With more of us being creative in the kitchen in 2020, but also eating more snacks and storing those COVID kilos, it’s time to lose some kgs!

The Meditteranean diet (or ‘Med diet’) has long been proven to be an “effective strategy to help manage weight and improve health” (The European Food Information Council).

The Med diet is more of a food based eating pattern, based on the traditional 1960s eating habits of people from countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea (ie. Greece, Italy and Spain).

It is now promoted by the World Health Organisation. Think fresh tomatoes, pulses, herbs, olive oil, fish, less cheese and drinking a wine with dinner. And when reaching for a snack go for nuts and dried fruit rather than a muffin 🙂

ABC Australia sets out the 10 commandments of the diet:

”

Use extra virgin olive oil as the main added fat (aim for around 60 mls /day)
Eat vegetables with every meal (include 100g leafy greens and 100g tomatoes, and 200g other vegetables/day)
Include at least two legumes meals (250g serve) per week
Eat at least two servings of fish (150-200g serves) per week and include oily fish: for example Atlantic and Australian salmon, blue-eye trevalla, blue mackerel, gemfish, canned sardines, and canned salmon. Canned tuna is not as high in the important fish oil omega-3, but still a good choice to include in your fish serves
Eat smaller portions of meat (beef, lamb, pork and chicken) and less often (no more than once or twice a week)
Eat fresh fruit every day and dried fruit and nuts as snacks or dessert”.

Daily exercise is also key to the impact of the diet of course. Our desk-bound lives are much different to those lives of European peasants in the 1960s 🙂 Every little bit counts, so find any opportunity to walk rather than using the car, and maybe try those stairs rather than taking the lift or escalator!

A number of recipes can be found on-line, including meals and guides for vegetarians.

Ciao! Stay happy and healthy 🙂

The Stable Team.