 Hi guys, I'm Dr. Ahmed Ergen. I'm a physician, I'm an endocrinologist and a diabetes education specialist. Now finally, I am talking about the Mediterranean diet because you guys asked for it. I'm telling you that this diet is the best diabetic diet, even better than the keto diet. This video will help your diabetes and help you live a longer, fuller life with less inflammatory disorders and heart problems while eating the delicious food. Please remember to subscribe, click on the notification bell and share with others before we dive into it. Remember to ask and write comments, we will try to reply as many questions as possible. Let's get started! So what is the Mediterranean diet? In this video, I will tell you what the Mediterranean diet is, why it is so good for your health and diabetes. Finally, we will talk about the specifics in terms of what to eat and what not to eat in this diet. The Mediterranean diet is more of a lifestyle rather than a proportionate strict diet. It is mostly a plant-based diet that prioritizes the whole grain, the vegetables, fruits, the legumes, and the unsaturated fats. This diet was announced as the best diet for healthy eating for like 30 or narrow. Can you believe that? I want to stress the unsaturated fat part because that makes the world's biggest difference in this diet. It separates Mediterranean diet from the keto diet. Unfortunately, in the keto diet, people end up eating many unhealthy fats that do not do any favor for them except for short-term weight loss. I'm sure now you're asking what makes the Mediterranean diet so useful and popular, right? I agree. Let's look into it. Mediterranean diet became famous after researchers uncovered an interesting finding between the two world populations. Overall, that intake in the Crete population is an island in Greece was very similar to people living in Finland, which was approximately around 40% of total energy intake is kind of fat. Now, Crete population has an approximately 30-fold lower rate of heart disease. How's that? Does the fat matter? What kind of fat they matter? Absolutely. High consumption of omega 3 fatty acids, which is mostly found in fish, as well as mono and polyunsaturated fats, such as extra virgin olive oil are your best friend. On the other hand, saturated fats such as hydrogenated oils, the margarine and the butter are the worst. As a result of this, during the last two decades, many studies showed an association between Mediterranean diet and reduced risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and so forth. Also, the same studies showed that Mediterranean diet can reduce chronic diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. So, what are the main pillars of Mediterranean diet? Well, the foundation of Mediterranean diet is vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, beans, and whole grains. Of course, seafood and extra virgin olive oil, meals are built around these plant-based foods. Modern amounts of dairy, poultry, and eggs are okay, and the bread meat is the least popular in this Mediterranean diet. Now, it is only allowed maybe twice a month, but when it comes to red meat though, the cow is the cow is the least popular animal for the red meat. And we'll explain why shortly. So, what are the popular vegetables then? Right? So, I think sticking to a non-starchy vegetable group is best for my diabetic patients, mostly regular or, you know, occasional sweet potato, but that's the worst-case scenario. I would mostly recommend dark leafy greens such as kale, beet greens, brussel sprouts, mustard greens, color greens, artichokes, beets, broccoli is good, cucumber is great, eggplant, mushrooms, radishes, they're all delicious things, right? And of course, onions. So, why the extra virgin olive oil is so valuable? What's the point, right? So, why is the olive oil is so important? Well, it's the primary source of fat in Mediterranean diet. So, olive oil produces mono-unsaturated, unsaturated fats, which has been found to lower total cholesterol, as well as your LDL, which is your bad cholesterol. So, you're eating fat, your cholesterol goes down with the extra virgin olive oil. So, it's been recognized as mono-unsaturated fatty acids found in an extra virgin olive oil, as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids found in the fish contribute to the beneficial effects of that Mediterranean diet, and then the risk reduction in that creed population that we just discussed recently. And remember, they're eating 40% fat in their diet and mostly extra virgin olive oil. And their cardiovascular risk and diabetes risk is very low. So, what's the key takeaway here? So, replace your butter and margarine with healthy oils such as olive oil, canola oil, uses oils for cooking, and you can lightly spread the olive oil on some whole grain breads. Be careful though, as a diabetic. And then, in case it's very important, right? So, in Spain, consumption of fish is approximately four times greater than what we consume in the United States. Does it tell you something? Unfortunately, most commonly used oil in the United States is soybean oil, which is rich in omega-6 fatty acids. On the other hand, the Mediterranean populations tend to consume a larger amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids of marine origin, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. And of course, scientists believe that the omega-6 is mainly a pro-inflammatory inflammation inducing. On the other hand, omega-3 is anti-inflammatory, so you can figure the rest. Now, let's talk about nuts a little bit. Higher intakes of nuts and extra virgin olive oil also has been found scientifically to lower type 2 diabetes risk. So, mention nuts when you're bored instead of chips and buttered popcorns and so forth. Nuts and seeds are also contained a lot of mono-unsaturated fats. Now, remember, remember the word minimally processed. The essence of Mediterranean diet is minimally processed foods such as fresh vegetables and fruits. Vital, you have to consume three to five times a day. These are consumed as desserts in the Mediterranean diet, fruits and so forth. So, of course, you have to watch for high glycemic index fruits such as grapes and melons and so forth. As long as you're having small portions of it, it should not give you a huge problem even if you're diabetic. So, there