Ultimate Guide to the Mediterranean Cooking and Eating

I was recently sent a couple of books to review for the food blog and I’m getting a lot of mileage out of each of them:

• The Everything Mediterranean Diet Book: All you need to lose weight and stay healthy!

• The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book

In today’s post, I just want to focus on the first book.   We’ll serve up the Raw food tomorrow (trust me, you’re going to be impressed).

First of all, I have to say I LOVE The Everything… Series of books.  I’ve bought more of these books over the years than I can even begin to count.  Seriously, if there’s ever a subject you want to know more about, head to the bookstore (or to my favorite online destination, Amazon) and find The Everything book dealing with that subject.

Below are just a few of the zillions of subjects this series of books covers:

• College Cooking
• Fondue Party
• Lactose-Free Cooking
• Low-Salt Cooking
• Health Guide to Thyroid Disease
• Low Cholesterol Book
• Reflexology Book
• Stress Management Book
• Civil War Book
• Candlemaking Book
• Cat Book
• Coin Collecting
• Cooking for Dogs
• Green Living Book
• Tex-Mex Cookbook (the next one I’m buying!)
• Feng Shui
• Guides to Writing
• Countless Parenting Books
• Foreign Language Guides
• Travel Guides
• Wedding Books
• Writing Guides
• Psychology Book
• Etc, etc, etc.

I just wanted to give you a little idea of all the books in the series because I’m a “Learning Junkie” and book publishers like this make my life easier.

I have to say, I’ve always been fascinated by the Mediterranean Diet and the Mediterranean way of cooking and eating. What some people may not realize is that when we talk about the Mediterranean Diet, we aren’t talking about a stifling, 1/2 a grapefruit and 1/2 wheat toast for breakfast, broth and 1 boiled egg for lunch… type of restricted diet. No, no, a thousand times no. Believe me, I love food so much, I wouldn’t give anything like that the time of day!

The Mediterranean Diet is all about eating fresh, colorful, healthy, magnificent food. Part of my fascination with this type of eating lies in what it can do for you. I have written at length about the benefits of The Mediterranean Diet on my Self Help Blog (Self Help Daily) and my Mental Fitness Blog (Out of Bounds). The foods featured in The Mediterranean Diet are beneficial for your heart’s health, you waistline, your brain’s health, longevity, and just about every other corner of your life you can think of.

From page 3 of The Everything Mediterranean Diet Book: All you need to lose weight and stay healthy!:

Interest in the Mediterranean diet grew when scientists noted that people in the Mediterranean area had lower incidences of several diseases, but especially heart disease. Searching for the source of this lowered risk resulted in the examination of the lifestyles of those who live in the Mediterranean. Upon observation of lifestyle, the diet was an obvious point of review. The Mediterranean diet, while plant plentiful, is also rich in olive oil, a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. In addition to using olive oil for cooking, the Mediterranean diet has limited intake of solid or animal fats like lard. These factors are the likely cause of the diet’s impact on reduced risk of heart disease. While the diets of people in Mediterranean countries vary, the evidence related to health promotion is consistent throughout the region. To accommodate the varying eating patterns of the different countries, a multitude of Mediterranean food pyramids exist. The pyramids all reflect a similar look, with lots of plant foods, but each has a unique twist to represent the cuisine of the country. With this variety of pyramids, what constitutes a Mediterranean diet can be confusing, but a close look makes it clear that Mediterranean diets, no matter which cuisine they represent, are built around plant foods. – Page 3

On the next page, the reader is given a detailed Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, followed by many pages devoted to telling the reader why each step of the pyramid is crucial to good health. As I said before, I’ve been fascinated with this style of cooking and eating for a lot of years but this is the most concise, detailed, and thorough guide I’ve read. The authors don’t just lay it all out, they lay it out within reach of the reader!

The Everything Mediterranean Diet Book: All you need to lose weight and stay healthy! is more of an education than just a book/cookbook. I truly hope you’ll grab a copy and devote yourself to feeding your family and yourself the healthiest foods possible.

Below is one of the many amazing recipes from the book. We always have an abundance of zucchini and squash from our garden, so we’ll be having a lot of these this summer and fall! If I can convince my husband to put out some eggplant, we’ll really be set.

Vegetable Pita with Feta Cheese (page 228)

1 eggplant, sliced into 1/2″ pieces (lengthwise)
1 zucchini, sliced into 1/2″ pieces (lengthwise)
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 red onion, cut into 1/3″ rings
1 teaspoon virgin olive oil
fresh-cracked black pepper, to taste
6 whole-wheat pita bread
3 ounces feta cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Brush the sliced vegetables with oil and place on a racked baking sheet.  Sprinkle with black pepper.  Roast until tender.  (The vegetables can be prepared the night before – – – refrigerate; reheat or bring to room temperature before roasting.)
3. Slice a 3″ opening in the pitas to gain access to the pockets.  Toast the pitas if desired.  Fill the pitas with the cooked vegetables.  Add cheese to each and serve.

Click HERE now to read more about this exceptional book. You’ll love it!