When summer comes, those of us who are overweight are particularly conscious of the fact. Darn those swimsuits anyway, all that extra cellulite in plain view! Well, the lucky thing about summer is that theres a diet thats especially nice to follow in the summer season, and thats the Mediterranean Diet.
The reason that the Mediterranean Diet is well-suited in the summer is that most of the foods it represents are in season or exporting briskly. Lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and seeds. Plus a healthy dose of the favorite olive oil, and the fishing season keeps the seafood coming.
In addition, the Mediterranean Diet focuses on high-quality foods in limited amounts, with locally grown produce being the best option of all. And of course, what better time to hit the farmers market to load up on a basket of fresh produce than the summer time?
Summer and the Mediterranean Diet also go well together because the recipes of the Mediterranean feature lighter meals that are easier to digest. A thick stew or fatty roast is comforting in the winter, when your body naturally wants to store calories to burn to fight the cold. But during the summer, the heat and humidity combine to make heavy meals unappealing, while a salad with extra virgin olive oil and a dash of lemon juice sounds like a great idea.
As always, the Mediterranean Diet is done with the intention that you cut down on the portions you eat at one time. You can get smaller plates and bowls, and focus on never missing a meal, but always eating a reasonable portion. Remember that the Mediterranean Diet is not a crash diet, but a sensible, steady lifestyle to which you must keep a long-term commitment for it to work. There are few other weight loss diets which assist you health as much as this highly respected age-old diet.
Dont believe me though, go and check into it on the internet, read the university studies from all over the world (including Harvard) and the health foundations, research institutes and heart foundations. Once, you didnt hear a lot about the Mediterranean diet, thats because nobody owns it - but now, many know its one of the healthiest diets there is and it has more verification than most any other diet as well. Whats more is that it happens to be tasty, nutritious and evidence has indicated it minimizes the risk of heart disease and cancer.
A practical way to start is to measure the amount of calories that you are currently eating on an average day. Start out when you wake up in the morning and go about your day like any other. Attempt to eat the same foods as you would ordinarily eat on any other regular day without making any changes, and take a full account of every little thing that you put in your mouth plus the precise quantities that you have. I'm sure you'll agree that this activity requires a great amount of seriousness from you as the dieter. It is important that you remind yourself of your decision to follow a program of healthy weight loss, and to stick to a realistic system for losing weight.
This type of program will end up being a lot better for your health than the newest starvation diet program or diet supplement. In all honestly, actually completing this exercise is not going to take you more than ten to fifteen minutes total, despite the powerful long-lasting rewards that it will bestow. While you are getting ready to go to bed that evening, just calculate the total number of fat, carbs, protein, and calories that you ate as the day went on. Be as meticulous as it is possible for you to be so that you will get a reliable picture of what your starting point is and which aspects of your previous eating habits would likely be the most helpful things to change.
There are a couple of simple, natural actions that you will follow that will help you to reduce the amount of food-energy that you are consuming that will enable you to enjoy losing weight.
The thing you'll do can be to actually raise the amount of protein that you consume in an average day. Medical research has demonstrated that augmenting your average protein intake without any other change will frequently bring about significant weight loss, simply because protein-rich foods are more filling than other types of food. As you start eating more protein, try easily decreasing the amount of other carbohydrates that you're taking in daily. Clinical research has indicated that sugar can actually increase your appetite. For example, you will tend to eat a larger serving of food for lunch if you have some sugar-rich soda pop with the food.
Along with these dietary changes, you can dramatically improve your ability to burn calories by building up new muscle mass. The best way to do this is by lifting weights. Weight training can be extremely enjoyable due to the fact that you don't have to do it every day and because you get to keep on losing weight between workouts. The best way to do weight training is to do nice, slow exercises and forget about the number of "reps" you are doing. Drink a strong protein shake immediately after you finish working out to speed up the rate at which your body builds muscle.
Doing cardio is simply not an effective way to lose weight. The reason for this is that you are not actually burning as many calories as you would probably like to believe. Also, this type of exercise tends to reduce your blood sugar levels, quickly increasing your appetite and thereby increasing your likelihood to overeat. Because of this, cardiovascular exercise is not advised in this case unless you just really happen to enjoy it.
By the time you've followed this plan for a week, you will find yourself a pound or two lighter. This is just about the pace that you want to keep losing weight at, and it is important to be realistic and focus on losing weight the healthy way. Of course you can lose weight more quickly using less sound methods, but you would likely damage your health and regain all the weight after a short period of time. By sticking to this weight loss plan and shedding just 1-2 pounds each week, by the time you reach the one-year mark you will have lost more than fifty pounds without any rebounding or negative consequences.
Both Ben Needles & Dallas Dougan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Ben Needles has sinced written about articles on various topics from Business Credit Cards, Anger Control and Business Credit Cards. About the Author (text)Ray Darken is the author and he can provide more information from his down-loadable Mediterranean diet guide at