With around 40 percent of its calories coming from healthy fats, this diet is extremely satisfying. It leaves you less likely to binge on high-carb or high-calorie foods. Harvard University researchers have discovered that people on a 1,500-calorie-per-day Mediterranean diet lost more weight than those on a lower-fat (20 percent) diet. In fact, some of those on the lower fat diet actually gained weight.
It’s best to look for apples that are firm, richly colored, and unbruised. With approximately 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States alone, you have plenty of different colors, textures, and flavors to choose from.
Gravenstein, Pippin, and Granny Smith apples are the most tart. Braeburn and Fuji apples are a bit sweeter. Red and Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp are among the sweetest varieties.
Not all fat is bad for you; in fact, health experts believe that about one-third of your energy should come from fat. Unsaturated fats from foods like avocado, seafood, and olive oil can lower cholesterol and assist in transporting fat soluble vitamins A, E, D, and K throughout body. Bad fats are saturated and trans fats found in fried foods, cookies, margarine, and anything labeled „partially hydrogenated.“ The key is to avoid the bad fats and make sure that fat-free foods are actually low in calories.
The high fiber content of this diet may also benefit diabetics by slowing spikes in blood sugar. In a 2008 British Medical Journal study of 13,000 people, those who ate more of a traditional Mediterranean diet were 83 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.