Beyond The Mediterranean Diet offers readers an easy way to find the right balance between convenience and health, using the best European dietary habits as a model. The principles are easy to stick to, because you can satisfy your taste buds with a wide variety of foods and get slim and healthy at the same time.
It was during 2 years as an expatriate in Europe that award-winning culinary nutritionist and author Layne Lieberman, realized that the solution to the American obesity and health crisis could be found in the cuisines and lifestyles of three European countries – Switzerland, Italy and France. These three countries have amazing health statistics. They have the longest life expectancies (Switzerland is #2 in the world) and some of the lowest rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity in Europe. Yet they continue to enjoy foods we’re told to avoid – pasta, cheese, bread, chocolate and wine.
No more fad diets – low fat/high protein to gluten free diets, none of them help to sustain weight loss. Each encounter with a fad diet inhibits or delays weight loss, rather than initiates and sustains. Aren’t you fed up with listening to the media telling you which diet to be on depending upon the next study sponsored by some food industry group? Europeans do not face this problem, because governments have stricter rules when it comes to food marketing. The food industry must produce high quality ingredients and are not allowed to add many of the chemicals that are used in the US food industry. Beyond The Mediterranean Diet shows you how to avoid the traps of the food industry.
Beyond The Mediterranean Diet, explains how easy it is to balance and choose foods throughout the day, while introducing the tools you need to incorporate the lifestyle secrets into your daily routine. Layne’s Super-Healthy Plate offers easy steps to adopting the European-style diet, as well as helpful food shopping tips and a guide to ordering with confidence when dining out.
In Beyond The Mediterranean Diet, Layne offers ways to improve eating behaviors and control portion sizes. She says “toss out those oversized dinner plates and find a set of 9-inch plates, often the size of your salad plate.” This resizing of your plates, glasses, bowl and utensils will help to retrain your brain to eat the right amounts of food.
Beyond The Mediterranean Diet urges people to choose meats/poultry/produce carefully. Know the sources and choose local, organic and 100 percent grass-fed varieties. Favoring organic meats, dairy, grains, seafood and produce guarantees that no antibiotics, hormones or genetically engineered organisms are intentionally used. Beyond The Mediterranean Diet helps you get into the mode of choosing better ingredients without spending a fortune on weekly food bills.
People in Switzerland/Italy/France learned how to walk the line between staying healthy and enjoying their beloved foods. They avoid falling into the traps that are detrimental to health: oversized portions, processed foods and fad diets. Americans on average consume almost 4,000 calories a day – more than anyone else in the world! Unhealthy American diets are laden with processed foods, sugar and hydrogenated fats mixed with factory-farmed meats containing antibiotics. American diets lack the good bacteria that keep our digestive systems working properly.
People of Switzerland/France/Italy consume less sugar, less fruit juice, fewer soft drinks. They snack less, spend less time eating and more time socializing at meals. They eat smaller breakfasts, larger lunches and moderate dinners. Portion sizes are dramatically different then those in the United States with an emphasis on quality vs. quantity.
Europeans don’t obsess about counting calories, carbs, and fat grams; they rely on instinct – follow healthy habits, routines and attitudes. Reading food labels on packaged foods is less effective than actually touching, smelling and tasting fresh food.
Beyond The Mediterranean Diet lifestyle and cookbook offers 50 mouth-watering and healthy recipes with nutritional analysis. Many of the recipes are vegetarian and gluten-free. Following the simple recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts will keep you and your family on a healthy track without ever feeling deprived! Bon Appétit!