Dr. O’Brien proclaimed that the benefits of the Mediterranean diet as a push away from using animals as a protein source, introducing more fruits and vegetables in meals, while also cutting out butter in favor of using oils cooking. It seemed simple which made me skeptical. I know that in dieting nothing good is easy. When I got back to office I started my research and was surprised to learn that the Mediterranean diet was endorsed by the American Heart Association and Mayo Clinic.
Iwould hope to meet a diabetic nurse in the uk who was open minded about keto, but that has not been my experience as a patient. As a nurse speaking to colleagues as an equal and frmy experience has been very different. I have not spoken to one nurse with personal/professional interest in this subject that has said if they were diabetic they would follow the guidance of our health service. All have said they would do keto.
Hi, Esther! Thank you so much for your kind comment. I am so glad you found The Mediterranean Dish and hope you’ll enjoy cooking some of the recipes here! I should preface my answer here by saying that I am not a dietitian or a nutritionist, what I share here is mainly from my experience as someone who grew up in the Mediterranean area and have continued to eat the Mediterranean way now as an adult living in the USA. So please always check with your health care provider or a registered dietitian if you are looking for professional advice or a specific diet plan to follow. But I’ll answer your questions as best as I know how.
As for the substance, it’s been getting results since Atkins was a twinkle in Jennifer Aniston’s eye. But the re-brand includes WellnessWins - rewards for small, positive behaviours which are proven to lead to healthier habits - as well as FitPoints – a system designed to encourage activity choices based on what will have the healthiest impact on you.
One study, published in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism, found a group of 28 people with type 2 diabetes overall lost about 6 percent of their body weight and lowered their blood glucose levels when they followed a keto diet for 16 weeks. The authors recommended individuals on this diet who have diabetes be under close medical supervision, and noted more research is needed on the diet’s long-term effects because the study was small and short term.
Keto decreases inflammation and improves brain function — so much so that Alzheimer’s patients who switch to a keto diet actually begin to recover their brain function, which up until now was unheard of.[20][21][22][23][24] So there’s that. (Dale Bredesen and Mark Hyman have discussed these on the Bulletproof Radio podcast. Check out Dale’s episode here, and Mark’s here.)
Results of meta-analysis of 12 large studies conducted between 1966 and 2008, covering more than 1.5 million subjects, were published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2009. The authors concluded that the Mediterranean diet is associated with significant health benefits, including lower mortality overall, and reduced risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The main advantage of the low-carb diet is that it causes you to want to eat less. Even without counting calories most overweight people eat far fewer calories on low carb. Sugar and starch may increase your hunger, while avoiding them may decrease your appetite to an adequate level. If your body wants to have an appropriate number of calories you don’t need to bother counting them. Thus: Calories count, but you don’t need to count them.
In the short term, you may lose a modest amount of weight over a year span and are likely to keep it off it you continue to eat following the diet. (6) If eating in the Mediterranean style prompts you to consume more fruits and vegetables, you’ll not only feel better physically, but your mental health will get a lift, too. Research shows that people who eat more raw fruits and veggies (particularly dark leafy greens like spinach, fresh berries, and cucumber) have fewer symptoms of depression, a better mood, and more life satisfaction. (36)
Note: Because you'll be excluding some major food groups on the keto diet (grains, many fruits) you should definitely think about taking a multivitamin—especially one that contains folic acid, which helps your body make new cells and is often found in enriched breads, cereals, and other grain products, says Julie Upton, R.D., cofounder of nutrition website Appetite for Health.
In nature, historically, there were very few ways to store carbs – which were available only for a short time seasonally. The solution to this is that when eating the available fruit in the autumn the sugars switch off the fat burning system and then use insulin to store the sugars as body fat. Carbs signal our body to go into fat storage mode. When the carbs run out then slowly the fat burning more resumes – first of all feeding ketones to the brain and other vital organs and then eventually to the muscles.
“It came to another frustration point that medication really isn’t helping,” Lofton says. “I had tried many other things, like a weight loss program. I tried looking into bariatric surgery, and was very frustrated that all these things — like watching my food intake and my servings, 60 grams (of carbs) per meal — all of that wasn’t really making a difference.”
Without peer-reviewed clinical trials, many of the benefits remain anecdotal. For instance, Weiss himself has been on a low-carb high-fat (though not strictly ketogenic) diet for more than six months, and claims he does feel much better. But he’s clear about what he knows and what he doesn’t. He’s lost weight and his borderline pre-diabetes is gone.
It’s easy to get keto and paleo confused since many of the same foods are encouraged in both diets. The keto diet is specifically crafted as a very low carbohydrate diet to get the body into a state of ketosis. The paleo diet focuses on bringing eating back to the basics and eating like our hunter-gatherer ancestors with less emphasis on where the calories are coming from: carbs, fat or protein. The paleo diet includes lean meats, seafood, seasonal veggies, some nuts and fruit and eliminates grains, dairy, processed foods, and certain oils.
Because people with type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, there’s a specific concern that the saturated fat in the diet may drive up LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol levels, and further increase the odds of heart problems. If you have type 2 diabetes, talk to your doctor before attempting a ketogenic diet. They may recommend a different weight-loss diet for you, like a reduced-calorie diet, to manage diabetes. Those with epilepsy should also consult their doctor before using this as part of their treatment plan.
