Although there are many countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, one country in particular has a diet that is known to maintain a healthy heart, keep the adherents trim and in good form, is anti-aging, and tastes great.

This is the Grecian classic Mediterranean diet

Sadly the modern Greeks have turned their backs on the traditional fare, and now eat a lot of junk food, restaurant meals, and a heavy reliance on saturated fats.

The traditional Greek Mediterranean diet, found in the villages are no less than 60% fruit and vegetables, only 20% meats, 10% carbohydrates, and 10% fats. This means a diet rich in natural fiber, lots of vitamins and minerals, just the essential bread and other starches, and some daily dose of the magic Greek olive oil.

Typical Diet Greek Mediterranean diet

Breakfast. The Greek breakfast will always have fruit in season. If it’s the winter or spring there will be lots of citrus to choose from. Begin your breakfast with fresh fruit. You can choose from coffee or tea, but in the morning, the average Greek loves his coffee. This will be accompanied by some fresh bread (one slice…remember you are on a diet!), with some natural Greek honey. A traditional Greek cheese is also served, and this may be a Kasseri, or some local graveria. This whole break fast is less than 250 calories, and you will feel full and start your day off well.

Morning Snack. If you are hungry before lunch (and you may be, as Greeks will have lunch at about 14:00 to 15:00 hours), eat some more fruit. A good choice will be the wonderful Greek apple, available most of the year. Also a good morning snack is melon (only eat food that is in season in your area). Caloric value less than 100.

Lunch or the Greek Diner. The Greek kitchen is rich from a multitude of prepared meals. Try to select one that does not have meat and starch in the same mea. For example, you can eat spanakorizo (cooked spinach with rice), but no meat with it. Or, you can have a kokinosto (a Greek-type of goulash), but without potato. Have the meat with salads, other vegetables, or by itself. Follow with a dessert of fruit and cheese. No bread is allowed. The calories here will total no more than 500.

The Greek Supper. Many Greeks will try to have whatever was eaten at lunch, for diner. However, apply the same rules, meat with vegetables is ok, or starch with vegetables is ok…just do not mix your starches with protein. A good diner can be the legendary Greek paidakia (or lamb chops). Eat this with some boiled greens (the Greeks will eat horta or vela, two local herbs that seem to grow everywhere in the world) Have some sliced tomato, with some feta cheese (a typical Greek salad called the horyatika, salad of the villiger) and even some strong red wine. You will not have exceeded 600 calories here.

Re-cap. Having eaten like a Greek, but having separated your starches from meat, you will have eaten only 1400 calories, and you will have begun to lose weight. You will not be hungry

Tips. An old Roman saying is that if you lift up any rock, you will find a Greek under it. You cannot help but to find a local Greek grocery in your area. You can find all the Greek cheeses, and staples, especially their wonderful olive oil, and even fresh Greek bread. Speak to the owner of the shop and ask for a Greek cookbook, or you can be sure they will help you.

The only prohibition with the Greek Mediterranean diet is do not mix your protein and carbohydrates.

Meat and vegetables are fine. Pasta without meat sauce is fine. Try to keep your calories in the 1500 a day range and you will not only lose weight, you will find the Greek olive oil is like a medicine for your heart, and you whole system will clean up.

So there you have it -Follow the Greek Mediterranean diet and you look and feel better and lose weight.

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Back acne can be quite common and difficult to treat because the back contains thousands of sebaceous glands that produce a lot of oil. Consequently there is more opportunity for follicles to become blocked and so produce acne. In severe cases, acne on the back can produce cysts and nodules and so normal treatment may not be sufficient to rid your skin of it.

Mild to moderate acne on the back can probably be treated normally, using a combination of cleansing, moisturizing and applying a treatment for the condition. That is, non invasive cleansing, and then using a lotion that includes glycolic acid (8-10%). Following that, apply benzoyl peroxide 2.5%) generously and then moisturize if needed.

Tip: This regimen is not recommended for other areas of the body. The skin on the back is quite tough and so is able to handle this. Also, 1-3% of the population are allergic the benzoyl peroxide so it may be useful to test a small spot before applying generously.

