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Mediterranean Diet For Dummies
Expert advice on transitioning to this healthy lifestyle The Mediterranean diet is a widely respected and highly acclaimed diet based on the food and lifestyles common to the people of Greece, Cyprus, Southern France, Spain, and coastal Italy. In addition to being a healthy, extremely effective way of losing weight, the Mediterranean diet is considered an effective means of avoiding or reversing many health problems, such as cardiovascular issues, pre-Diabetes, and obesity. This hands-on, friendly guide covers the numerous health benefits of the Mediterranean diet and encourages meals that consist largely of healthy foods such as whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil and other healthy fats, fish, and foods high in Omega-3 fat content, such as seafood, nuts, beans, and dairy products. Featuring 20 delicious and nutritious recipes and chock-full of tips from consuming the best oils to whether wine is okay with meals (it is), Mediterranean Diet For Dummies serves as the formula for maximizing success in achieving ideal weight and health. If you've heard of this highly acclaimed and publicized diet, Mediterranean Diet For Dummies helps you make the switch.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
194 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 25, 2020
I chose this book in my first attempt to read a book on my phone in the Libby app. While it worked I don't think I could read a novel on my phone. I also wanted to get some ideas on eating healthier and fresher not that I have a little more time to think about our diet. I'd like to incorporate more of these ideas into my meal preparation but will have to take it very slow with a spouse who' a very picky eater. Wish me luck!
January 4, 2021
This book was a great wealth of information. I had read previous books on the Mediterranean diet and they were mostly just recipes. This book really shone in that it went into detail about all of the benefits of the diet, the specific ways it helps prevent certain health issues, and tips for how to implement he diet in your life. The tips were really the most helpful thing to me! If you are looking for a cookbook, this isn’t it as there are only a handful of recipes. However if you are looking for detailed information on the diet this is an excellent resource.
January 7, 2022
Not a bad overview of the diet. I did learn quite a bit but I thought the author went into too much detail on the specific health benefits of the diet; several chapters could have been condensed into one, leaving more room for diet specifics (consolidated grocery lists, meal plans, more recipes, etc.). Still, if you're looking to get into this diet, this would be a good place to start.
December 1, 2019
Okay. This was the book my library had. So this is what I read. It was mainly filler advice: “Engage with life!”; “Be active!”; “Sneak heart-healthy yummy veggies into every meal!”
Go to dummies.com/cheatsheet/mediterraneandiet and that’s all you need.
Go to dummies.com/cheatsheet/mediterraneandiet and that’s all you need.
March 16, 2018
Pretty basic stuff. Good for beginners. I guess I was looking for something with more information than I can find on the internet.
February 24, 2021
This was informative and helpful. Good read.
January 1, 2023
Read cover to cover to get general idea if Mediterranean diet is for me.
Will continue to use as reference guide.
Will continue to use as reference guide.
February 25, 2023
informative
Very through look at the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. Lots of tips to help you incorporate the diet into your life style.
Very through look at the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. Lots of tips to help you incorporate the diet into your life style.
December 15, 2023
When I picked this up I was expecting a cookbook with recipes and the like. That's what most books about the Mediterranean diet are, after all. This one isn't a cookbook, although it does have one chapter of recipes (20 recipes).
This book is all about the diet itself: what it is, why it works, how to make it part of your life, and extensive information about how it can help reduce your risk of several of the scourges of modern life (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc.). In fact, it might be a little too much information on those for some people, although nothing is presented in a way that your own doctor wouldn't use to convince you to take better care of yourself.
My biggest complaint about this book is the pseudoscience in two chapters. There is an entire chapter on olive oil, which is great, except they make the same mistake many people do in assuming that "organic" means free of chemicals (hint: olive oil, like everything else we eat, is chemicals), but they do at least tell you that it's not really necessary to buy organic to get high-quality olive oil. They also tell you in the chapter on vegetables that "synthetic chemicals...have the potential to be harmful" without mentioning that natural chemicals have that same potential and the synthetic pesticides are usually less toxic than their organic counterparts (and you use a lot less to get the same results, meaning less exposure to a less toxic product). They reference the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" as if there's some value in an arbitrary list with no peer-reviewed scientific data to back it up. Ugh.
There are numerous other claims that also aren't backed up by any data, but that doesn't make any of them wrong, just unverified. The book isn't meant to be an exhaustive defense of the Mediterranean diet, but it does offer a list of ten studies supporting it. It doesn't give direct references that will point you to those studies to examine them for yourself, but they shouldn't be too difficult to locate online.
