Mediterranean diet

[hansyhand]

Being a bit lazy here but can anyone point me in the right direction for resources for a Mediterranean, anti inflammatory diet? I've googled but I'm a bit reluctant to buy a book, without a recommendation, in case it's a bit ropey! Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks in advance 😁

[hunter5582]

There are too many references on the internet to even begin to list them. No need to buy a book.

Here are the basics.

Get most nutrition from plant sources

Anti-oxidants and flavonoids are good. (think bright colored veggies)

Stick with whole-grain carbs.

Limited red meat. Mostly fish/seafood and white meats for animal proteins.

Olive oil is good. Hydrogenated oils are bad.

Limited dairy products

Include probiotics/fermented foods in diet.

Very limited sugars, especially refined sugars.

Exceptions to the rule

Bacon is an essential food group. So is bourbon.

OK. That is not really a rule. But we can't always be perfect. Just keep the vices at a minimum.

Some things to really avoid

Processed foods in general. Foods with antibiotics, BPAs, synthetic hormones, pesticides, xenoestrogens, food colorings, and other contaminants in the food stream.

If you stick to this sort of a diet, you really will feel better.

[hansyhand in reply to hunter5582]

🤣 so glad bacon and bourbon are essential food groups 😉. Thank you for the information!

[Mostew in reply to hunter5582]

Hope you don’t have bourbon for breakfast with your bacon!!! I’ll raise a glass of red to you. …..

[hunter5582 in reply to Mostew]

LOL, Bacon is for breakfast. Bourbon is for dessert. Willie Nelson's father said "Never start drinking until the work is done and get the work done as soon as possible." Seems like sound advice.

[Mostew in reply to hunter5582]

One of your favourite singers

Food is not simply organic fuel to keep body and soul together, it is a perishable art that must be savored at the peak of perfec­tion.” – E.A. Bucchianeri

[beetle]

Hunter has , as always, shared his words of wisdom with a little humour tucked away in there too. I try and mostly follow Mediterranean style eating and my ‘go to’ for recipe inspiration is Pinterest. There is an absolute wealth of diet plans (I don’t usually follow them but can be helpful if you are just starting out) and enough recipes to keep you going for a long timeI enjoy this style of eating and being retired now I enjoy meal preparation (except when fatigue gets in the way. Then I go for something really simple!). I hope you enjoy it too and feel better for it also. Best wishes, Jan

[Loubprv Volunteer]

Hi yes Hunter has summed it up. I ve been banging on for years about diet and lifestyle.

However I would hugely recommend the complete anti inflammatory diet book by Dorothy Calimeris. Amazon. 10.000 plus 5 star recommendations. Super explanatory chapters at the beginning . If you don’t have proper recipes you ll end up eating the same old thing all the time, get bored with it, and give up.

Once you get started you ll feel the benefit I promise!

If you can hang on we (fund raising committee for mpn voice.org) are compiling our own anti inflammatory recipe book which will hopefully be for sale in the near future. God bless Alice who’s idea it was. Clever girl.

Seriously - google as much info as you can re anti inflammatory food - good food .com have quite a lot of recipes. Hopefully you ll transform the way you feel. Louise x

[Loubprv Volunteer]

Ps sorry Hunter - Bacon? Bacon is one of the worse things you can eat !!!!It’s Uber processed and full of salt. Kick all processed food into touch. I studied nutrition and dietetics at uni 90 years ago so I do know what I m talking about.

Wouldn’t know about bourbon. Avoid I d say and if you do crave a drop of alcohol stick to some decent red wine…..limit caffeine. Don’t touch decaf stuff. Buy naturally caffeine free teas.

I eat organic food where I can devoid of the chemically processed additives preservatives and pesticides. Costs me about £10 extra a week.

(A bottle of wine.)

Don’t buy fish from fish farms - look for the stuff fished from the sea.

xx

[Mostew in reply to Loubprv]

Don’t agree. I trust Hunter is sensible enough to keep a balance between joy of living (odd treat) and discipline

[Otterfield in reply to Loubprv]

Occasional treats of the bad stuff do no harm. The odd bacon butty gives a mood boost! As does chocolate! It's the everyday food that counts for health.