Additionally, benzoyl peroxide will bleach your clothing so make sure that you are wearing white to avoid bleaching your favorite clothing. Even after it has been applied for several hours it may still bleach your clothing, so be very careful.

Try to avoid wearing backpacks that can cause irritation to your back as this will worsen your acne. Tight fitting clothing can also be an irritant, causing further problems with your acne.

Other areas of the body where severe acne can develop include the chest and shoulders. In these areas lesions can become very red and painful, causing irritation. A product that has proven to be very successful is accutane. Mild cases can be treated in the normal manner – that is, cleansing, applying treatment (cream with 2.5% benzoyl peroxide) and then moisturizing. The area of the neck is very sensitive, so be careful with the treatment of that area. Apply once a day only to start with, but moisturize twice a day and don’t start too quickly with benzoyl peroxide as too much use initially will cause major irritation.

Greg Culver is the web owner of http://www.acnetreatmenthome.com a site dedicated to providing information, resources and articles offering real solutions to acne sufferers.

How to Lose One Pound a Year: BFJ Diet Second Follow-up

I promised that I would follow up again on the Big Fat John diet plan. I’ve dropped from 222 pounds to 199 pounds in ten weeks. I still eat normally once or twice a week, not only to stay on my diet, but to lose weight. I try to make sure I get the nutrition I need. As I said last time, at my present rate of weight loss I’ll disappear late next year.

Here is my report:

I went back on the Big Fat John Plan the week of 4-9-2006. I weighed 222 pounds at check-in. Starting at week 6-11-2009, I weighed 198 pounds. Using higher mathematics I calculate that I have lost 18 pounds or about 2.3 pounds each week. You might remember that last time I was averaging a loss of 3 pounds each week. The period-of-no-weight-loss I told you about clicked in at week 5-21-2006 and lasted for 3 weeks. Now I have started losing weight again but at a rate that is less than the official weight.

So far my shower has grown in size. I can really move around in there. I was thinking of tearing a wall out to expand the size of the bathroom off our bedroom, but I won’t have to do that now.

Also, in a similarly miraculous manner, the shirts in my closet have increased in neck size and now I can button my collars and not just slide my tie up until it looks like my collar is buttoned.

There is also the fact that my pants are also growing and I have to watch it or they will fall down.

My sleep apnea is much less evident and I need less sleep.

I can walk a couple of miles everyday with no shin splints, sore knees, shortness of breath, or loss of energy.

In a miraculous way, my feet don’t swell late in the day nearly as much. I’ve cut my blood pressure medicine in half because the cardiologist said it was fine to do so, and my daughter-in-law says, “You look great!”

She is so sweet to take time out to say that when she has 13 kids to feed and teach; as they are all home schooled, but one who is in college.

As I said in my last followup, in the current version of the Big Fat John Plan, I printed out individual sheets, one for each week of the plan. At the top of each sheet is printed Big Fat John and Week of: I actually print the starting date of each week. For example: Big Fat John Week of: 5/14.

Below the title, there is a table of 8 columns and 14 rows. That makes a cell about one inch wide and just over ¼ inch tall. There is a title row in the table. The first column says Food and the other seven are labeled Calories. The last seven columns are for the days of the week. I start with Sunday.

The reason I use one column labeled Food is that most days I eat some of the same foods and I don’t have to write them down in the day cells. Each cell gets only one food and if all the cells are filled for a day, that’s it. NO MORE FOOD!

In the day cells, I write the number of calories in the food item in that cell. If the food is not listed in the left column, I write down the name of the food too.

I don’t like to eat more than 1000-1200 calories each day. I lose weight when my caloric intake is in that range. When I get to my target weight of 187 pounds I will taper off to about 1300 calories and check to see if I’m holding weight or gaining again.

In the current campaign I stopped recording after the second week was completed. Why? Because by the end of the second week I know what I need to do to stay on the diet and I don’t need to write down what I know. However, the Chart goes up every Sunday Morning and I record my weight two or three times a week.

Let me modify my statement on not recording after the first two weeks. The chart is on the wall. If I find that I’m not losing weight, I will immediately begin to record. I had to do this about three weeks ago to get back in control.

I’ve stopped trying to measure my girth. The measurement is too inaccurate for my scientific inclination. I’ll just say this, Sam! You made the pants too big!