Honestly, it's a more extensive treatment of the information than most books provide, and a book that provided the level of detail I'd like to see (particularly when claims are made about benefits and so forth) would probably not sell well as most people don't really care. However, given that most people don't really care, this book is probably not for most people. Most people want recipes and directions for how to eat a Mediterranean Diet. There are numerous good Mediterranean diet cookbooks that also provide a nice overview of the basics. This is overkill for most people, and yet not enough for others.
This book is all about the diet itself: what it is, why it works, how to make it part of your life, and extensive information about how it can help reduce your risk of several of the scourges of modern life (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc.). In fact, it might be a little too much information on those for some people, although nothing is presented in a way that your own doctor wouldn't use to convince you to take better care of yourself.
My biggest complaint about this book is the pseudoscience in two chapters. There is an entire chapter on olive oil, which is great, except they make the same mistake many people do in assuming that "organic" means free of chemicals (hint: olive oil, like everything else we eat, is chemicals), but they do at least tell you that it's not really necessary to buy organic to get high-quality olive oil. They also tell you in the chapter on vegetables that "synthetic chemicals...have the potential to be harmful" without mentioning that natural chemicals have that same potential and the synthetic pesticides are usually less toxic than their organic counterparts (and you use a lot less to get the same results, meaning less exposure to a less toxic product). They reference the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" as if there's some value in an arbitrary list with no peer-reviewed scientific data to back it up. Ugh.
There are numerous other claims that also aren't backed up by any data, but that doesn't make any of them wrong, just unverified. The book isn't meant to be an exhaustive defense of the Mediterranean diet, but it does offer a list of ten studies supporting it. It doesn't give direct references that will point you to those studies to examine them for yourself, but they shouldn't be too difficult to locate online.
Honestly, it's a more extensive treatment of the information than most books provide, and a book that provided the level of detail I'd like to see (particularly when claims are made about benefits and so forth) would probably not sell well as most people don't really care. However, given that most people don't really care, this book is probably not for most people. Most people want recipes and directions for how to eat a Mediterranean Diet. There are numerous good Mediterranean diet cookbooks that also provide a nice overview of the basics. This is overkill for most people, and yet not enough for others.
October 1, 2023
“Mediterranean Diet for Dummies” takes the mystery out of the Mediterranean diet.
There are many types of diets for many reasons. You could write an encyclopedia on diet reviews alone. This is a review of the book.
This book is a great overview of what the Mediterranean diet is and is not. For me, it was more depth and what I was looking for, how it works, and even recipes.
As with many of the “For Dummies Series,” this book is easy to navigate and if you are searching for anything specific, it is easy to find. One test I tried in the book was to skip exotic recipes and find quick meals and frozen equivalents; it was easy to find a section on this. I also found the section on nuts and berries that would have made Euell Gibbons salivate. There is a huge section on wines, which shows this book has a little something for everyone. However, my body cannot tolerate alcohol, so it is wasted on me. There are lots of nifty diagrams that are a thousand words to supplement your reading.
Whatever you do, do not read chapter 4 unless you like bloodthirsty gory movies. This is a bloodthirsty gory chapter on high blood pressure and stroke; the worst of which is a little section on how the brain reacts to blood.
I will not go into more detail, but I gave this book a great rating for not what it is missing but what it contains.
There are many types of diets for many reasons. You could write an encyclopedia on diet reviews alone. This is a review of the book.
This book is a great overview of what the Mediterranean diet is and is not. For me, it was more depth and what I was looking for, how it works, and even recipes.
As with many of the “For Dummies Series,” this book is easy to navigate and if you are searching for anything specific, it is easy to find. One test I tried in the book was to skip exotic recipes and find quick meals and frozen equivalents; it was easy to find a section on this. I also found the section on nuts and berries that would have made Euell Gibbons salivate. There is a huge section on wines, which shows this book has a little something for everyone. However, my body cannot tolerate alcohol, so it is wasted on me. There are lots of nifty diagrams that are a thousand words to supplement your reading.
Whatever you do, do not read chapter 4 unless you like bloodthirsty gory movies. This is a bloodthirsty gory chapter on high blood pressure and stroke; the worst of which is a little section on how the brain reacts to blood.
I will not go into more detail, but I gave this book a great rating for not what it is missing but what it contains.
June 10, 2014
I really liked this book. It is a great introduction to the Mediterranean Diet. There are good links in the ebook version to help you get more information. What I like is the information is not overwhelming. When we decide to make changes in our lifestyle we sometimes just need to get the basic down first and this book really helps in this department. There is always more information out there when one is ready.
June 14, 2016
If you know anything about health and wellness this book is not for you. Very basic information - learned a little more about the Mediterranean Diet itself, but the focus was more on diseases and working out.
June 20, 2014
Didn't realize this was just info with minimal recipes. Interesting, but I kind of knew almost everything in here.
November 21, 2014
Not all that impressed. Could have been much better laid out.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews