Mediterranean Diet ~ A Taste of Greece

Okay, time to fess up. . .our time in Greece has seemed an almost non-stop Food Festival.

New flavors. New dishes. New settings. Far too many temptations. Our houseguests usually ask at some point during their visits, 'Do you ever eat at home?' as we race them from one eatery to another trying to show all of our favorites in a short span of time.

We do eat at home, but with so many good eats at affordable -- often ridiculously inexpensive -- prices, we've found ourselves eating out often and soaking up the spirit of dining here.

An array of mezes are offered BEFORE the main course at this taverna

That time honored ritual of eating - not the grab-a-bite-and-be-on-our-way kind-- but that which  makes dining an event is still very real in Greece. A 2015 article in The Atlantic magazine examining the rituals of eating could have been written about dining in Greece:

'How food is experienced has everything to do with the decor, 
with the rituals surrounding the meal, with the company, 
and with the experience.'

Dinner out in the village - good food and good friends 

Going out to dinner -- or even out to lunch here -- can span several hours of savoring tastes, soaking in the atmosphere, and engaging in conversation with your dining companions or even folks you know who might be passing by your street side table.

Summer nights in the village the road closes to accommodate taverna diner

The Mediterranean Diet - Greek-style

The Mediterranean Diet

In general the diet consists of fruits and vegetables, 

beans and nuts,

healthy grains,

fish

olive oil

small amounts of meat and dairy

and . . .red wine!

The 'Mediterranean Diet' is one inspired by the eating habits of Greece, Southern Italy and Spain in the 1940's and 1950's. Those fresh, healthy foods that made up the diet then remain a centerpiece of Greek eats today.

If you've traveled in Greece you know that the flavors and menu offerings vary by region. So while the food items may appear to be the same, the regional influences: spices, preparation and cooking make each dining experience different. Take, for example, our trip to the island of Spetses that I told you about last week. It is only 4.5 hours from our home, and basic menu items appear to be 'like home', but the preparation made the flavors delightfully different.

A typical order of fish

Fish, (which most people seem to think we eat all the time) is a key part of a Mediterranean diet. So, true confession: we seldom eat fish in Greece. Its presentation and cost doesn't appeal. It is usually served whole, and grilled looking much like the one in the photo above. It is sold by the kilo (1 kilo is 2.2.pounds) price, so a whole fish could cost 55 to 60 euros. You could eat several full meals without fish for the price of a single fish.

Marinated anchovies, mussels in mustard sauce, Spetses-style fish, dessert

However, we did eat seafood in Spetses: the presentation, the variety, the flavors and prices all appealed. The collage above shows a selection of foods served to us during our stay on this small Saronic island. The white anchovies (no bones) were marinated in lemon sauce and olive oil, the mussels in a mustard sauce make my mouth-water just writing the words, the Spetses-style fish was a white fish smothered in a red sauce, almost a stew of vegetables, and far more interesting than a whole fish on a plate. The complimentary dessert was a baked apple, scoop of ice cream and philo dough bites.

A pitcher of our fresh-pressed olive oil

So aside from not eating fish regularly you would think that living and dining in the Land of the Mediterranean Diet would keep us fit, trim and healthy, wouldn't you?

Not quite! In February we faced the fact that it wasn't the camera angles, it wasn't the clothes shrinking, it wasn't our bathroom scales or the doctor's office blood tests being out-of-whack: we were having a wee bit too much of a Food Festival. Yes, too much of a good thing can be, too much. And we admit we weren't really eating that healthy version of a Mediterranean diet. After all, those yummy oregano-flavored potato chips, just don't fit the diet's intent. . .

The Ancient Greeks nailed it: In all Things Moderation

So we set out to change our eating: we gave up foods made with refined sugar and flour (pastas and breads and baked goods) and cut back on carbs (potatoes, potato chips and crackers) and passed on the desserts, with a fruit plate being an exception. We refreshed our Mediterranean diets by mixing in a bit of the Keto diet and the Glycemic Load diet philosophies.

You might say we are following the advice of Ancient Greeks who sang the praises of moderation.

Mushrooms stuffed with cheese, green salad 

'Observe due measure, moderation is best in all things,' 

              -- Greek poet Hesiod.

Mediterranean salad with Balsamic dressing and Greek cheese

'We should pursue and practice moderation.'

-- Plato, philosopher.

Grill plate with tomatoes, not potatoes

'Moderation, the noblest gift of Heaven'

--Euripides, Greek playwright.

A meze of fava beans topped with roasted tomatoes, capers,garlic and olive oil

We still drink those 'miso kilos' (pitchers) of Greek wine and we still dine out often. We indulge in a bite-sized piece of dark chocolate regularly. We've found that switching potatoes to tomatoes is quite easy and passing up bread isn't a sacrifice. We've substituted cucumber and zucchini slices for crackers and potato chips at home. We've not sworn off any food completely, allowing guilt-free indulgences every so often. We don't consider ourselves 'dieting'.  Yet, we've each lost 12 pounds.

