The Mediterranean Diet is one of the very best diets there is for anyone who wants to lose weight in a way that's healthy, fun and sustainable. This is a diet that's all about treating food with respect and all about getting natural ingredients in a way that you can actually enjoy. And the benefits of that are incredible. The numbers speak for themselves but it goes beyond just lifespan and heart health. This is a diet that can make you feel the best you've felt in years. Somewhere along the way, our approach to diet here in the US has become twisted. I'm talking about our general diet sure but I'm also talking about our attempts to eat healthily and lose weight! And in many ways, our diet is a reflection of our lifestyle: everything is fast, convenient and consumable. At the same time though, it lacks substance and it lacks passion. We have lost respect for our diet and we've stopped seeing food as something to be enjoyed. Instead, we see it as an inconvenience. We're too busy to eat - and so we grab the quickest thing to eat from the cupboard or the fridge. Normally that means eating ready-made meals that are full of sugar and processed meats, or it means eating Mars Bars that literally offer us zero nutrition. Unsurprisingly, this leads to many of us gaining a lot of weight as all we're eating is sugar and in high quantities. At the same time, our skin, hair and nails look damaged because we aren't getting the bioavailable amino acids or the vitamins and minerals that we need. All that sugar has led to an epidemic of diabetes and many other preventable diseases are running rife. Those of us who want to do something about this weight gain try to do so by counting calories or cutting fat. Now we're getting even less sustenance from our food while still feeling exhausted and burned out all the time. Now we feel guilty whenever we eat. Now our relationship with our food is even worse. Scientists were very surprised when they looked at data from around the world and found that people who ate a Mediterranean Diet lived longer, were less likely to get heart disease and were thinner. But when you think about it, it's obvious! These are people who spend actual time cooking fresh, healthy meals. Many of those meals are PACKED with fruits, with vegetables, with salad and with fish. These are all foods that are stuffed with nutrients. Nutrients that the body uses to build muscle, to regulate hormones, to provide energy and to improve our mood. As soon as you start eating food that you enjoy - as soon as you slow down to smell the delicious garlic coming from your bolognaise - you begin eating well again and your body thanks you for it. Those living in the Mediterranean area have eaten this way for years and enjoy better health and more longevity than most in other areas ... there must be something to this way of living.
About the Author: I grew up in Central Minnesota, where my parents own and operated a fishing resort. Once out of high school I tried a couple of semesters of college, only to quit halfway through the Spring term; I decided at that time that college wasn't for me. Then I decided to follow my father's previous occupation as an auto mechanic. I graduated from a two-year of vocational training course and worked as a mechanic. While in vocational training, I decided to join the National Guard where I eventually ended up working full-time for 32 years. So how does all of this relate to writing? In one of my leadership schools, the instructor, who was an English teacher at a juvenile detention center, presented writing to me in a whole new way - a way that started to develop my interest in working with words. Fast forward about 40 years and I now have over 50 books listed on Amazon for Kindle and CreateSpace. Besides my own writing, I also ghostwrite ebooks, reports, articles, blogs and do Kindle conversions for my clients on a variety of topics. Today my wife and I live in Gold Canyon, AZ, where you'll find me happily sitting in my office typing away on my laptop as I work on my next book or ghostwriting project . . . that is if we are not traveling on a cruise ship - our new-found mode of travel.