Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet
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Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean Diet is considered by many to be the current “gold standard” of healthy eating, and with good reason. With 10,000+ studies underpinning it and counting, it has a pretty hefty weight of evidence.
(For contrast, the Ketogenic Diet for example has under 5,000 studies at time of writing, and many of those include mentioning the problems with it. That’s not to say the Keto is without its merits! It certainly can help achieve some short term goals, but that’s a topic for another day)
Wondering what the Mediterranean Diet consists of? We outlined it in a previous main feature, so here it is for your convenience 😎
To get us started today, we’ll quickly drop some links to a few of those Mediterranean Diet studies from the top:
- Definition of the Mediterranean Diet; a Literature Review
- Mediterranean Diet In Healthy Aging
- Cancer and Mediterranean Diet: A Review
- Impact of Mediterranean Diet on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and Longevity
- Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
- Adherence to Mediterranean diet and health status: meta-analysis
The short version is: it glows, in a good way.
The anti-inflammatory upgrade
One thing about the traditional Mediterranean Diet is… where are the spices?!
A diet focusing on fruits and non-starchy vegetables, healthy oils and minimal refined carbs, can be boosted by adding uses of spices such as chili, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and coriander:
The gut-healthy upgrade:
The Mediterranean Diet already gives for having a small amount of dairy, mostly in the form of cheeses, but this can be tweaked:
Mediterranean diet with extra dairy could be a gut gamechanger
The heart-healthy upgrade
The Mediterranean Diet is already highly recommended for heart health, and it offers different benefits to different parts of cardiovascular health:
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet can boost it further, specifically in the category of, as the name suggests, lowering blood pressure.
It’s basically the Mediterranean Diet with a few tweaks. Most notably, red meat no longer features (the Mediterranean Diet allows for a small amount of red meat), and fish has gone up in the list:
Description of the DASH Eating Plan
The brain-healthy upgrade:
The MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet combines several elements from the above, as the name suggests. It also adds extra portions of specific brain-foods, that already exist in the above diets, but get a more substantial weighting in this one:
MIND and Mediterranean diets linked to fewer signs of Alzheimer’s brain pathology
See also: The cognitive effects of the MIND diet
Enjoy!
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Why Stretching Doesn’t Work After 50 (Unless You Fix These 3 Mistakes)
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Over-50s specialist physio Will Harlow explains the missing knowledge that holds most people back:
How most people err
Three traps to not fall into:
- Not holding long enough: you need at least a 30–60-second hold for each stretch because your Golgi tendon organs desensitize only after around 30 seconds, allowing you to access more range without actually lengthening your muscle fibers.
- Chasing intensity instead of consistency: pushing your stretches to maximum discomfort gives only a short-term benefit, and long-term gains are identical to moderate stretching. In reality, the biggest driver of progress is frequency, such as returning to the same 30-second stretch five times per day so your muscles never fully tighten back to baseline.
- Building flexibility without control: flexibility without strength and control increases injury risk, so every new range should be reinforced with active movement that teaches your body to support that position.
Three exercise do help you do it best:
- Romanian deadlift with a stick: sliding a barbell (or unweighted stick) down your legs while keeping your back straight helps you to improve your hamstring range and the control of your hip hinge by actively using your muscles, rather than relying on passive stretching.
- Wide squat: taking a wide stance and lowering into a comfortable squat improves mobility of your quads and adductors, while also reinforcing strength and control through that deeper range.
- Wall-assisted shoulder lift: walking your hand up a wall, then lightly lifting it off builds mobility and control in your shoulders because you actively move through the range rather than hanging on a passive stretch—and that way you’re much less likely to later injure yourself while getting something from a high shelf!
For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Four Habits That Drastically Improve Mobility
Take care!
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Energize! – by Dr. Michael Breus & Stacey Griffith
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We previously reviewed another book book by Dr. Breus, The Power Of When. So what’s different in this one?
While the chronotypes featured in The Power Of When also feature here (and sufficient explanation is given to make this a fine stand-alone book), this book has a lot to do with metabolism also. By considering a person’s genetically predisposed metabolic rate to be fast, medium, or slow (per being an ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph), and then putting that next to one’s sleep chronotype, we get 12 sub-categories that in this book each get an optimized protocol of sleep, exercise (further divided into: what kind of exercise when), and eating/fasting.
Which, in effect, amounts to a personalized coaching program for optimized energy!
The guidance is based on a combination of actual science plus “if this then that” observation-based principles—of the kind that could be described as science if they had been studied clinically instead of informally. Dr. Breus is a sleep scientist, by the way, and his co-author Stacey Griffith is a fitness coach. So between the two of them, they have sleep and exercise covered, and the fasting content is very reasonable and entirely consistent with current consensus of good practice.
