![\"Mediterranean](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/766\/2018\/02\/07\/mediterranian-diet-3-looking-back-1518096690.jpg?resize=640:*\" "\\"Mediterranean")
<\/p>\n\u201cIt was like coming down from the world\u2019s longest adrenaline rush, and the crash felt glorious.\u201d<\/p>\n
To say that my eating habits are horrible would make them sound better than they really are. (I wish I was joking.) I\u2019ve never had the best relationship with food. I\u2019ve mastered every shortcut and quick fix out there to quash hunger and spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. Prepackaged foods and snack bars? Yeah, I live on those.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, my perpetual avoidance of everything cooking is taking its toll: I\u2019m in my early thirties, yet feel like I should invest in a rocking chair and take up knitting. I don\u2019t just need to eat healthier and nix empty calories for the sake of my waistline (which has, well, ballooned)\u2014I need to revamp my entire attitude toward food.<\/p>\n
Hence why I decided to take the Mediterranean diet for a spin. Chosen as\u00a02018\u2019s \u201cBest Diet Overall\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and \u201cEasiest Diet to Follow\u201d by\u00a0U.S. News and World Report<\/u><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0this anti-deprivation diet is rich in veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy. Red wine is cool in moderation (one glass per day), as are red meat and sweets (twice per month or so). No foods or food groups are off the table\u2014pun totally intended. The diet also promotes the social and mindful aspects of enjoying food, like sitting down to meals (as opposed to hoovering grub in front of the TV like I normally do), which is really cool.<\/p>\n Although weight loss isn\u2019t the primary intent of the Mediterranean diet, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ll shed pounds, says New York-based registered dietitian\u00a0Tracy Lockwood Beckerman<\/u><\/a>, R.D. Putting the spotlight on fresh, whole foods alone can lead to weight loss, since you\u2019re no longer relying on packaged foods that are often laden in sugar,\u00a0sodium<\/a>, and unhealthy sources of fat, she says. Plus, consuming a variety of\u00a0plant-based proteins<\/a>\u00a0and complex, whole-grain carbs doesn\u2019t just keep your blood sugar stable, but helps you feel fuller for longer, lowering the odds that you\u2019ll overeat. (Peace out, cravings!)<\/p>\n The weight-loss perks of the Mediterranean diet are also backed by science: A 2016 study published in the journal\u00a0The Lancet<\/em><\/a>\u00a0found that participants who went on a Mediterranean diet lost more weight than those on a low-fat one, while a 2015 study published in\u00a0The American Journal of Medicine<\/em><\/a>\u00a0found that the Mediterranean diet is just as effective for long-term weight loss as going low carb.<\/p>\n So, after an initial weigh-in, I decided to get my ass into the kitchen and turn things around with the Mediterranean diet. Below, a highlight reel of my excellent adventure:<\/p>\n \n There are no hard-and-fast rules to following the Mediterranean diet, only general guidelines\u2014which can be both a blessing and a curse. You\u2019re completely on your own to figure out\u00a0how many calories you should eat to lose weight<\/a>, how you\u2019ll plan and execute your meals and snacks, and what you\u2019ll do to stay active. This makes it way easier to customize the diet to suit your lifestyle, but it can feel overwhelming if, like me, you\u2019re starting from scratch (and your lifestyle\u2019s a disaster).<\/p>\n And because there\u2019s no end to the recipes that can fit into the Mediterranean diet framework, hunting down meal ideas can be a huge time-suck if you\u2019re not careful. So as to not spend the rest of my life browsing for recipes online, I consolidated my search by downloading a bevy of Mediterranean diet cookbooks and bookmarking the recipes that looked the yummiest. Two of my faves:\u00a0The Mediterranean Diet for Beginners<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Mediterranean Diet for Every Day<\/a><\/em>. The latter also featured a list of 50- and 100-calorie snack ideas, which I printed out (and stuck to the fridge) for between-meal inspiration.