is no room for pastry or bakery products or ice cream or any processed desserts in Mediterranean diet unless they are made from whole grains or multigrain, etc. So, what about the animal meat? So, this is for you, steak and potato people. This is for you. Red meat should be consumed not more than twice a month. Now, hold on. Don't go anywhere yet. I'm not done. I was just going to tell you that not every red meat is the same. So, in Mediterranean countries, red meats are mainly from goats and sheep, which provide a higher content of medium chain fatty acids that are much less risky than the long chain fatty acids that are found in the red meat from cows. So, you may want to get a little taste for sheep and goat if you really want to stick to your red meat. Now, dairy fans, you can relax. Low to moderate amount of dairy is okay. Also, remember that the higher levels of medium chain fatty acids, which are the good fatty acids or less risky fatty acids found in the goat and sheep versus the cow's milk, which is rich in long chain fatty acids. So, not surprisingly, the Mediterranean countries in those countries, they don't necessarily drink milk. They process those milk into yogurt and cheese and they consume in their regard even butter and then they always use sheep and goat milk to do that. So, it's a wise idea to generally stay away from milk, especially if the milk is whole milk from a cow's milk and stick to your yogurt and cheese, at least during the process. Some of the fatty chains convert into medium chain fatty acids, which is better. But the best thing you can do is sticking to dairy made from sheep milk or goat milk. To recap, the main components of the Mediterranean diet include the daily vegetables and fruits, whole grains, if you're going to have brain or flour, healthy fats mostly from fish, whole tree is fine, extra virgin olive oil, limit your red meat intake. Of course, the sweets are going to be your fruits, not necessarily desserts like processed desserts. Nuts are great snacks. Olive oil is your primary fat and canola oil is acceptable. And then low to moderate amount of dairy intake, especially from goat and sheep. Alcohol can be consumed in the form of like a wine in the low to moderate amount such as one to two glass a night. Herbs and spices are favored instead of salt and you can have as much protein as you want as long as they're not high in saturated fats like skinless chicken, beans, nuts. They're all good sources. Now fish, you have to have at least twice a week and choose the tuna, salmon, trout, mackerel, herring, whatever is is in your country, but mostly these fish are the most valuable. So when we choose red meat, as we said, choose the lean cuts and if that's not available, try to stick with the red meat that's not coming from the cows. So what are the things you should never eat in Mediterranean diet? Okay, so don't eat these things. Don't eat any sugar like sweetened beverages, added sugars, processed meats, refined grains, highly processed foods, they'll be from those things. I mean, if you're going for shopping, go for olive oil always. You can do fresh fruit and vegetables as much as you like, the dark leafy greens such as kale, beet, greens, mustard, you name it, collard greens and lentils. I love lentil soup. That's amazing. I mean, I have it at least once a week. Other vegetables in that region is artichokes, beets. Oh my god, beets is so good for your blood pressure is unbelievable and the energy. Broccoli, cucumber, eggplants, my favorite, mushrooms, radishes, onions. Onions has to be pretty much in every meal in my opinion. So fish is extremely important. Stick with, again, try to buy mackerel, herring, sour beans, albacortuna, salmon, leg trout, they're all good. They're all rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Now you can use faro instead of rice because it's also a very nice nutty grain that can replace your rice and also you can use bulgur, B-U-L-G-U-R. That's also a correct wheat. You can make it pull off of that and couscous is okay and those kind of things are okay as long as you keep a portion control. When shopping for whole grains, look for the term whole, right? Whole grain at the front of the package and the ingredient list. It should be the first ingredient listed. When it comes to legumes, one of the most prevalent pulses in Mediterranean cuisine is the chickpea which is whipped into generally hummus and falafel and they toss into salads and so forth. Lentils are commonly used in soups or stews. They're super tasty. You can give a lot of fibrin protein. These lentils are very mighty legumes. Black-eyed beans, kidney beans, can make salads. You can drizzle with olive oil. You can do some lemon on top of it and nuts and seeds are as your best snacks basically. So you need to really, really plan for it when you're shopping especially. Common condiment on the coastline of the Mediterranean sea is tahini which I love made from ground sesame seeds mostly famously used in the hummus as well. It's a very versatile condiment. You can make salad dressing and so forth. You can make sauces, dressings. You can spoon over the rows of veggies and you name it. And the canned tomatoes are good. Whole diced stewed whatever. Tomatoes are a good source of vegetables. So it's actually a fruit but it's used in most Mediterranean dishes. Again the Greek yogurt and your cheeses that are not made from cow milk is great. There are a couple foods you should again never eat. Never touch soda, never touch candies, ice cream, table sugar, white bread, pasta and anything that's made from a refined wheat. Just don't touch it. There are a lot of trans fats and margarine and like a lot of like stuff that's made from soybeans and cut-and-seed oil and so forth. These are all refined oils so you have to stay away from those things. Again the sausages, hot dogs, oh god I'm actually I can't even eat those things anymore. So these are highly processed and try to look for the low fat things if you are going to have that you know red meat and so forth. But you know guys we're gonna come up with some recipes for you. Make sure you subscribe and make sure you turn on the notification so you do not miss any of our videos. As you know we are processing and publishing three videos a week so I hope that's helpful for you. We'll see you in the next video.