Greek Doctor's Diet (Low GI/GL); New here
 

Is anyone here doing the Greek Doctor's Diet? This is a low GI/GL plan inspired by the Mediterranean Diet, with emphasis on vegetables, pulses/legumes, lean protein and limited amounts of fruit, dairy, olive oil and wholegrain starches. Also, has anyone here tried 5-HTP and/or Zotrim? Did they help?
I'm new here. I have to lose around 20kg, so I need your support. I'm Australian but I married a Greek so I have been living in Greece for 25 years. I have an eight-year-old son, a cat and 15 canaries. I teach Applied Linguistics at a university, examine English and am a teacher-trainer. My hobbies include cooking and knitting.

What part of Greece? My father is greek and a few of our staples were olive oil (often sent in straight from my relatives olive trees), olives, feta cheese and anchovies.

The diet sounds great with the exception of the legumes and whole grain starches. Don't eat any grains or processed anything and you will drop 20 kg's like nothing. I wouldn't bother with the legumes either. I know greeks love their lentils (fi-kess) but they really are hard on our digestive systems.

Hello - My parents are from the Mediterranean. I see may Greeks overweight (or moderately overweight) even on the traditional Mediterranean diet since its high on oil (albeit olive) and dairy (espcially cheese), and often grains, and honey too.

Since you live in Greece, you should seriously consider eating the plentiful wild greens available - like vlytra and horta and stifno - every day (without the oil). They provide shocking levels of calcium and iron, with very low calories (if your not drenching them with oil).

I don’t follow the Mediterranean diet anymore because it kept me from my perfect weight. Instead, I follow the "Eat to Live" diet and lost the last 15 lbs and I feel I can follow this diet and eating plan for the rest of my life. “Google it” and you'll see the meal plans.

Even in the US, I go to Asian markets and find “vlytra”. Also, I love swiss chard, dandelions, kale and escarole.

Good luck!

The fat from the olive oil isn't the enemy, it is the grains and the baklava drenched in honey and cookies with powdered sugar that are the issue. The oil doesn't cause a spike in the insulin, the rest of it does which if the muscles are deplete, replenishes it, but the rest gets stored as fat.

The food/veg in Greece is soooooooo good--THAT is what a tomato is supposed to taste like along with the watermelon, etc The BREAD is sooo fresh and with feta cheese and olive oil it is borderline heavenly, but you MUST ditch the bread for your health and weight loss.

I know that is commonly argued, but its not my personal experience with weight loss. I want to be clear that my point is not generally about FAT, but OIL (all oil is extracted). Plus, there is growing support for the position that all extracted oils (though olive is certainly best), because of how calorie-dense (and nutrient poor), can hinder weight loss.

-Stamatia

I would be curious as to how people who are having 'oil' hinder their weight loss are eating otherwise. What are there total carbs per day? Grains?

Oil/fats always get the blame, but I would be willing to bet a large sum of money that their carb intake is above the 50-100 grams per day number. If you are eating high protein, high (good) fats and the right carbs--loads of veg, no grains and the right fruits, the weight loss will follow.

Read this thread of success stories if you like:

Before and after pics

Carbs drive insulin drives fat.

Extracted OIL is my only point. Extracted OILS are very high in calories and very low in nutrients. Extracted OILS tend to be high in the Mediterranean Diet. (So, I think its good the OP said their diet will be low on oil.)

In the end, if weight loss is about maintaining a calorie-deficit (as many health advisers agree, and which I agree), foods that are very high in calories (and devoid of any nutrition) need to be limited.

Good luck!

All oil is extracted, although not all are created equal. Olive oil is one of the better ones.

Olive oil is a good fat. We need fats in our diet--our body is comprised of fat, and fat is actually the body's choice of fuel for burning.

Reducing olive oil while continuing to eat grains is a recipe disappointment, health and weight issues.

I am not really interested in the vast majority of 'health advisor's' opinion. The nation is fat based on their recommendations. It is time to start listening to another source.

Is All Olive Oil Created Equal? | Mark's Daily Apple

Healthy Oils | Mark's Daily Apple

Hi Zorba
How lovely to hear from you. I live in Athens.
I agree with you re processed foods and I avoid these as much as possilbe. While I've heard of grains impeding weight loss, e.g. wheat intolerance, I can't understand your objection to legumes. They are featured in so many current diets, including Fat Smash (even in the Detox phase), South Beach, McDougall, Fuhrman etc etc. Some people find they can cause flatulence until their digestive system gets used to them, but I find that soaking in several changes of water before cooking helps reduce this considerably.
Kalispera
Sunny

Kalispera Sunny - I think legumes are great and healthy for weight loss.
I agree with (and have been following) for 8 months, Dr. Fuhrman's advice as published in his books.

I wish I could be in Greece this summer...enjoying the beach, nightlife and scenery.

-Enjoy!

Yes, loads of people/diets believe that legumes are a healthy source of protein, which they are, but only a moderate amount. You can get more protein, however, from a cup of cottage cheese. They are a good source of potassium and magnesium which is a good thing. Most of us are low on magnesium so that is a good thing.

However they are PACKED with carbs and most people get too many carbs as it is, so if it is the protein that you are after, why not go for a couple of ounces of meat instead?

It sounds like you do take the appropriate care in preparing them (soaking them, etc), but consider why they need to be soaked:

They are loaded with lectins--a low grade toxin.

Have a read of this:

The Lowdown On Lectins | Mark's Daily Apple

There are worse things to eat for sure (grains) but they aren't really the superfood that conventional wisdom has people believing.

Hello Stamatia
I had posted you a long reply but when I checked just now I saw it had not got uploaded. I do apologise.
You are right, many Greeks are overweight, even obese, but I think it is because they are not following the traditional Mediterranean diet any more. City dwellers in particular eat meat daily, cook with dairy cream and trans-fat laden shortenings (Fytini, Vitam), use seed oils for frying (and there's a lot of frying) because they are cheaper than olive oil. Frozen meals and packaged "convenience foods" have overtaken the supermarket shelves, fast food outlets abound and if you walk the streets in the centre every third person is munching while walking, whereas in the evenings you run the risk of being run over by an army of motorbikes delivering souvlakis and pizzas. Very few people still observe the abstinence from meat and dairy on every Wednesday and Friday of the year, the 40 days of Lent before Christmas as well as Easter, before 15th August and the numerous other Orthodox days of abstinence--even my mother-in-law who is of the old school only fasts during Holy Week. Probably only a few villagers on Crete still climb the mountains to gather horta and snails and get some exercise along the way. You are right, Greeks have the highest per capita consumption of cheese in Europe. But it's not all bad, they also have the highest consumption of dried beans in Europe and, of course, they top the world in olive oil per capita. This may offset the highest level of smokers in Europe (for women, I think the men come second). I am a great believer in olive oil. I use it for all my cooking, even much of my baking. A little goes a long way. When I cook beans, for example, I don't use oil during the cooking, but we each add a little to our plates so it's raw and retains its vitamins and full flavour. I've invented my own Bisquick clone recipe with olive oil. If I fry it's in olive oil. I also use real butter in baking for special occasions, e.g. kourabiedhes--but they are just once a year for Christmas. I don't have any margarines, shortenings or seed oils in the house.
I love all kinds of greens too, though I don't eat them as often as I would like to--I have a bad back and have stopped going to the weekly farmers' market, so I have to rely on Husband to bring our food from the supermarket.
Bravo for doing so well on the Fuhrman diet. I tried it a couple of years ago but I wasn't able to last the distance. You've inspired me to give it another go--I have the book.
Best wishes
Sunny