29.03.2024

Romeo and Juliet Diet

Among the abundance of all diets, those that are diverse in the range of foods are particularly notable, taste good and do not cause dizziness from hunger.

One of the known diets is the Mediterranean.

It is based on nutrition of the inhabitants of the southern sea, necessarily includes fruits, vegetables, whole grain bread, beans, nuts, pasta, seafood and olive oil.

Is it true that replacing the usual oil with olive makes the dish dietary?

In the Mediterranean cuisine, olives and olives are really used as the main source of fat. When compared with sunflower oil, olive oil in the ratio of polyunsaturated acids, especially omega-3 and omega-6, is preferable. In addition, when frying, it forms less carcinogenic substances. But frying is not the best option at all. And to say that the olive oil slim, wrong. It’s fat, almost 100%. Another thing is that it, like in any vegetable oil, contains polyunsaturated fats, they are not so harmful, but only in their quantity: about 30 g for women and about 50 g for men.

The image of food, for example, Italians is difficult to imagine without bread. How is this combined with proper nutrition?

This is not our bread in the usual sense, but unleavened bread. Such bread does not provoke fermentation and does not change the composition of the intestinal microflora. In our conditions, it is recommended to always look at the composition of the product and the markings. If possible, it is better to replace the yeast bread with bezdozhzhevymi or cooked on serum. As for rice, it is worth giving preference to brown varieties.

In the morning the body woke up, had not yet worked, but he already needed an initial source of energy, this carbohydrates. In the lunch, when it is necessary to combine carbohydrates, fats and proteins, the body has already worked. And in the evening a large amount of carbohydrates and fats is no longer needed, but the body has already spent most of the energy, and protein is needed to make up for it.

Another stumbling block is pasta. How to treat them?

Real Italian pastas are prepared only from hard wheat varieties or with the addition of greenery, such as spinach. At us so it is not accepted. And those pasta that are sold here are not always of the best quality, and mainly contain only carbohydrates. They quickly boil, become crooked, this is not the same. It’s also about habits.

For example, our usual combination of pasta with meat. If we are talking about Mediterranean nutrition, then the combination of pasta with meat is found in traditional, for example, Italian, cuisine is extremely rare.

Usually it is vegetable pastas, exceptions are pastas with seafood. Occasionally, lean beef, veal, and poultry are used; pork you will not see there. Meat is not used in principle so often.

How useful is it to limit meat consumption in Siberia?

First of all, meat is a source of valuable animal proteins, but most importantly, red meat is for us the main source of iron, as well as B vitamins, namely B12. Replace this source in principle, if you find sources of iron in plant foods. But it must be a different volume. In the summer, this is possible, when we switch to “pasture” in large quantities. As a source of animal protein and useful polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially omega-3, fish should be used. But, again, in the Mediterranean cuisine there are few fried dishes – if they cook fish, it is slightly fried or baked, but not to a dark crust, as is customary here.

Also as a source of animal protein in the Mediterranean cuisine, sour-milk products are used, usually as additives to dishes: natural low-fat and unsweetened yogurt, kefir, soft low-fat cheeses like brynza. The only exception is the fatty parmesan, but it is used in minimal quantities, as an additive to dishes, initially low-fat. In general, we do not always apply this diet, for many reasons: because of food culture, because of habits, traditions, financial and consumer opportunities …

And yet, why is such a kitchen considered useful, despite rather small limitations? 

The main vegetables and fruits are served raw, there are a lot of different salads, and this is the leafy green salad – large-leaf varieties or small ones, such as arugula.

Please note that, despite the large plates, the portions in this kitchen are small. On a large leaf of a lettuce usually there is a small portion of the second, and all this looks volume due to a large amount of greenery. 

In addition to leaf lettuce, spices are actively added: oregano, parsley, thyme. Almost an obligatory component are garlic and shallots, and in dressing, besides oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, other fruits and berries are often added.

The diet implies a daily glass of wine. Is daily use of alcohol harmful?

As for wine, it is quite acceptable – it contains organic acids, tannins, which have a beneficial effect on digestion, minerals and some of the vitamins. But the question, probably, is that we have a different culture of alcohol consumption. We have wine – not the first drink. A Russian loves something that is hotter. If wine gets caught, it is rarely used in moderation.

The Mediterranean diet involves a lot of fruit. Are they all equally useful?

The abundance of fruits is not sweet melons, bananas and pears that contain many carbohydrates and starchy substances. Of course, they can be consumed, one pear per day will not do harm. By the way, it’s better than the daily grapes, or, worse, grape juice. Grapes generally need to be consumed in limited quantities, it contains a lot of fructose and glucose.

And the juice mainly gives water, potassium, some vitamins, practically in the total absence of dietary fiber, and it has a very high concentration of sugar. It is always better to give preference to natural fruit than juice, even freshly squeezed. A good option in the summer is to use fresh Siberian berries, they are all useful, collected from a bush or after a quick frost.

If you follow all the rules, how much can you lose weight on this diet?

Rather, it’s right to call it a Mediterranean food model, quite healthy, but not a diet. 

First of all, such food is shown to people with cardiovascular diseases, including overweight. But it will not work out purposefully with its help.

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