Kali Orexi

Kali Orexi, means literally, 'good appetite' but is often the wish offered to diners as food is served in Greece, meaning 'have a good meal'.  

A meze dinner is our favorite kind of meal

And having a good meal  isn't hard to do in Greece even when you've modified your eating habits! The photo above shows a recent dinner at a restaurant in Stoupa, our neighboring village. From the top left,tomato balls and a yogurt dip, Mani sausage (orange flavored) with horta (greens instead of potatoes), sautéed mushroom, and oven-baked garbanzo beans with a cheese topping.

With a wish that many of you get a chance to taste the real flavors of Greece one day while sitting at a harbor-side taverna or a sleek 5-star restaurant, we'll sign off for this week. We thank you for the time you spent with us today and look forward to being back next week when we will be back to talking travel.

Linking this week with:

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday

Travel Tuesday: Tips and Tidbits

I’ve got a couple health- and fitness-related travel topics this week so without further fanfare, let’s get started:

The ‘Eyes’ Have It. . .

This one is for all you contact lens wearing travelers of a ‘certain age’ (40 is usually when the telltale signs start appearing):  the small print seems to be getting smaller and a bit more blurred each time you try to read your passport or credit card numbers and trying to read the small print on a map is more daunting than getting lost. . .could it be time
for those 'readers' on sale everywhere from grocery to book stores?


One more thing to add to that carry-on bag already is stuffed with documents, medicines, prescription glasses, contact lens case/solution and sunglasses?

I’ve worn gas permeable contact lenses for decades and in the last couple years even the ‘bi-focal’ types weren’t quite doing the job. . .that is until  my optometrist asked me if I’d try out a different type of lens. Another patient of hers, a flight attendant, had tried them and was singing their praises, so I agreed.

That was nearly a year ago.  I waited this long to write about them just to make sure they weren't too good to be true. I couldn’t believe the improved visual acuity - and comfort. (Their only drawback is that like all gas permeable/hard lenses I've worn, they do tend to dry out on long airplane flights.) The smallest of print (including those microscopic numbers on the back corner of the credit cards) are as easy to read as is seeing the far distant stuff. In fact, both of my distances are now a smidgen better than 20/20 -- a real plus when focusing the camera! 


It took a few extra visits to get the fit right because the lenses are weighted to keep the close-up at the bottom and distance at the top – so they have to fit the eye well.

If they are of interest and you are in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, I recommend my optomitrist Dr. Pamela J. Bingham at Market Optical in Seattle’s University Village.

And if you are elsewhere, talk to your eye care professional about “TruForm” rigid, gas permeable lenses.  (I read on the company web site that they even make multi-focal lenses!)


Serving up and Repacking the D2G. . .Diet to Go: 

Three years ago on TravelnWrite we sang the praises of the “Glycemic Load Diet” developed by Seattle cardiologist, Dr. Rob Thompson. We bought his book, tried out his eating recommendations and found the recipes were incredible good and it was a perfect fit for travelers.

So easy to follow when traveling that we called it the D2G; our Diet to Go. Some may even recall the guest post Dr. Thompson wrote for TravelnWrite. If you missed it, click this  link. 

My physical that year showed not only had I lost weight (13 pounds) but my bad cholesterol levels had dropped significantly, as had blood sugar and everything else that gets monitored - despite four-months of living out of a suitcase; drinking and eating on-the-road. (And I was no longer blaming cruise ship photographers for 'making me look fat!')

Fast forward. . .if you saw the post a few weeks ago, A Taste of the World, you know without me telling you that we – me, in particular – slipped off that D2G wagon. A big burger in Arizona, an Australian Pie in Sydney, a basket of bread here and a serving of French fries there and maybe just a tiny bit of dessert. . . The results of an annual physical a few weeks ago showed the bad cholesterol had skyrocketed and a few pounds had returned, despite a regular exercise program both at home and on the road.

So, the new year has begun with D2G once again, our traveling companion.

Instead of that deep fried bacon cheeseburger I told you about in December, take note of the above veggie burger on a whole grain bun with more veggies at the side and red wine (which is allowed on the D2G).  I had this at one of our favorite places, Todd English’s P.U.B. at Crystals in City Center, Las Vegas last week.


That’s it for this week’s Travel Tuesday – the day we share any  new tips related to travel.   How about you?  What new discoveries have you made for travel. . . Health and fitness?  Packing? . . .Ways to save money on travel?  Let us know in the comment section below or send us an email.

Disclosure:  We received no compensation for recommending the contact lenses, Dr. Bingham, Market Optical or the 'Glycemic Load Diet'. (Although if you order the book from Amazon using the link in the post, we make a few pennies; we'll get paid when we have $10 worth of pennies, about 2050 by my calculations.)  We simply think all are worth recommending! 

Linking up with Marcia Mayne's Inside Journeys Foodie Tuesday.

D2G: The Gourmet Galley Gauntlet

“Homemade meatballs and fettuccine, hold the fettuccine, and a side of broccoli, please,”  I said one evening to our waiter in the Celebrity Solstice Grand Epernay dining room.
He lowered his notepad and asked, “Hold the fettuccine? You don’t want the pasta?!” 

He'd heard me correctly.  Our D2G, (Diet to Go) had met its challenge with the gourmet (mouth-watering-want-one-of-everything) array of food we had on our transatlantic crossing.

Before you start rolling your eyes, about passing up that pasta, let me assure you we ate. . .and ate. . .and ate a lot on the cruise.  Celebrity -- perhaps even more than other cruise lines we've been on -- seemed to emphasize quality – not quantity. Although we could have ordered multiples of each meal and been served them, (that's the way it works on cruise ships) we opted for single servings; each which appeared looking like a culinary work of art (lamb shank below):


But our Diet to Go, D2G,  (see earlier posts for D2G details) made it easy to navigate through the gourmet gauntlet the culinary staff created.  All we did was to modify some little things:

• like sending away the basket of bread that appeared at dinner and skipping pastas every so often;
• skipping the 'traditional' brewskie we shared before dinner on previous cruises;
• and skipping dessert most nights and satisfying the sweet tooth with the candy we found on our pillow each night;
• ordering breakfast from room service for automatic portion control (no temptations from the Lido buffet).

What we did do:

• we drank wine – lots of wine,( more than we would have at home).  
• We ate chocolate and nuts.
• We visited the Gelateria - once - each ordering one scoop and several times drank luscious latte's at the adjacent coffee shop, Al Bacio, next door.
• Actually ate the fruit from that bottomless fruit basket they provided in our cabin
• We headed to the Lido deck's salad bars for lunch.
• And we ate huge amounts in the two specialty restaurants we tried while on board (these places have a surcharge). The photo below was taken in Murano as the sommelier advised us on the wine we should drink with our meal.

That Cote du Rhone she recommended paired perfectly with Murano’s fillet Mignon:

We dined so well in the regular dining room (like frog leg appetizers) that it was hard to leave for another specialty place but we did; and, in the Tuscan Grill, restaurant had fillet Mignon with horseradish flavored mashed potatoes (yes, we each ate some of the potato - not to mention a dessert).

While in port it was easy to get the 35 minutes a day of exercise that we needed on 'the diet' but we had nine days at sea so we made this place a regular morning stop.
  

So six-months into our culinary journey. . . we report SUCCESS: 

• Joel came back from the trip weighing 2 pounds less and I had lost 1 pound. 
• Total pounds lost: Jackie 12 and Joel 6. (We would likely have lost more had we not been traveling and 'fudging a bit' but then that wasn't the purpose of the D2G anyway).

In full disclosure, Celebrity hosted our dinner  in Murano – we paid only for the wine. We paid the full tab in  Tuscan Grill.
Those wanting to know more about the basis of the D2G, should check the Glycemic Load Diet book by Dr. Rob Thompson on the Amazon carousel on the right hand corner of the blog homepage. (More disclosure: if you buy the book from the carousel, we make 40-cents!)

Diet to Go, Goes Hawaiian

Hawaiian Plate Lunch

Hawaiian 'plate lunch', Hawaiian bread. Hawaiian style potato chips. . .oh, the tasty memories of trips gone by.

Our Diet to Go will be put to a test in Hawaii, although thanks to Dr. Rob Thompson's guest post (see "Pack the Chocolate and Nuts"), I've already been lusting for those dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts found in nearly every Hawaiian souvenir shop.

Doing things Differently

Actually our first test of new travel eating was our short holiday trip to Las Vegas. We didn't lose weight, but we came back weighing just a blip more than we did when we left - unlike our usual 2 - 3 pound gain.

But we did do things differently - just a bit of behavior modification:

• We took a jar of peanuts and a bag of dried cranberries for in-room snacks. (Turned out to be a smart idea as I searched the gift shop at the Suncoast, and the nearby J.W. Marriott but neither offered  'healthy snacks' -- plenty of pretzels and potato chips, crackers and cookies -- but nothing like bags of snacking veggies/fruit or yogurt to-go-type products. And, there was no grocery store within walking distance.) 
• We gave up our usual giant cookie and coffee mid afternoon snack for coffee and a yogurt parfait from the deli in the Suncoast. (Turned out to be so good, we had it for breakfast the next day).
• We ordered the coffee shop's special breakfast one morning, but substituted at no extra charge a fruit cup for the hash browns and toast that normally came with it. (Now that was a first for this potato lover!)

