"MediterraneanDiet" news and stories

It seems obvious: eat healthy foods in moderation, drink in moderation, and maintain your weight. But it's not obvious, at least not to the vast majority of Americans who are overweight, and Dr. Tedd Goldfinger, a Cardiologist in Arizona, has the answer in a book called The Wine Lover's Healthy Weight Loss Plan (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).

I think a lot of other food lovers would agree with me when I say that dieting is boring and restrictive. It's like being told you can only play certain chords on the piano if you're a pianist, or that you have to run the same route every day if you're a jogger.

That's where Goldfinger's plan is genius: he offers a dieting solution in the Mediterranean diet, based on Italian, Greek, Provencal, and Spanish cuisines that's designed to pair with wine. The foods aren't just good for you, they're good too. Goldfinger channels the author of The French Paradox, Dr. Serge Renaud, who discovered how healthy the French are in spite of eating buttered croissants and foie gras. Why? Wine, of course.

Turmeric and black currants have some company as foodstuffs that may help stave off Alzheimer's disease. The Mediterranean diet, with its high concentration of fruits, vegetables, grains, olive oil and fish has been touted since the 90s as heart healthy. Now a study from Columbia University says those who follow it have a 40 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's than those who eat a conventional American diet.

The study conducted by Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, is the first that links a mental benefit to the diet. Scarmeas says he can't pinpoint any particular food, but  thinks that the the diet's high level of antioxidant rich foods may hold the key. Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, professor of cancer prevention and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, who himself adheres to the Mediterranean diet, and has also studied its benefits, points out that it includes  "moderate consumption of alcohol, usually in the form of wine during dinner."

[image: USA Swimming Foundation]

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