The style is very pop-psychology, and very readable, and has a much more upbeat feel than The Power Of When, which seems to be because of Griffith’s presence as a co-author (most of the book is written from a neutral perspective, and some parts have first-person sections by each of the authors, so the style becomes distinct accordingly).
Bottom line: if you’d like to be more energized but [personal reason why not here] then this book may not fix all your problems, but it’ll almost certainly make a big difference and help you to stop sabotaging things and work with your body rather than against it.
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The Gene-Editing Therapy That Can Halve Your Triglycerides
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Heart disease catches a lot of people by surprise, but it doesn’t have to:
First, let’s have a quick refresher of cholesterol and triglycerides. In few words:
Cholesterol is packaged with triglycerides (the most common type of fat in the body) and specific “apo” proteins into “lipo-proteins” as a package called “very-low-density” lipoproteins (VLDLs).
- These are transported via the blood to body tissue in a form called low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
- Excess cholesterol can be transported back to the liver by high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, for removal from circulation.
Another less talked about blood fat is Lipoprotein-a, or Lp(a). Having a high Lp(a) level is an independent cardiovascular disease risk factor.
For more details and numbers, see:
What is a blood cholesterol ratio? And what should yours be?
Many people, of course, have numbers far from what they should be. Especially common is to see LDL levels that are far too high for good health.
See also: Demystifying Cholesterol
So, what to do about it?
First, understand the causes, because it’s often not actually about foods that are high in cholesterol themselves.
For example:
- Egg yolks are high in cholesterol but have a minimal impact on blood cholesterol
- Saturated and trans fats (as found in fatty meats or dairy, and some processed foods) have a greater influence on LDL levels than dietary cholesterol.
- Learn more: Can Saturated Fats Be Healthy? ← see for example how palm oil and coconut oil are both plant-based, and both high in saturated fat, but palm oil’s is heart-unhealthy on balance, while coconut oil’s is heart-healthy on balance (in moderation).
And on the other hand:
- Fiber-rich foods help lower LDL by affecting fat absorption in the digestive tract
- Learn more: What Matters Most For Your Heart? Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure ← spoiler: it’s fiber
- Unsaturated fats (e.g. from fish, nuts, seeds) have anti-inflammatory benefits
- Learn more: What Omega-3 Fatty Acids Really Do For Us
Next, understand that not all medications will be the right choice for all people.
Statins are a good example of this, as they have potential risks and benefits in general, but as a general rule of thumb, the risks are higher for women and the benefits are higher for men.
For more detail about that, see: Statins: His & Hers?
…which was largely informed by the wealth of data in this book:
The Truth About Statins – by Dr. Barbara H. Roberts
What’s this about gene-editing, then?
The gene-editing technology CRISPR can be used to tweak things so that your body is now genetically predisposed to healthy triglycerides.
At least, that’s what the preliminary trials suggest; larger studies are definitely needed to be sure.
A team of scientists used CRISPR to target the ANGPTL3 gene to permanently reduce LDL cholesterol and triglycerides in patients with lipid disorders that had otherwise remained out of control despite standard therapy.
The study was small: 15 patients (mostly men, with an average age of 53) received a single intravenous infusion of one of five doses (0.1–0.8 mg/kg) of CTX310 and were followed for at least 60 days.
You may be wondering: what is “CTX310”?
And the answer is:
❝a lipid-nanoparticle–encapsulated clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats–Cas9 endonuclease (CRISPR-Cas9) messenger RNA (mRNA)❞
Source: Phase 1 Trial of CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing Targeting ANGPTL3
So to oversimplify that somewhat: it’s a helpful nanotechnology that rewrites part of your DNA.
As for how safe it is: no dose-limiting toxic effects were recorded. However, two serious adverse events (spinal-disc herniation and death from pre-existing cardiovascular disease) occurred, but were deemed unrelated.
As for how well it worked: at the highest doses, ANGPTL3 levels dropped sharply (up to 79%). But that’s the genes, not the consequences.
More useful to know is that LDL cholesterol fell by up to 49% at the 0.5–0.8 mg/kg doses, and triglycerides decreased up to 62%.
You can read a pop-science article about it here: Gene-editing therapy for elevated lipid levels shows promise
Don’t want to do that?
For a gentler approach, check out:
Take care!
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Basil vs Parsley – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing basil to parsley, we picked the parsley.
Why?
You may be thinking: these are just herbs; we don’t eat enough of these for the nutritional values to be relevant!
And to this we say: there’s nothing stopping you :p Herbs are full of flavor and goodness and there is really no reason to deny yourself. On this note, check out the sabzi khordan (traditional Levantine herb platter), linked below. You’ll start thinking about herbs in new ways, and you can thank us later!
So, onwards to the comparisons…
In terms of macros, they are similar aside from that parsley has 2x the fiber, and this scores a first-round win.
In the category of vitamins, basil has more of vitamin B6, while parsley has more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B7, B9, C, E, and K, winning easily in this round too.