<\/p>\n \n \n \u201cBecause the Mediterranean diet relies on mostly fresh foods and your ability to prepare them, a person with limited kitchen skills may have a steep learning curve when starting this diet,\u201d says New York-based registered dietitian\u00a0Deborah Malkoff-Cohen<\/u><\/a>, R.D. I most definitely qualify as someone with \u201climited kitchen skills,\u201d so I opted for recipes that contained as few ingredients as possible\u2014apple cinnamon\u00a0oatmeal<\/a>, lemon orzo tuna salad, and fettuccine with parmesan garlic sauce, among others. I also chose recipes that had as many overlapping ingredients as possible so that\u00a0food prep<\/a>\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be as much of a hassle. It decreased the odds that I\u2019d flake out on the diet and go back to my quick-fix ways.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t so much learning different cooking techniques that I found challenging, since the recipes I chose only involved super-basic ones like saut\u00e9ing, boiling, and baking. (Though I did learn how to bread a mean fish!)<\/p>\n My challenges were more with getting the cook times right (my stove seemed to cook dishes way slower than the times recommended in the recipes), learning to recognize when certain foods like pasta were \u201cdone,\u201d and pairing main courses and sides in such a way that the process of making them at the same time was harmonious. For example, making a salad or saut\u00e9ing veggies while the main course is roasting in the oven, instead of trying to maintain multiple burners of food.<\/p>\n I bought everything fresh\u2014no pre-packaged or frozen anything, which was way outside my comfort zone. Prepping took forever (I\u2019m the world\u2019s slowest chopper!), but it became easier as the diet went on, since after the initial chopping extravaganza, you only have to prep what you run out of as you go along.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say all shortcuts to save time on prep are unhealthy (I just tend to gravitate toward them). \u201cThese days, you can easily find\u00a0healthy frozen meals<\/a>\u00a0to help you live a Mediterranean lifestyle if cooking from scratch seems too daunting and stressful,\u201d says Beckerman. \u201cYou can even buy frozen quinoa and brown rice in order to bulk up your whole-grain consumption.\u201d The trick is to avoid frozen meals with coating, added sugar, or sauces, she says. Aim for the baked or steamed packages and simply add olive oil and lemon to your dish for a Mediterranean twist.<\/p>\n The biggest adjustment I experienced was making homemade snacks instead of buying pre-packaged, but it was a change I\u2019d been wanting to make for a while. The number-one thing that wreaks havoc on my eating habits is when I get hungry right in the middle of work. Not wanting to break my focus, I always turn to less-than-stellar grub to see me through. This time around, I used my trusty snack list. On paper, the snacks sounded boring, their simplicity too good to be true\u2014an apple with almond butter, a\u00a0hard-boiled egg<\/a>, 30 shelled pistachios, a sliced tomato with grated parmesan\u2014but not only did they taste better than my go-to snacks of yore, they kept me satisfied straight-up until mealtime (and for a fraction of the calories I would\u2019ve downed had I turned to a pre-packaged snack).<\/p>\n Looking for easy snack options? Check out these 13 delicious ways to spice up a tub of hummus:<\/em><\/p>\n At first, it was super-challenging to keep the kitchen clean and organized. The more the dishes piled up, the less I wanted to make meals (after all, more meals equals more mess). By the end of the first week, I started doing the whole clean-as-I-go thing to maintain the kitchen as I cooked, and it made all the difference. I also enjoyed each meal even more, because I knew I didn\u2019t have a mess waiting for me once I was done eating.<\/p>\n But the most surprising thing I learned? In putting more effort into my eating habits, I ultimately spent less time in the kitchen than when I\u2019d do everything possible to avoid it. (Mind. Blown.) Because the foods I was eating kept me full for (way) longer than the instant-gratification eats I\u2019d usually turn to, it also freed my mind to focus on other things\u2014I was no longer obsessing over which shortcut I should use next to stave off the hunger pangs that were inevitable.