Advanced Mediterranean Diet

I just read ”Low-Carbing Among Friends, Volume 1″ by Jennifer Eloff, Maria Emmerich, Carolyn Ketchum, Lisa Marshall, and Kent Altena.

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If you’re serious about low-carb eating, you’ll want this book.  Five well-known low-carb cooks and chefs present many of their best recipes in a straightforward format.  All 300+ recipes are gluten-free, wheat-free, and sugar-free.  I read through over half of the recipes and understood all the instructions; I’m confident I could make anything in this book.

Some of of the recipe ingredients will be a little hard to find. You may have to order a few of them online, and the authors tell you where to order. Unless you’re just dabbling in low-carb eating, you’ll want to stock up on some of these anyway. 

I have an incurable sweet tooth.  I like to share my cooking with my wife, but she has, um, (ahem)… ”gastrointestinal problems” with my usual non-caloric sweetener, Splenda.  That’s not very common, but is a well-known phenomenon.  I was glad to learn herein that erythritol is a trouble-free alternative, GI-wise.

One thing I miss about standard high-carb eating is baked sugary items like cakes and muffins.  Sure, I’ve read that if you stay away from those for four to six months, you’ll lose your desire.  Not me.  And I tried.  In my next stretch of days off, I’m making a batch of Jennifer Eloff’s Splendid Gluten-Free Bake Mix and spending some time in the kitchen!

Not being previously familiar with him, I was particularly impressed with Kent Altena’s background.  Starting at over 400 pounds (182+ kg), he lost over 200 pounds (91+ kg) and reenlisted in the U.S. National Guard and started running marathons (26.2 miles)!  Thank you for your service to our country, Mr. Altena.

The book is laced with commentary from low-carb proponents, including Dana Carpender, Jimmy Moore, Dr. John Briffa, Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, Dr. Robert Su, and me.  I am honored to have been invited.

By the way, recipe measurements are given in both U.S. customary and metric units, which non-U.S. residents will appreciate.  Serving size nutrient analysis includes digestible carb grams (aka net carbs).  All recipe carb counts are under 10 g; most are under 5 g.  All of these would jibe with my KMD: Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet.  

If you’re tired of eating the same old things, I’m sure you’ll find many new dishes here that will become time-honored classics in your household.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Disclosure: As a supporter of low-carb eating, I contributed two pages to the book.  I did not and will not recieve any remuneration, and I purchased my own copy of the book.

PS: Recipes I want to try: Cinnamon Swirl Cookies, Green Bean and Bacon Salasd, Gingerbread Biscotti, Tuan Burgers, Blueberry Muffins, Pecan Sun-Dried Tomato and Bacon Cauli-Rice, Spicy Shrimp with Avocado Dressing, 24-Hour Chili, Harvest Pancakes, Breakfast Casserole, Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers, Stuffed Mushrooms, Broccoli Bacon Salad, Seven Layer Salad, Sausage Quiche, Low-Carb Pancakes, Stuffed Hamburgers, Eggplant Parmeson, Flax Bread, Splendid Gluten-Free Bake Mix, and Mock Danish.

For readers of my blogs, I’m offering a $3.00 (USD) discount off the usual retail price for Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet.  You probably won’t find a better price anywhere—$13.95 plus shipping.  To get the discount, you have to order from CreateSpace and enter this discount code when you order:

9V9B6FML

This is a time-limited offer, so make your decision within the next few days.

The book is available (without the discount) at Amazon.com, which also offers the Kindle edition.  Other e-book formats are available at Smashwords for $9.99 (USD).

If those are all too expensive, explore the Diabetic Mediterranean Diet blog; most of the information is scattered therein.  If you have diabetes or prediabetes, I want you to have this valuable information.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: I also authored an award-winning weight-loss book based on the traditional Mediterranean diet, The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer.  For folks with diabetes or prediabetes, Conquer Diabetes is the better choice.  For a limited time, you can also buy The Advanced Mediterranean Diet at a $3.00 discount if you purchase from Createspace: enter the discount code 9V9B6FML.

Oldways has put together an article reviewing Mediterranean diet promotional efforts in each of the 50 United States.  I’m honored that they focused on me in Arizona.  The Oldways website is jam-packed full of practical info on how to move towards the healthy Mediterranean diet pattern. 

Steve Parker, M.D.

With a suspicion that the Dukan Diet may be the next diet fad in the U.S., I reviewed The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever by Pierre Dukan (2011, first American edition).  On Amazon.com’s rating system, I give it two stars.

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Think of Dukan as a Low-Fat Atkins Diet.

