Mediterranean Diet dumps a load on the South Beach Diet

There's a lot of pooh pooh stuff going on about the Mediterranean Diet here lately.  Believe me, I've been checking it out.  I always do when I such claims as reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke by as much as 30% make health headlines.  One of the news bits I found intriguing was that a study was stopped short because the results were 'so promising,' and evidently had been for several years.  If you do a 'search' you're going to fine a boat load of diet books already on the market, none of them by the researchers ( a plus).  I always find that suspicious knowing how some people will try to make a buck off of anything and everything.  Of course, the diet books don't really tell you much.  In fact, if you start looking at the recipes, some of them don't sound to dietetic.  One recipe for Naan, an Indian flat bread, I checked out included butter.  Hhhmm, now that sounds healthy.  The only thing I could really find out about it was the Mediterranean Diet food pyramid.  Personally, I think that's a good place to start.

The first thing I noticed was you don't get to eat a lot of red meat, but then I got to thinking.  What kind of red meats do they have in Italy, and Greece besides goats and sheep?  The only answer I could come up with was... goats and sheep, ain't no Guernseys there.  This makes sense to me.  There's not a lot of sugar, but most diets also avoid it.  Let's see, there's are a few eggs, about 4 per week is what they recommend.  A little more fowl and fish, of course, being on the Mediterranean birds and seafood would be a bit more prevalent.  Then you get to the cheeses, and olive oil, and vegetables and breads.  Holy Crap!  When it comes to breads, and pastas,and rice and potatoes, you're should be eating them with every meal!  Shit, it's like most of what you're eating is Carbs!  How can that be?

I don't know.  I'm also not going to spend a lot of my time brushing up on all of the scientific lingo jingo just to try and understand.  What I do know is that every diet which attempts to eliminate carbs turns into the enemy.  Any website which allows comments is filled with South Beach Diet aficionados shrieking their pants off.  Denouncement is their only choice, they have no alternative.  Personally, I feel that if their diet works for them, then they should follow it rather then attempt to brow beat other diets into the ground.  A couple of years ago I looked at the South Beach Diet and decided it was far to expensive for my blood.  With the price of meat today you need to have deep pockets just to put their diet on you table.

As for the Mediterranean Diet, I already eat a lot of olive oil, having given up other oils and fats years ago.  I eat nuts every day, and a lot of grains and vegetables.  About a year ago, well before the hubbub broke through the surface into public opinion, I began incorporating beans regularly into my diet.  I also cut my red meat consumption down to 2 or 3 times a month.  

For those trying to lose weight just by dieting, this is not the route to go.  In order to take the pounds off and keep them off you need to exercise, regularly.  Am I advocating this diet?  No, make up your own mind.