• Eating saturated fat can cause heart disease and cancer. Now research
indicates that saturated fat has no relationship to these diseases.
• Eggs are bad because of their high cholesterol content. Now research
indicates that eggs contain nutrients that may help lower the risk for heart
disease.
• Cholesterolrich food, such as shellfish, should be greatly limited since it
may negatively affect blood levels. Now research indicates that
cholesterol in food has little to no relationship to cholesterol levels in the
bloodstream.
• Polyunsaturated vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, are healthy. Now
research indicates that polyunsaturated oils may contain the deadly trans
fats that can clog arteries and promote cancer.The Mediterranean Diet
All this misinformation about low-fat diets has certainly left you
confused. Maybe you decided to follow the Mediterranean diet that
everybody is raving about and that many fad diets try to imitate. Poultry,
seafood, olive oil, 7 to 11 servings of whole grains a day, and a few drinks
of alcohol a week, what have you got to lose? After all, health experts all
seem to agree that the Mediterranean diet is the best diet for all of us to
follow. I disagree.
If you follow the Mediterranean diet to its core, the heart benefits and
cancer prevention are quite real. But the biggest difference between the
Perfect 10 Diet and the Mediterranean diet is the goal. The Perfect 10 Diet
is designed for you to lose weight. The Mediterranean is not. In fact, the
Mediterranean diet will make you fat.
I mentioned earlier that the United States is number 1 in the world in
obesity, but Greece is number 5 (Fig. 2.8). That’s right, number 5. The
Mediterranean diet is too high in grains. The Seven Countries Study I
mentioned earlier that shone the light on the Mediterranean diet was done
on farmers who worked in the fields all day long. So if you want to quit
your day job and hit the gym 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, be my guest. If
so, you should do just fine on the Mediterranean diet. If not, you are on
your way to becoming fat.
The Mediterranean diet with its excess alcohol is also bad for your
hormones. One to two alcoholic beverages a day is healthy? Really?
Alcohol may be good for the heart, but I want you to stay sober, not get the
chance to join AA. Alcohol interferes with normal sugar metabolism and