The Dukan Diet is apparently very popular in Europe.  It’s comprised of four phases. The Attack Phase, also called “Pure Protein,” lasts usually two to seven days.  Eat all you want from the protein-rich food list, mostly skinless chicken, low-fat meat, fish, and nonfat dairy.  No carbs at all except for the dairy.  The Cruise Phase is next: Alternate Pure Protein days with proteins and non-starchy vegetables until you’re at your goal weight.  Eat all you want from the low-carb veggie list.  Consolidation Phase lasts five days for every pound lost.  Eat more variety but limited quantities: two slices of whole grain bread, one portion each of fruit and cheese daily, one or two servings of starchy carbs (e.g., legumes, flour, cereals), plus two “celebration meals” a week, carefully defined.  Proteins and low-carb veggies are still unlimited.  Finally, the Permanent Stabilization Phase is lifelong and similar to Consolidation Phase, but requires one Pure Protein day per week, such as Thursdays.  Also, take no stairs or elevators.  All phases include prescribed servings of oat bran.

During the active weight loss phases, this diet is low-fat, low-carb, and high-protein. You don’t have to count carb grams, fat grams, or calories.  Presumably, Dr. Dukan has done all that for you, although he never shares the average calories consumed nor the macronutrient breakdown (i.e., what percentage of calories are derived from protein, fat, or carbs). The latter two phases are still very low-fat but allow a bit more carbs.

I liked this book more than I expected.  It’s obvious the author has copious experience with dieters, especially women.  The writing is clear.  He’s a serious, earnest man, not a charlatan.  Although some will criticize the book’s repetitiveness, it’s a proven educational technique.  For weight management, Dr. Dukan and I agree that 1) weighing daily is good, 2) abstinence from sugar rarely eliminates the longing for sweets, 3) artificial no-calorie sweeteners are OK, 4) the 4-7 pound weight loss in Attack Phase is mostly water, not fat, 5) discipline and willpower are important, 6) after losing weight, you’ll regain it if you ever return to your old ways, and 7) a realistic weight goal is essential. 

Dr. Dukan recommends at least 20-30 minutes a day of walking.  He provides little information on resistance training, although increasing evidence supports it as a great weight control measure.  I wish he’d mentioned high intensity interval training (HIIT).

The book contains numerous recipes, including a week of menus for the Attack Phase.  Disappointingly, none of the recipes include nutritional analysis.

You’ll find an index.  It doesn’t list glycogen.  Insulin, a primary fat-storage hormone, is mentioned on only one page, one sentence.

This is one fat-phobic diet.  In Dr. Dukan’s view, “fat in food is the overweight person’s most deadly enemy.”  All fat consumption contributes to fatness, and animal fats “pose a potential threat to the heart.”  It seems Dr. Dukan never got the memo that total and saturated fat content of foods have little, if anything, to do with heart or other cardiovascular disease. While criticizing Dr. Atkins’ diet for demonizing carbohydrates, Dr. Dukan demonizes fats.  Yet Dr. Dukan does all he can to banish both carbohydrates and fats from his weight loss phases. 

Dr. Dukan makes several erroneous statements, including 1) all food is made up of only three nutrients, 2) all alcoholic beverages are high in carbohydrates, 3) all shellfish are carbohydrate-free, 4) he implies that when dieting or fasting, we convert much of our fat into glucose, 5) there are no indispensable fats, 6) fat is bad for the cardiovascular system, 7) vinegar is the only food containing sour taste, fruit is the only natural food containing rapid-assimilation sugars, 9) “Anyone who loses and regains weight several times becomes immune to dieting,” 10) weight loss releases into the bloodstream artery-toxic fat and cholesterol, 11) many overweight folks are unusually good at extracting calories from food, 12) some people can gain weight even while they sleep, 13) exercise is vitally important for losing weight, and 14) the Atkins diet raises triglycerides and cholesterol levels dangerously.

Will the diet work?  I’m sure many have lost weight with it and kept it off.  It does, after all, limit two of the major causes of excess weight: sugars and refined starches. 

In considering rating this book two or three stars, I asked myself if I’d recommend it to one of my patients looking to lose weight.  Initially I had concern that the diet may be deficient in essential fatty acids since it’s so fat-phobic.  “Essential” means necessary for life and health.  Then I figured that the body’s own fat stores would provide adequate essential fatty acids, at least in the first two phases.  The later stages, I’m not so sure.  Carefully choosing specific foods would eliminate the risk, but how many people know how to do that?  Separate from that potential drawback, there are other diets that are better, such as The New Atkins Diet for a New You, Protein Power, The Advanced Mediterranean Diet, the Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet (free on the Internet), and The New Sonoma Diet.  You’ll have no risk of fatty acid deficiency with those.

 If you limit carbs, there’s just no need for fat-phobia.