<\/p>\n \n \n I started noticing physical and mental improvements immediately, beginning on day two of the diet. I woke up feeling rested and my body felt like it was actually functioning properly\u2014no queasiness, no hanger, no foaming at the mouth for a cherry cheese danish.<\/p>\n By day two, my usual caffeine and\u00a0sugar cravings<\/a>\u00a0were nowhere to be found. Without even trying, I was drinking one-quarter of the coffee I usually would\u2014and realized that without coffee, I barely drink anything to stay hydrated! I ended up replacing my coffee habit with a fruit-infused water habit almost immediately. As my eating and hydration habits improved, my energy levels increased, my brain fog lifted, and my perma-bloated<\/a>\u00a0gut deflated, all within the first week.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t mean I never splurged, obvi: I did indulge in the occasional beer, and my mom\u2019s place is always a minefield of pastries, cakes, and cookies. (Me like cookies.)<\/p>\n Changing up my eating habits also quashed many of the\u00a0anxiety symptoms<\/a>\u00a0I usually experience (stormy insides, monkey mind, neurotic thoughts), and it didn\u2019t take long for me to discover that, underneath those distracting symptoms, was a hella exhausted body. It was like coming down from the world\u2019s longest adrenaline rush, and the crash felt glorious. The quality of my sleep improved tenfold\u2014I didn\u2019t feel wired, my mind wasn\u2019t racing, and I actually fell asleep not long after my head hit the pillow.<\/p>\n My life still contained the same amount of\u00a0stress<\/a>, yet instead of my body and mind acting like a bickering married couple, my body was all, \u201cWe\u2019ve got this,\u201d and my mind was all, \u201cIndubitably.\u201d Going Mediterranean means eating more foods that are rich in vitamin D, magnesium, folate, and fatty acids, to name a few. \u201cAll of these nutrients play a vital role in hormone and chemical nerve regulation in our brain, which in turn, can drastically influence and dictate our moods and how we think,\u201d says Beckerman. I was so jazzed that I wanted to find a meadow to twirl in.<\/p>\n \n \n As you get to know your eating preferences and patterns, this is a diet that can be adjusted to suit you: Even though I\u2019d spent an entire weekend carefully crafting a meal plan, I stopped following it almost immediately, after realizing that I\u2019m more of an\u00a0intuitive eater<\/a>. (I had a Mediterranean omelette scheduled for Tuesday\u2019s breakfast, but wanted wild berry breakfast oats instead.)<\/p>\n It could be my commitment phobia talking, but I find meal planning to be too rigid. It sucks the enjoyment out of something I already don\u2019t enjoy, so I decided from then on to buy ingredients for a week\u2019s worth of recipes, but not schedule which recipes I\u2019d make on what days\u2014rather, I\u2019d see what I feel like eating in the moment and go from there.<\/p>\n And because this diet doesn\u2019t feel like a diet, I didn\u2019t have those twinges of guilt and self-loathing that typically come from \u201ccheating<\/a>\u201d on more rigid weight-loss plans. I was no longer experiencing cravings that, depending on the day, felt impossible to ignore. As such, I indulged because I wanted to, not because I was giving into temptation\u2014which made doing so hella satisfying (and way easier to stay on track).<\/p>\n \n \n Even with making multiple servings and choosing recipes that had overlapping ingredients, I spent more on groceries in one week than I normally do in three. (After telling me my total, the cashier had to fan me with a notepad.) I can\u2019t say I was surprised\u2014staples<\/a>\u00a0like olive oils, vinegars, nuts, seeds, and grains cost a small fortune, but once purchased, you won\u2019t have to buy them again for quite some time. I considered them an investment in my future health, and fantasized about the future medical expenses I was saving myself (while waiting for my panic attack to subside).