September 7th, 2010 
admin The aim of the Mediterranean diet plan is to offer you a heart-healthy meal plan by including the traditional cooking elements used in Mediterranean-style. According to the medical researchers and diet experts the Mediterranean diet is highly helpful to reduce the risk of various heart diseases, like low blood pressure and declined levels of low-density of lipoprotein (LDL), or commonly referred to as “bad” cholesterol.
There are several simple ways to implement this type of meal plan.
Of the twenty amino acids needed to build human protein, our bodies are capable of synthesizing all of them except for eight. These eight amino acids are referred to as the “essential amino acids”, and they need to be found in foods that we eat. All eight of these essential amino acids can be found in the plant kingdom in abundance: in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
• Consume plenty of fresh pasta along with sauce as cooked tomatoes help greatly to prevent prostate cancer.
• The plan allows you to benefit from whole grain products. As bread is a vital element of the Mediterranean diet meal plan, you must stick to the whole grain varieties. Apply flavored Olive oil to your whole-wheat bread rather than spreading butter on it.
• Try to add fish to your diet chart more than once in a week. Select fatty fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids that are useful for blood vessel health and it reduces your triglyceride levels at the same time. For example, mackerel, wild salmon, and herring all of these varieties are heart-healthy choices.
• Include almonds, hazel nuts, walnuts, and pecans to your food chart. All these are low in saturated fat, however high in good monounsaturated fats.
Take the Dr Atkins diet for example. You are allowed very few carbohydrates, but one is allowed high fat. Even the unhealthy fats like whipped cream are allowed as the body burns it off, and the fat does not stay in the body. Another high fat diet which is gaining in popularity is called ‘My Big Fat Diet’. No carbohydrates at all are allowed, but you are allowed to eat any fats, good or bad. Whipped cream, the fat from meats or poultry, bacon, eggs or even butter are allowed. Again, with no carbohydrates in the body, all that fat plus your own body fat will be burned off.
So as you can see, both low fat and high fat diets, if combined with the correct foods, and eaten in the prescribed pattern, do work. In both cases, you will lower your cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, and become happier and healthier. If trying to pick between the two however, I would choose the better balanced diets, as high fat diets have been known to cause harm to your kidneys… Always consult a physician first!
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