Steve Parker, M.D.

For the last two years, I’ve been working on an adaptation of the healthy Mediterranean diet for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.  The Mediterranean diet alone has too many carbohydrates for the average diabetic. 

The initial adaptation has been done and available free for many months at my other blog, the Diabetic Mediterranean Diet blog.  The whole shebang is now available in book and ebook form, entitled Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet. 

You’ll find the printed version at Amazon.com and CreateSpace.  The ebook is available in multiple formats at Smashwords, and the Kindle version is at the Kindle Store.

Compared with jumping from page to page at the DMD blog and using your own printer, the book’s a pretty good deal.  It runs $16.95 (USD) at Amazon, and the ebook is $9.99.

What’s In the Book?

Here’s the news release:

Dr. Steve Parker has created the first-ever low-carbohydrate Mediterranean diet, designed for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.  His science-based plan blends the healthy components of the traditional Mediterranean diet with the ease and effectiveness of low-carb eating.  Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet teaches how to lower blood sugars naturally, reduce or eliminate diabetic medications, and lose excess weight if needed.

Type 2 diabetics and prediabetics have lost the ability to process carbohydrates safely.  Carbohydrates have become poisonous for them.  Carb toxicity too often leads to numb and painful limbs, impaired vision, kidney failure, amputations, cancer, and premature heart attacks, strokes, and death.

Nutrition experts worldwide agree that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest way of eating for the general public.  It prolongs life and reduces rates of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and dementia.  The only problem for diabetics is that it provides too many toxic carbohydrates.

Dr. Parker initially recommends a very-low-carb ketogenic diet for 12 to 18 weeks, then teaches the reader how to gradually add more healthy carbohydrates depending on blood sugar and body weight changes.  Due to the toxic nature of carbohydrates in people with impaired blood sugar metabolism, most diabetics won’t be able to tolerate more than 80-100 grams of carbohydrate daily.  (The average Western diet provides 250 grams.)  

The book provides recipes, a week of menus, instruction on exercise, discussion of all available diabetic medications, advice on prevention of weight regain, lists of delicious doctor-approved foods, 71 scientific references, an annotated bibliography, and an index. All measurements are given both in U.S. customary and metric units.

Steve Parker, M.D., is a leading medical expert on the Mediterranean diet and author of the award-winning Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer.   He has over two decades’ experience practicing Internal Medicine and treating patients with diabetes and prediabetes.

Researchers note lower risk of asthma symptoms in Greek 10- to 12-year-olds following a traditional Mediterranean diet, according to a recent Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

I reported in 2008 on a Portuguese study that found much improved control of adult asthma in those eating a Mediterranean diet.  Why, I even seem to recall a study that found a lower incidence of asthma in children of mothers who ate Mediterranean-style.

If you’re an overweight adult with asthma, why not look into the Sonoma Diet by Connie Guttersen, or my Advanced Mediterranean Diet?

Steve Parker, M.D.

MedPageToday reported October 8, 2010, that Abbott is voluntarily removing Meridia from the U.S. market.  I had written on September 8 about the higher incidence of stroke and heart attack in Meridia users who had underlying cardiovascular disease.

Meridia, also known as sibutramine, has an estimated 100,000 users in the U.S.  Abbott recommends that they stop taking the drug and consult their physicians about other weight-loss programs.

Here are a some options I like:

1. Advanced Mediterranean Diet
2. Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet
3. Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet

This would be a good time for Meridia ex-users to review “Prepare to For Weight Loss.”

Steve Parker, M.D.

My 2007 book, The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer is now available in PDF format for $9.95 USD.  It’s not a low-carb diet book, but a calorie-restricted, balanced diet incorporating the healthy features of the traditional Mediterranean diet.  The physical book is also available from Amazon or CreateSpace. 

As we learned in yesterday’s post, loss of excess weight can be accomplished by measuring either carb grams or calories.  If you can handle monitoring your calorie consumption—and I make it as easy as possible in the book—then the Advanced Mediterranean Diet is a good way to go.  Due to the relatively high carbohydrate content of the traditional Mediterranean diet, however, people with diabetes or prediabetes should do better with carb-counting, as in the Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet or Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet.

Either way, I got you covered.

Steve Parker, M.D. 

Dieters on low-fat and low-carb diets both lost the same amount of weight after two years, according to a just-published article in Annals of Internal Medicine.  Both groups received intensive behavioral treatment, which may be the key to success for many.  Low-carb eating was clearly superior in terms of increased HDL cholesterol, which may help prevent heart disease and stroke.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and was carried out in Denver, St. Louis, and Philadelphia.

How Was It Done?

Healthy adults aged 18-65 were randomly assigned to either a low-fat or low-carbohydrate diet.  Average age was45.  Average body mass index was 36 (over 25 is overweight; over 30 is obese).  Of the 307 participants, two thirds were women.  People over 136 kg (299 lb) were excluded from the study—I guess because weight-loss through dieting is rarely successful at higher weights. 

The low-carb diet:  Essentially the Atkins diet with a prolonged induction phase (12 weeks instead of two).  Started with maximum of 20 g carbs daily, as low-carb vegetables.  Increase carbs by 5 g per week thereafter as long as weight loss progressed as planned.  Fat and protein consumption were unlimited.  The primary behavioral goal was to limit carb consumption.

The low-fat diet:  Calories were limited to 1200-1500 /day (women) or 1500-1800 (men).  [Those levels in general are too low, in my opinion.]  Diet was to consist of about 55% of calories from carbs, 30% from fat, 15% from protein.  The primary behavioral goal was to limit overall energy (calorie) intake. 

Both groups received frequent, intensive in-person group therapy (lead by dietitians and psychologists) periodically over two years, covering such topics as self-monitoring, weight-loss tips, management of weight regain and noncompliance with assigned diet.  Regular walking was recommended.

Body composition was measured periodically with dual X-ray absorptiometry.

What Did They Find?

Both groups lost about 11% of initial body weight, but tended to regain so that after two years, both groups average losses were only 7% of initial weight.  Weight loss looked a little better at three months in the low-carb group, but it wasn’t statistically significant. 

The groups had no differences in bone density or body composition.

No serious cardiovascular illnesses were reported by participants.  During the first six months, the low-carb group reported more bad breath, hair loss, dry mouth, and constipation.  After six months, constipation in the low-carb group was the only symptom difference between the groups.

During the first six months, the low-fat group had greater decreases in LDL cholesterol (with potentially less risk of heart disease), but the difference did not persist for one or two years.

Increases in HDL cholesterol (potentially heart-healthy) persisted throughout the study for the low-carb group.  The increase was 20% above baseline.

About a third of participants in both groups dropped out of the study before the two years were up.  [Not unusual.]

My Comments

Contrary to several previous studies that suggested low-carb diets are more successful than low-fat, the study at hand indicates they are equivalent as long as dieters get intensive long-term group behavioral intervention. 

Low-carb critics warn that the diet will cause osteoporosis, a dangerous thinning of the bones that predisposes to fractures.  This study disproves that.

Contrary to widespread criticism that low-carb eating—with lots of fat and cholestrol— is bad for your heart, this study notes a sustained elevation in HDL cholesterol (”good cholesterol”) on the low-carb diet over two years.  This also suggests the low-carbers  followed the diet fairly well.  The investigators also note that low-carb eating tends to produce light, fluffy LDL cholesterol, which is felt to be less injurious to arteries compared to small, dense LDL cholesterol.

A major strength of the study is that it lasted two years, which is rare for weight-loss diet research.

A major weakness is that the investigators apparently didn’t do anything to document the participants’ degree of compliance with the assigned diet.  It’s well known that many people in this setting can follow a diet pretty well for two to four months.  After that, adherence typically drops off as people go back to their old habits.  The group therapy sessions probably improved compliance, but we don’t know since it wasn’t documented. 

How often do we hear “Diets don’t work.”  Well, that’s just wrong.

Overall, it’s an impressive study, and done well. 

Individuals wishing to lose weight on their own can’t replicate these study conditions because of the in-person behavioral intervention component.  There are lots of self-help calorie-restricted balanced diets (e.g., Sonoma Diet, The Zone, Thin For Life,  Advanced Mediterranean Diet) and low-carb diets (e.g., the Atkins Diet,  the Low-Carb Mediterranean or Ketogenic Mediterranean Diets).  On-line support groups—e.g., Low Carb Friends and SparkPeople and 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet—could supply some necessary behavioral intervention strategies and support.  

Choosing a weight-loss program is not as easy as many think.  [Well, I’ll admit that choosing the wrong one is easy.]  I review the pertinent issues in my “Prepare for Weight Loss” page.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: Foster GD, Wyatt HR, Hill JO, Makris AP, Rosenbaum DL, Brill C, Stein RI, Mohammed BS, Miller B, Rader DJ, Zemel B, Wadden TA, Tenhave T, Newcomb CW, & Klein S (2010). Weight and metabolic outcomes after 2 years on a low-carbohydrate versus low-fat diet: a randomized trial. Annals of internal medicine, 153 (3), 147-57 PMID: 20679559

The first printing of The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer is sold out.  Yay!  And many thanks to my readers!

The book is available now from a new printer that also handles distribution, CreateSpace.  As always, you can also get the book from Amazon.com.

Steve Parker, M.D.