Looking at minerals next, basil has more copper, manganese, and selenium, while parsley has more iron, potassium, and zinc, for a tie in this category.
In other considerations, both are good sources of polyphenols, but parsley has more, so that’s another point in parsley’s favor.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for parsley, but by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
- Holy Basil: What Does (And Doesn’t) It Do? ← this is not culinary basil, but it’s an interesting read nevertheless
- 21 Most Beneficial Polyphenols & What Foods Have Them
- Invigorating Sabzi Khordan (A Traditional Levantine Platter Of Herbs & Accompaniments)
Enjoy!
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Mango vs Pomegranate – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing mangos to pomegranate, we picked the pomegranate.
Why?
In terms of macros, pomegranate has more than 3x the fiber, more than 2x the protein, and slightly more carbs, giving it an easy first-round win.
In the category of vitamins, mangos have more of vitamins A, B3, B6, C, and E, while pomegranate has more of vitamins B1, B2, B5, B7, and K, for a 5:5 tie here.
Looking at minerals, mangos have more selenium, while pomegranates have more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, winning easily.
In other considerations, both have plenty of polyphenols, though pomegranate peel specifically has some extra beneficial properties (since the peel is quite tough as-is, it can be steeped for tea, or else dried and ground to a powder for use as a supplement), making this round either a tie or a win for pomegranates, depending on whether or not we count the peel-only benefits.
Either way, adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for pomegranates, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Pomegranate’s Health Gifts Are Mostly In Its Peel
Enjoy!
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The Forgotten Vitamin That Can Help vs Cancer
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When it comes to eating vs cancer, usually the talk is about macros, for example: Eat To Beat Cancer
Indeed, whole books have been written on that, such as The Cancer Code − by Dr. William Fung
However, today we’re going to talk about an important (and vastly underrated) micronutrient:
Why niacin is extra nice
Niacin, also known as vitamin B3, is (like all vitamins) essential to health (part of the definition of “vitamin” is that we would literally die without it).
But most people have only a vague idea of what most vitamins do, with a common level of knowledge probably being something like:
- Vitamin A: good for the eyes
- Vitamin B1: is this for energy?
- Vitamin B2: who knows
- Vitamin B3: it is a mystery
- Vitamin B4: is this a real vitamin?
- Vitamin B5: energy?
- Vitamin B6: energy?
- Vitamin B7: good for skin, hair, & nails
- Vitamin B8: this isn’t a real vitamin
- Vitamin B9: something to do with pregnancy
- Vitamin B10: why so many B-vitamins?
- Vitamin B11: come on, this is too many
- Vitamin B12: energy!
- Vitamin C: skin!
- Vitamin D: bones!
- Vitamin E: skin!
- … (unlikely people think about the possibilities for vitamins F-J)
- Vitamin K: babies need this one, right?
And to quickly address those without getting too side-tracked: no, there are no vitamins B4, B8, B10, or B11, and all of the rest of them while the guesses were right, they had other important uses too.
You can learn a lot more here: Which B Vitamins? It Makes A Difference
In that article, we listed some of vitamin B3’s top things to know about:
- Function: aids metabolism, supports skin, nerves, and cholesterol levels
- Forms: niacin (nicotinic acid), niacinamide (nicotinamide), inositol hexanicotinate (flush-free niacin)
- Example foods: whole grains, peanuts (literally the best nut for this)
And now, researchers (Dr. Gloria Urgoiti et al.) tested high-dose controlled-release niacin (vitamin B3) alongside standard glioblastoma (a very common form of cancer) treatment and found very encouraging results!
In numbers:
- The participants: patients aged 18–75 with newly diagnosed glioblastoma received standard treatment plus controlled-release niacin
- The safety: the maximum tolerated dose was found to be 2,000mg/day. At 2,500mg/day, dose-limiting toxicities occurred, including severe thrombocytopenia and elevated bilirubin levels. The most common side effect was flushing, reported in 10 of 15 Phase I participants, with most cases being mild.
- The results: among the first wave of evaluable patients, 82.3% remained free of disease progression at 6 months (progression-free survival at six months, or “PFS-6M”).
- How that compares: historical studies of standard treatment report a six-month progression-free survival rate of about 53.9%.
So, that’s quite a difference!
As to how it works, the answer is, put very simply:
❝Niacin treatment rejuvenates immune cells so they can do what they are supposed to do, attack and kill the cancer cells❞
~ Dr. V. Wee Wong, co-author on the study
Want to learn more?
As for why you might want to favor getting this from food if you can, then while the title says “vitamins”, the following book discusses an assortment of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients; the “other nutrients” category including amino acids (branched chain and essential), prebiotics and probiotics, and triglycerides of various kinds:
Eat Your Vitamins – by Mascha Davis, RDN ← see our review, here
Take care!
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