The
Mediterranean Diet is meant to be
simple, freeing and easily customizable.
However, here are some tips to help you
as you’re planning your own personal
Mediterranean Diet program.
For the Overworked,
Overstressed and
Overscheduled
Even though the Mediterranean diet
stresses sitting down and really enjoying
your food, even when snacking,
breakfast may be a difficult time for you
to do that. However, using some
shortcuts and compromises is far better
than skipping the morning meal. There
are some great smoothie and shake
recipes later in the book that you can use
to have a healthy meal while getting
ready for work or getting the kids out the
door.
If you’re running from the time you get
up to the time you go to bed, invest in
some of the pre-packaged snacks that
work well with the Mediterranean diet,
such as apples and yogurt, pre-cut
veggies, fruit chunks or small packs of
nuts and dried fruits. If you have time,
spend an hour or so each week creating
your own snack packs. You’ll have more
variety, spend less money and will
always have something to throw into
your briefcase, purse or backpack.
For Those with Non-Dieting
Family Members
One of the difficulties of dieting for
many parents is that the rest of the family
doesn’t want to diet with them. This
leaves them having to choose between
cooking a separate meal for themselves
and blowing their diet at dinnertime. To
help sidestep this issue, make lunch your
main meal. This is actually the way most
Mediterranean people eat, leaving
dinner as a lighter meal.
By making lunch your main meal and
having a healthful snack shortly before
dinner, you can prepare vegetables and
other sides for the family that are
Mediterranean-friendly and skip any
entrees that aren’t on your diet.