As we leave for Hawaii I am down 6 pounds and Joel down 5 (without suffering through our traditional 3-day-starvation plan). We don't plan to lose weight while in Aloha Land but hopefully not gain either.
We will see. . .

A Diet to Go: Pack the Nuts and Chocolate!

 We are taking a "Diet to Go" approach to travel this year. Or call it a 'culinary journey' into a new way of eating when living out of our suitcases. We will follow  -- okay, to be honest, we may not be able to follow quite to the letter, but we will try to be close --  the plan outlined in the book, "Glycemic Load Diet" by Seattle cardiologist Dr. Rob Thompson, who is on staff  at Swedish Medical Center.
We thank Dr. Thompson for writing the following guest post:

Think you’ll gain weight on your vacation?

If you’re off to one of those lie-around-the-pool ones, you could be right.

However, if you’re planning on sightseeing in Europe, you might be surprised. There’s something about the relaxation, daily walking and complex cuisine that seems to make us Americans shed a few pounds.

Here are a few tips that will bring you home a little slimmer:

1. Pack plenty of nuts.
When you travel, hunger often strikes at times when your choices of food are limited. Instead of resorting to starchy snacks or building up a voracious appetite, have some nuts. They’re satisfying, full of protein, fiber and omega-3 fats, and contain little starch or sugar. They’ll keep you going until you can sit down and have a real meal.

2. Eat Tasty Food.
Call them baguettes or call them pommes frites, but they’re still just white bread and French fries – mainly tasteless starch that turns to sugar as soon as it hits your digestive tract. Surely, you want to eat more exciting food than bread dough and potatoes when you’re in Europe. Put the chef to work. Enjoy complex dishes made with the fresh ingredients of the region -- meats, poultry, seafood, cheeses, fruit and vegetables.

3. Bring Fine Chocolate.
Good chocolate will satisfy that after-dinner sweet tooth, and help you avoid the calories and expense of full desserts. You can even carry some with you and sneak little with your after-dinner coffee. A couple squares has negligible effects on your blood sugar, especially if it’s dark chocolate. I never leave home without it.

Can you believe it?! Chocolates and nuts. . .I might actually be able to do it! For more details about the diet, Dr. Thompson's book, Glycemic Load Diet, can be found on the Amazon.com carousel on our home page. He is also author of, The New Low-Carb Way of Life. We will post periodic updates on our progress and additional tips as the year goes along. 

A Diet to Go: Our 2011 Culinary Journey

"You are making  us look too fat and old," Joel replied to the cruise ship photographer, when the perky 20-something asked, "How about a photo of you two this morning?"

Those cruise ship photos -- displayed for all your fellow cruisers to see and in hopes you'll purchase -- are brutally frank ~ relentless reminders of the passage of years and how travel has expanded more than our horizons.

We can't do much about the passage of time other than to enjoy it, but 2011 is the year we are taking a new culinary journey (that's a euphemism for diet).

Oh yes. . .there was Paris. . .sigh

For years we've been yo-yo travel dieters: employing a three-day starvation-type diet to drop five pounds before a trip; then eating with wild abandon while traveling; and returning to the dreaded three-day diet.

Shortly after our cruise we dined with a traveling friend who showed up at the table some 20+ pounds less than he was last year. (During which time he's spent several weeks in Spain and made numerous trips in the U.S. and to Canada.) He credited the weight loss to a book his doctor had recommended. He'd followed the plan it outlined, saying it didn't seem like a diet. 

And that was music to our pudgy little ears.
We ordered the book*. 
We read it.
Hmmm. . .chocolate and wine in moderation is okay.
Just need to curb (well, I think it sort of recommends, eliminate or reduce significantly or something that means eat less of) those sugars and starches - potatoes, bread and pasta. Dang! The same thing my doctor told me to do two years ago.
We decided to give it a try.
We began our  culinary journey in mid November.

Even with Christmas, New Year's and a trips to Savannah and Las Vegas, we've each lost five pounds. And we haven't suffered - we snack, we eat and we drink, just a bit differently than before. Our friend was right, it doesn't seem like a diet.

Paris chocolate shop. . . maybe

But what happens when we really hit the road? 
Or set sail on a cruise?
That remains to be seen.
I'll be telling you about it as the year progresses.

* The book is, "The Glycemic Load Diet" (MacGraw Hill publishers, 2006) by Dr. Rob Thompson, a Seattle cardiologist in private practice who is on staff at Swedish Hospital Medical Center.  Watch for his guest post later this week.  You can sneak a peek at the book by clicking the link or on the book displayed on the Amazon carousel on the blog's home page.

And a reminder: Just as our mode of travel isn't for everyone so goes the diet.  We are telling our story, not promoting any one diet over another. As with all health matters, do what your health care professional and you decide is best for you.