Unfortunately, walking does not burn many calories. What it does do is increase your metabolism. That is why it is so important to exercise everyday. I often find walking around the high school track boring. If other people are on the track, it is less boring, so I like to be out there when there are people to talk to and dogs to play with.

I’m concerned that the new clothes that I purchased look baggy. The suit coats fit better and they cover the baggy part of the pants. I’m starting to get back into some of my older clothes that had shrunk on me.

I still do not eat at night. If I really feel the pain I might eat an apple or a graham cracker with a teaspoon of peanut butter on it. As I said in the last follow-up, if I drink milk or juices I usually take a half or quarter of a glass and I’m just as satisfied as if I had a full glass. I still say to my self. Ah! I’ve got a big glass of milk and now I’m going to finish it off.

My stomach has shrunk and I’ve cut down on almost everything. Typically, I have a glass of orange juice in the morning and sometime after noon, I will fix something to eat. That is it for the day except for fresh fruit. Right now my cherries are ripe and delicious. I just go out into the yard and grab a hand full. My neighbors apricot tree is next. After that, my peaches will be ready. I’ve got cantaloupe growing in the garden and tomatoes. I’ll be snacking on those too; soon I hope.

Protein is essential to losing weight without dying of hunger pains. OfficeMax® gave me a discount for Omaha Steaks®. The little gal that took my order also had me try the potatoes a’ gratin, the hamburgers, the shish kabobs, and the stuffed fillets. We’ve got plenty of protein in the freezer.

I have a George Foreman Grill®. I just love the thing. It heats up in a matter of minutes and the heat is uniform across the grill. You can set it at any temperature you want. It cleans easily with a paper towel, takes no charcoal or lighter fluid, and is in fact, perfect. No Nasty Smoke! I love you, George Foreman!

Like I said last time, a hotdog is a simple satisfying snack.

I can not diet and go though a week without eating normally. On Sunday we no longer go to my son’s house because of my church schedule but I still ignore any consideration of calories on Sunday.

Every week I still take my wife (and sometimes my son and his wife or a couple of the grandkids) out to dinner.

We still go to the Golden Coral because we can fill up on salads before we get to the good stuff. Sometimes I just stick to protein on these visits. I ignore calories for the main part but I stay away from the desert tables.

We still go to the New China Buffet in Twin Falls.

If you decide to diet and you never binge, you will fail.

That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. Two very obese ladies at the Golden Coral told me it was true and they should know.

As I said last time, the reason is this: If you go on a starvation diet and never binge your body will think that you are starving to death. It will shut down your metabolism and you will stop losing weight. If you binge a couple of times a week, your body will think that all is well.

Well, that is my theory.

I saw on television that Marlene Dietrich only ate every three days. I guess that is one way to do it but that would not be for me. However, I’m thinking about once every second day for a test.

Some snakes get by on one meal each month.

My program is to eat whatever you want but in small quantities.

Most men can could down to 1500 calories each day and lose weight. That is because they burn 2500 calories. For me, I guess I seldom burn over 1500 calories each day. Therefore I must drop my caloric intake lower to lose weight.

What should your caloric intake be to lose weight?

The only way I know is to experiment.

While you are experimenting make sure you are getting the vitamins and minerals that you need. Take a multivitamin everyday. Occasionally substitute one of those discount diet drinks for a meal. They come in chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla in most supermarkets and drugstores. If price is no object you can drink Insure® or another brand name instead.

The problem that must be overcome in dieting is discouragement. You will not lose the same amount of weight every week. You might even gain a pound or two.

Don’t worry about it.

Just make sure you are on your regimen.

The amount you lose every week will also taper off as it did for me. Your body has a mind of its own and it will take action if you scare it into thinking you are starving. That’s why it is important to pig-out occasionally. Just remember when you are pigging out to stay away from too many sweets and carbohydrates.

Need a shoulder to cry on? Send me an e-mail.

Let’s see!

At my present rate of weight loss I should disappear by the end of September, 2007.

The End

Diet, eating, Big Fat John, health, weight loss, losing weight, easy, simple, nutrition, Marlene Dietrich, fasting, body, response

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com.