Diet Watch Blog

It’s here.  It’s online.  It’s free.  It’s…

The Diabetic Mediterranean Diet

For the last year I’ve been working on a comprehensive adaptation of the Mediterranean diet for people with type 2 diabetes.  Why?  Type 2 diabetics are prone to premature heart attacks, strokes, dementia, and death.  The Mediterranean diet, at least in the general population, prevents those illnesses and prolongs lifespan.  So the Mediterranean diet is a natural for diabetics.

But there’s a problem.  

The relatively high carbohydrate content of the traditional Mediterranean diet has the potential to raise blood sugar levels unacceptably high in people with diabetes.  High blood sugar levels are linked with worse health outcomes.  So, the Mediterranean diet without modification is a double-edged sword.  We’re caught between the horns of a dilemma.  [Insert favorite metaphor here.] 

Last fall, I designed the Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet which incorporates many of the healthy features of the Mediterranean diet while drastically reducing carbohydrate (carb) consumption.  High blood sugar levels drop significantly in most type 2 diabetes on the Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet. 

Many Ketogenic Mediterranean dieters are interested in expanding their carbohydrate options and consumption.  The Diabetic Mediterranean Diet does that while aiming to control both excess weight and high blood sugar levels in diabetics, prediabetics, metabolic syndrome.  

Non-diabetics on the KMD can continue with it or move on to the DMD if they wish.  If eating a “diabetic diet” seems weird, just think of the DMD as a low-carb Mediterranean diet—the world’s first published low-carb Mediterranean Diet, by the way.  How low-carb?  The KMD supplies about 5% of energy (calories) as carbohydrate; the DMD goes to the 10–20% range.  [By way of reference, most people eat around 55% of total calories as carbs.] 

My goal a year ago was to help my personal patients with type 2 diabetes gain the health benefits of the traditional Mediterranean diet: longer lifespan and lower rates of heart attack, stroke, cancer, chronic lung disease, dementia, and Parkinsons disease, for example.  It’s my sincere hope that it benefits others as well.

Steve Parker, M.D.  

Disclaimer:  All matters regarding your health require supervision by a personal physician or other appropriate health professional familiar with your current health status.  Always consult your personal physician before making any dietary or exercise changes.

By Advanced Mediterrranean blog Source