MEDITERRANEAN DIET
An old post from the past. I’m seeing more and more interest in the Mediterranean Diet so I’m reposting this article and hope that it helps and answers some questions you might have regarding the Mediterranean Diet.
Many years ago when I was in the Coast Guard I was stationed on the Mediterranean, in Libya, for a year. While there I was in and out of Italy a few times on liberties and duties.
I noticed that the Italians there ate a lot different than the Italian food that I had experienced growing up in New Jersey. In Italy I never saw butter. Instead there was a small dish of olive oil to dip your bread in. Pasta was served in small portions and as a separate course, before the main course. Every once in a while I saw it served as a side dish to the main course but never on the same plate as the meat or fish. LOTS of veggies. Again never on the same plate as the fish or meat. Salad was a course of it’s own and served AFTER the main course. And on and on. In Italy I never sat down to a big bowl of “spaghetti and meatballs” like I grew up enjoying in New Jersey. Red meat not nearly as often as back in the states and more fish and poultry. It was my first exposure to the “Mediterranean Diet”. And, it was good. Very, very good.
Here are a couple of my experiences learning about the Mediterranean Diet. One in Spain when the ship that was taking us from Brooklyn Navy Yard to Naples stoped in Barcelona. The other when a few of us were given a week off for Christmas and we made our way up to Rome.
When you look up the countries ranked by life expectancy you find that Italy, Spain, France and Greece rank right near the top. The United States is ranked way further down, like in the thirties. After digging into it I found that the reason is the “Mediterranean diet”. You could spend days reading about the Mediterranean diet but I’ve already done that for you. I’ll try to keep it simple. No saturated fats like butter and oleo. Just olive oil and canola oil. Cut the red meat down to once a week at most. More like only two or three times a month. LOTS of veggies and nuts. Two glasses of wine a day max for men and one for women. I know, that’s a tough one. I have some catching up to do on that one.
The Mayo Clinic says:
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes:
- Eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts
- Replacing butter with healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil
- Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods
- Limiting red meat to no more than a few times a month
- Eating fish and poultry at least twice a week
- Enjoying meals with family and friends
- Drinking red wine in moderation
- Getting plenty of exercise
So, bottom line, I’m saying that it sure is something that is easy to do and the benefits are real good. What can be better than living healthier and longer. I just wish they would give me an exception on those wine limitations, Oh well 🙁
I’m going to tune up a lot of our recipes to make them fit into the Mediterranean diet. I won’t be able to totally get it done overnight but I’m getting started. A lot of the existing recipes already fit except for the salt so you could just dive in and get a look at some Mediterranean diet recipes by just substituting some herbs of your choice for the salt.
And, here is a recipe that complies.
Mediterranean Diet
Ingredients
- 12 large or jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined
- extra virgin olive oil
- black pepper to taste
- 2 medium size potatoes
- 6 cloves garlic sliced thin or chopped
- 2 Large Handfuls fresh Spinach
- grated parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- If you have to thaw out your shrimp don't worry, just put them in a bowl and cover them deep with water. While they are thawing in the water slice up the garlic and clean off the potatoes. Poke holes in the potatoes in a few spots and put them in a ceramic bowl in the microwave. Set it at four minutes. Put a skillet on at medium high and swirl in just enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom. The shrimp will have been softened up by now. If they have to be peeled and deveined go at it. Pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Spread the shrimp out in the skillet and cook each side until it turns pink. When both sides are pink and the middle is opaque add the sliced garlic. Check the potatoes and if they need to get a little softer zap 'em a little more. When the garlic just starts to turn translucent and is smelling good add the spinach.
- Toss everything together as the spinach softens. If you would like your spinach with a little bit of body to it and not mushy that will happen real quickly. If you like it really softened up that will only take just a ten or fifteen seconds more.
- Slice the potatoes open, put in a dash of evoo and serve up your Mediterranean Diet Shrimp Dinner. We really like it and it is a regular at our house. Some grated parmesan cheese over all of it is nice too. If you can forego the gluten free you could have some pasta agilo e olio instead of the potatoes. We recommend a chilled white wine of your choice, like a pinot grigio or a chablis.
