarily being used so whole grains things like bulgur and barley and couscous brown rice spelt whole wheat these kind of unprocessed whole grains are somewhat of a staple in the mediterranean way of eating and they do they are part of daily eating obviously we're not just sitting down to a bowl or a big plate of whole grains it's part of the plate it's part of the meal next we have um colorful fruits and vegetables are a mainstay that's really a staple you know every day the meal plan is going to be very colorful think of the colors of the rainbow think of rainbow nutrition in my book i do have a chapter on rainbow nutrition which talks about the benefits that come from every different color food that you eat and if you are missing different colors in your diet you could be losing out on certain antioxidants and certain phytochemicals phytonutrients that only those colors have so because it's colorful you're getting a full array of these kind of phytochemicals and antioxidants and so on okay let's talk a little bit about um the fats and oils now which i alluded to a moment ago so probably the most significant form of animal protein that it's going to be found in the mediterranean way of eating is going to be from the ocean because meadow or from the mediterranean sea that's what these countries border so it's a natural resource for them and therefore fish becomes somewhat of a staple also certainly it's it's selected far more often than other animal proteins so fish being rich in omega-3 fatty acids is probably eaten a few times a week or more possibly uh on a in a mediterranean plant followed by chicken chicken would be used much less often followed by red meat which is probably used rarely now coming back to those food groups for a second the animal protein keep in mind that one of the mediterranean principles is that it's plant-based so even if you are using an animal protein it's not going to be the main dish it's not going to be a 16-ounce steak it may be a few ounces of an animal protein a few ounces of chicken a few ounces of meat and it's always going to be combined with a salad or steamed or cooked vegetables and so on so if i had to sum it up right now the animal proteins found in the mediterranean meal plan are going to be the side dish not the main dish all right so that's something that's a very important point and again even when they do use poultry and meats i'm assuming that better quality meats and poultry are used ideally grass-fed beef or organic meat and chicken certainly would be better choices and i think these things are probably or should be incorporated into more of a mediterranean type meal plan when i say grass-fed beef cows are supposed to eat green grass in today's world most of the cows are fed cornmeal and cornmeal is not the natural diet of the of the cow so when they're fed cornmeal you get a animal with more fatty tissue and less nutrients in the meat less iron less less omega-3 less nutrients whereas if it's grass-fed you're going to get leaner beef and you're going to get more of the iron and even more omega-3 and other nutrients that are there so i just want to make you aware of that anytime we disturb the food chain which we unfortunately have done a good job at and we give animals foods that are not part of their natural way of eating it affects the development of the animal and the nutrient makeup of the meat of that animal and so on okay other fats and oils that are regularly used uh in the mediterranean meal plan would be nuts and seeds now nuts and seeds i know they're caloric and many people falsely assume that they raise cholesterol levels just the opposite they lower cholesterol levels the oils and fats that are found in nuts and seeds have a lowering effect on cholesterol levels and as a matter of fact there i i saw a study once or read an article a number of years back that indicated that people that eat nuts four to five times a week have fifty percent less heart attacks than people that don't eat nuts at all so there are many benefits to including this kind of food group in the diet again moderation is always the key because of the caloric makeup of some of these food items but in moderation they should be included and they do add a healthy and essential source of fat uh to the uh to the diet keep in mind that fats and oils are essential they're not the luxuries they're essential nutrients that the body needs all the cell membranes uh you know are made up of fats and and we need them okay uh the other kind of fats and oils that are again included regularly in mediterranean eating are things like uh olive oil like an extra virgin olive oil avocado olives so these kind of fats and oils are regularly part of the mediterranean way of eating and again these healthy oils coming from these kind of foods also have a cholesterol lowering effect and do support healthy uh healthy cardiovascular system and even a healthy brain and healthy eyes and and so on especially omega-3 uh fats and oils okay so so those are uh parts of the mediterranean way of eating um when it comes to dairy products uh they are used moderately uh but particularly cultured dairy products like things like um kefir things like yogurt and then some of the cheeses things like feta cheese and other cheeses are also part of the mediterranean way of eating but once again the cheese or the dairy component here is not the main it's not going to be a main dish it's used more for flavoring as a garnish let's think of a greek salad you have a big green leafy salad with tomatoes and olive oil and maybe a little bit of feta cheese an ounce or two ounces of feta cheese to add a little bit of a protein value and to add flavor and things like that so again the the way things are portioned is is very important so it makes sense from that standpoint okay so that's the dairy group and then eggs are used probably in moderation okay and then they also make use of a lot of healthy spices herbs and seasonings things like turmeric saffron garlic oregano basil rosemary thyme nutmeg cinnamon cayenne and even some fresh lemon juice are used in in the cooking or as dressings and condiments and so on and these various spices have their own array of health benefits so again that adds to the health benefits to the mediterranean way of eating when it comes to sugar so all processed foods you know whether it's white flour and sugars are not part of the mediterranean way of eating artificial sweeteners are not part of the mediterranean way of eating it's a whole food plant-based meal plan so what do they use for sweeteners they may use a little bit of raw honey barley malt molasses sometimes things like date sugar which is just dates that are dried out and granulated into a sugar coconut sugar basically they use more natural low glycemic sweeteners that are not going to spike blood sugar levels but nevertheless these are sweeteners and if you are diabetic or have issues with um things like this you have to be cautious this is where we would tweak the mediterranean plan for you you know it is tweakable um now what about after meal what about desserts desserts are part of the mediterranean way of eating that's what makes it so sustainable people don't feel deprived and if they do it right and it's planned out right you can lose weight with this way and you can have a healthy lifestyle and and have a wide range of foods and different combinations so you don't get bored with your eating but things that would make up desserts would be like maybe a fruit compote a baked apple or a poached pear dried figs or dates or stewed fruits or roasted nuts roasted almonds or maybe whole grain biscuits so these are some of the type of things that would make up the um the dessert component of the mediterranean way of eating okay i think i've given you a brief overview of the mediterranean way of eating uh in our upcoming series which is going to happen shortly after this i am going to talk briefly in a little while on summer safety summer health healthy eating in the summer and things of that nature so we're going to do that shortly if anybody has any comments or questions on these talks you're welcome to contact me the office phone number is 718-544-4036 again 718-544-4036 if you prefer to email us a comment or a question or anything else r m shields s-h-i-e-l-d-s 6-2 at gmail.com so r m shields 62 gmail.com if anybody is interested in the book lachaim 18 chapters to live by which is full of important information it's available at our office and you can contact us and we can tell you how to uh get a copy okay thank you for listening and we are going to continue with the