Mediterranean diet or Paleolithic diet – you choose March 11, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in paleo diet.Tags: mediterranean diet, paleo diet
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I read a post yesterday at one of my favourite blogs the advanced mediterranean diet blog. Ive always felt that if I was ever to go off paleo it would be along the lines of this diet. There are some commonalities such as lots of monounsaturated fats, fish and vegetables but also some differences mainly in the form of legumes, whole grains and dairy products. But I think both have their merits and are essentially good for health.
However the post talks about a study on a Spanish Ketogenic Diet, which the researchers decided was a mediterranean diet. Over 12 weeks the dieters were placed on a regime of mostly green leafy vegetables, fish, olive oil (main source of fat), along with moderate amounts of meat, fowl, cheese and shellfish. The results were impressive with participants losing around 14 kg or 30 pounds as well as the asssociated health benefits – higher HDL, lower LDL, triglycerides and fasting glucose.
Dr Steve Parker argues that this isn’t a mediterranean diet and I agree. What struck me is how close this comes to a paleo diet. If you take out the cheese and the red wine you basically have paleo! Its a long time since I also saw some fairly impressive results for weight loss in a study. To me this further shows how important it is to stick to the bare basics of what we know is good for us.
Thanks for mentioning my blog, Dr Dan.
I’ve signed up for Dr Cordain’s email newsletter and will continue to follow along on your blog.
About 85% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight. I’m seriously thinking about putting together a Diabetic Mediterranean Diet similar to the Spanish Mediterranean Ketogenic Diet you mention above. Carbohydrates, of course, are a major stimulus to excretion of insulin. And the overweight diabetics and prediabetics are usually insulin-resistant. A low-carb Mediterranean diet might do the trick. But would it still be a Mediterranean diet???
Maybe the paleo diet has already been applied to diabetes. Will research it when time allows.
-Steve
I think your right. I think paleo is pretty much the mediterranean diet without the legumes, wholegrains and dairy. Well that is if you eat a lot of the mediterranean style veges which are my favourite.
Works for me. I basically do Paleo + dairy and red wine and always feel like I’m cheating.
I started including grass-fed, organic cheese to my diet after reading pages upon pages of research on the benefits of Vitamin K2, which is natually found in hard and soft (not processed) cheeses.
For me, a mediterranean diet is simply a paleo diet with the addition of various healthy, yet nutrient dense carbs – wine, dairy, beans, grains.
Perhaps the diet used in the study should be called a Mediterranean – Paleolithic Diet.
Dr. Dan, you had me until you said “they are good for health” Grains, dairy and legumes??? so not paleo and so not good for health. you may want to revisit that statement.