Chapter 4: Maintaining Nutrition When on the Mediterranean Diet
It all starts today. Improving your health means every bite you take counts. Each good and each bad bite has an effect on you—whether small or big. Getting in control is the most important step.
That said, with everything being an open buffet within this diet, you might be wondering if it’ll actually help. This isn’t done through restricting yourself from food, but strategically choosing what you eat.
In the simplest terms, we start with a pyramid whose base is the most essential and daily things you need. As you move on to the top, the less frequently you need to feed your body that particular food item.
This base would typically start with some physical activity through exercise. You can take your pick, but having a healthy amount of activity is required to achieve any kind of health level. Next, it’s advisable to have items any of the following items on a daily bases:
It’s also recommended to have around 8 portions of fruits. Incorporate beans, legumes or nuts. And add in a whole lot of vegetables into the mix. Additionally, cheese, yogurt and milk can be taken daily as well. Be generous with your olive oil.
Next we have a few items which should be taken weekly. They’re good for you, but taking them in large quantities isn’t healthy and that overdose will lead to things you’re trying to avoid. Again, you’re not exactly being very strict with these, you’re just making sure you include them once a week. These foods include:
Meats are the only thing in your diet which should be consumed weekly only. They’re good for you but you’re getting your proteins through other means so there’s nothing to really worry about.
Lastly, wine can be drunk in moderation. As mentioned, typically a glass a day works well.
With all this mentioned, you might be wondering how much should you be having of all this? The nutritional value of these types of foods should be the same as you’re generally recommended to follow. That includes:
This should be your base; i.e. don’t attempt to hit below this level. Instead this is your minimum range to consume per day. As for minerals, vitamins and all that jazz, this is what your daily goal should look like:
NOTE: The amount of kCal, vitamins, minerals, etc, are strongly dependent on your weight, age, and gender. Please consolidate a more advanced tool to determine your optimal intake of calories, vitamins, and minerals.
If you’re looking to pursue a weight loss goal with this diet, it’ll take you a little more. You see, our body requires a certain amount of calories in order to stay healthy and keep us fit, if we’re eating more than that share, those calories are stored as fat in our body. A small candy bar can equal a bowl of green-y veggies, so we have to be careful about what we eat. Calories aren’t only important in that way. In fact, when we want to lose weight, we’re actually looking to burn calories. Calories are burnt through exercising or naturally used by your body. Hence if you’re looking to lose weight, counting calories is a highly effective method to use. In many cases, this is our first step towards a healthier, fitter life.
Don’t know where to start? You can give My Fitness Pal—a fitness website, calorie counter, fitness tracker, community and smartphone app. This nifty little app has the power to help you keep on track with your diet, keep on track of your daily calories and even nutritional values, to ensure you get healthy amounts of food every day. Give this free app a try if you’re starting out with this diet.