Diet or Lifestyle?

I'm kinda nuts about running (and maybe getting there with biking).  But in a good way of course.  Beyond the spiritual transformation and miracle that took place in my life in 2006, I underwent a physical transformation in 2007-08, shedding over 100 pounds.  Many of those that knew me during that time, and even people that have only known me as the current model, ask for me to reveal the "secret" or "trick" to losing 100 lbs.  Most are then severely disheartened when I reply with "close your mouth and exercise!"

Of course there was a change in diet, but that was really a secondary aspect, resulting in my desire to run.  My diet at the time left me feeling sluggish and in constant hunger.  Cutting greasy food, excessive red meat, heavily processed foods, soda, and most sugary items left me feeling ready to get out and exercise, even at the end of a 10-12 hour day at the office.

All this sounds pretty tough, and maybe it is at the beginning, but it's really a change in lifestyle.  After living a month eating healthy and exercising, I no longer had the desire to go back to all the junk.

I appreciated the take of this doctor about the "Mediterranean Diet."  I think she has lots of good things to say about what diet, eating, and meals used to be a couple generations ago.  And she definitely gets it that fad's aren't the trick that most people are looking for to shave some pounds.

...It is about the values, habits, relationships, quality of how food is grown and the quantity of how food consumed by these particular groups -- not just how or what they eat. A point that is often missed by the media is that health is not isolated to one's diet. The whole health of an individual is about the physical, emotional, nutritional, environmental and even spiritual components that create our overall state of health. Our dietary choices and habits can be seen as a metaphor of what the overall or whole picture of that individual's health is expressing. We eat how we think, feel, work and behave, all of which are influenced by our environment, values, age, financial and education levels and even by our gender. [I would add spiritual to this as well.]

Beyond just nutritional health, the Mediterranean Diet promotes a way of living that includes the following components, which could explain the positive health benefits.


Intense physical activity that includes work and all its forms of movement; farming, building, planting, gardening, dancing, sports, house work, child care or any activity that provides a non-sedentary daily routine.

 The Medditerrenean Diet: It's Not Just About Food - Georgianna Donadio, MSc, Ph.D., D.C.

She goes on to list some aspects of the Medditerrenean lifestyle that go along with the diet.  I especially enjoy some of her concluding remarks, one of which is as follows:

What is missing from many "nutrition books of the week" is the organic, common sense understanding that the food we eat is just part of a multi-faceted set of choices we make in how we choose to live and behave. Many of these choices are based on our personal and collective social values.