{"id":5635,"date":"2013-04-15T17:28:11","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T22:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=5635"},"modified":"2022-03-21T15:09:45","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:09:45","slug":"club-med-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/15\/club-med-diet","title":{"rendered":"\u201cClub Med\u201d Diet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Posted 04\/15\/2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was surprised to learn that the much-revered Mediterranean Diet went back nearly 70 years to the work of American physician Ancel Keys, MD, stationed in Italy during World War II. Keys, who died in 2004 at age 100 (!), noted the very low incidence of heart disease and the excellent longevity among people living in Mediterranean countries, especially given postwar food shortages. He\u2019d been pondering all the heart attacks in potbellied Americans back home, who, according to Keys \u201cused their stomachs like garbage cans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Keys, among others, who first made the cholesterol-heart risk connection. Apparently well-fed Americans were eating inordinate amounts of saturated fat–the animal-based fats found mainly in high-fat dairy, beef, pork, and lamb and less so in poultry and fish. These were the days when the American Dairy Association was recommending everyone drink six glasses of whole milk daily. We were also eating endless amounts of refined carbohydrates (all bread was white bread, no one had ever heard the phrase \u201cwhole grain\u201d), too much sugar and salt, and relatively few servings of fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The civilians seen by Keys in Italy were all extremely healthy, had a low incidence of heart disease and high blood pressure, and were living enviably long lives. He organized what became known as the Seven Countries Study and finally, in 1956, results in hand, representatives from the American Heart Association announced the findings: eating too much fat raised your cholesterol and having high cholesterol clogged your arteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there was confusion<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One factor that slowed the progress on healthful eating was confusion over which fats to eat and which to avoid. A major flaw in the Keys study was the idea that all fats were bad, with no recognition of the differences between the saturated (animal-based) and unsaturated (plant\/fish-based). The message was to just get rid of them all and in their place substitute more protein and carbohydrates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately during these \u201call fat is bad\u201d decades we chowed down on more refined carbs, the food companies having responded to the fat scare by adding lots of sugar to processed foods to replace the missing fat. We gained more weight and made little progress in reducing heart disease. If there was any headway being made, it occurred because we were smoking less and exercising more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Keys made it clear that not all fats were the same, writing that the key was in the olive oil. His message was helped considerably with the publication of Fats That Kill, Fats That Heal<\/i><\/a> in 1993 and Good Fats, Bad Fats<\/i><\/a> a few years later. Mediterraneans (especially in Crete, which he\u2019d always used as a standard of healthful eating) were using copious amounts of olive oil, which, along with fish, was very high in polyunsaturated omega 3s and actually protected the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly is the Mediterranean Diet?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We now have greater clarity on the meaning of a Mediterranean Diet and lifestyle, which includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n