<\/p>\n There are plenty of things you can do to make the Mediterranean diet more budget-friendly, says Malkoff-Cohen. Buying frozen fruits, vegetables, and proteins can help cut costs and reduce food waste, as well as batch cooking and freezing in portions. \u201cYou can also buy nuts and seeds in bulk and store them in the fridge (for up to six months) or freezer (for up to one year), where they are unaffected by fluctuating temperatures,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Another thing that I\u2019ve started doing is shopping the flyer\u2014checking out what\u2019s on sale first, then choosing my recipes for the following week based on the best deals.<\/p>\n \n \n The ironic (and straight-up frustrating) part about week two was that even though I was getting into a groove with my snazzy new\u00a0eating habits<\/a>\u00a0and feeling better than ever, I found myself battling the very real urge to self-destruct and go back to my unhealthy ways.<\/p>\n I feel like my biggest mistake was jumping in too quickly\u2014instead of going from never spending time in the kitchen to practically moving my office in there (kidding, but still), I should\u2019ve chosen a pace that I was more comfortable with. Baby steps is more my speed.<\/p>\n But even when you do veer off course from time to time (like when I practically made out with a box of After Eights), this is one of those rare diets where you don\u2019t feel like an epic failure for doing so. I did struggle to stay on track during week two, but tried not to judge myself when I relapsed (my go-to mantra: progress, not perfection). I\u2019d make a\u00a0smoothie<\/a>\u00a0as a bat signal to my brain that it was time to get a grip\u2014minty peach and hemp heart, raspberry avocado chia, peach sunrise\u2014and pick up right where I left off after each stumble.<\/p>\n \n \n The benefits of this diet go way beyond a slimmer waistline. The impact the Mediterranean diet has had on me, both physically and emotionally, has been life-changing. My body and I haven\u2019t gotten along like this since, well, ever. I still don\u2019t enjoy cooking (or eating), but I can now tolerate it, which is huge.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t speak to the impact this diet had on my\u00a0workouts<\/a>, since the only thing worse than my eating habits are my exercise habits. (Unless grating parmesan counts as a workout?) But I can speak to how stress, anxiety, and depression aren\u2019t dictating what and how much I eat anymore. And since the quality of my\u00a0sleep<\/a>\u00a0has (drastically) improved, I haven\u2019t been using coffee and sugar as crutches to get through the day.<\/p>\n I\u2019m definitely going to stay on this diet for the long haul\u2014though, for both financial and emotional reasons, I\u2019m going to go at a slower pace, gradually building up my recipe repertoire and the kitchen staples that go with them.<\/p>\n The fact that I also lost two pounds during this two-week adventure\u2014without restrictions, deprivation, or obsessing over portions\u2014was icing on the cake (that I\u2019m not even craving anymore).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIt was like coming down from the world\u2019s longest adrenaline rush, and the crash felt glorious.\u201d To say that my eating habits are horrible would make them sound better than they really are. (I wish I was joking.) I\u2019ve never had the best relationship with food. I\u2019ve mastered every shortcut and quick fix out there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-magazine","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815,"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralitynews25.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}RELATED:\u00a0This Is What 1,200 Calories Looks Like On The Mediterranean Diet<\/a><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n<\/section>\nThe Best Thing About This Diet Can Also Feel Like The Worst<\/h2>\n
The Learning Curve Was Steep (But Worth It)<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n<\/section>\nRELATED:<\/strong>\u00a0The Mediterranean Diet Is Being Hyped Up, but Is It Legit for Weight Loss?<\/a><\/u><\/h2>\n
I Felt Like A Totally Different Person<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n<\/section>\nIt\u2019s Super Easy To Tweak The Diet As You Go Along<\/h2>\n
Related:\u00a07 Women Share How They Lost Weight Without Counting a Single Calorie<\/a><\/h2>\n
My Grocery Bill Went Through The Roof<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n<\/section>\nStaying The Course Was Still A Grind<\/h2>\n
RELATED:\u00a05 Mediterranean Weight-Loss Secrets You Should Steal<\/a><\/u><\/h2>\n
The Verdict<\/h2>\n