[hunter5582 in reply to Otterfield]

Thanks for pointing out chocolate. Forgot to list that one. Another food vice to be enjoyed in limited quantity. The good news is that dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants. Those are good for you.

[Loubprv Volunteer in reply to Otterfield]

Absolutely. Not daily though? Just got my choppers into a piece of chocolate 😊

[Otterfield in reply to Loubprv]

Obviously not daily! Occasional 🙂

[hunter5582 in reply to Loubprv]

Bacon is good for the soul, not so much for the body. It is just too yummy to entirely give up. I did find a low-sodium, no nitrates brand that I really like. think of it as a harm-reduction strategy. Besides - bacon just makes me happy. Which reminds me of the great Monty Python bit about Spam. I detest Spam, but the skit is really funny. youtube.com/watch?v=_bW4vEo...(Not working as expected?)

[Meatloaf9 in reply to hunter5582]

I wonder if anyone knows if following a very strict diet and cutting out processed foods, sugar, alcohol, all simple pleasurable foods, and spending the time it takes to prepare a strict mediterranean diet has any effect on progression or overall survival (longevity) in mpn's. Does anyone really know??

[Loubprv Volunteer in reply to Meatloaf9]

I can’t imagine it makes any difference to longevity - or would it? Just makes you feel better whilst still here! 😂😂

[hunter5582 in reply to Meatloaf9]

There is some thinking that reducing systemic inflammation may reduce the risk of MPN progression. This is based on other cancer research where there is a clear link between inflammation and cancer risks. Angela Fleischman and Robyn Sherber have presented information on this topic.

I think it is reasonable to hypothesize that there are benefits to an anti-inflammatory diet/lifestyle for people with MPNs. What there is not is much funding to prove it. There is not a whole lot of money to be made in getting people to eat a better diet. What I would say is certain is that reducing inflammation improves our quality of life. I would say this from personal experience.

All the best.

[Loubprv Volunteer in reply to hunter5582]

How right you are! Sadly I have histamine intolerance which makes bacon a no no. I do miss it though. Nothing like a big fresh white balm cake ( bread roll) with loads of butter and smoked ( for me) bacon.If you have any wise words about Hist Intol do send them my way…….

[hunter5582 in reply to Loubprv]

That is truly tragic! I don't know anything about histamine, but no bacon would make me very sad. Are you able to do unprocessed pork belly slices? There are some very good asian dishes made this well. it is also very tasty grilled. I had some made this way at an Asian-fusion restaurant It was really good.

[hunter5582 in reply to Loubprv]

On a serious note, I agree about wild-caught fish/seafood. It also tastes better. Unfortunately, our seas are loaded with mercury and other contaminants. I used to eat a lot of wild-caught tuna, which as it turns out is loaded with mercury. I tested positive for elevated levels of mercury. ALl I did was to cut out tuna and other seafood that is high in mercury and my levels returned to normal. Too bad, I love tunu sushi and sashimi. Another item is have to relegate to the food vices category.

[elliebongo in reply to Loubprv]

Hi, with reference to the decaf. I'm a coffee person and use decaf due to the reason that I also have AF and normal caffeine coffee could possibly mean trip to A&E with high heart rate. So some of us do need decaf, but if anyone knows of a pure organic caffeine free coffee would be interested!

Thanks

[Garstongal in reply to Loubprv]

I think Hunter was stating that with a wink! 😂

[BlastedKnees]

My wife is Greek, raised in Greece on a true Mediterranean diet in Messenia. The vast majority of their recipes are heavy vegetables, legumes and pulses, nuts and seeds. Very low meat in general, particularly red meat. Olive oil for nearly everything, very little butter. Plenty of fish, but to the points about mercury, they eat a lot of smaller fish (sardines, mackerel, etc.) and shellfish (scallops, shrimp, mussels, etc.) which are all very low mercury and very good in minerals.

Side Note: if you have avoided eating shellfish such as scallops because of cholesterol... do some fresh reading as they've reversed all that guidance. The dietary cholesterol in shellfish is the good type so you can enjoy it guilt free. (verywellhealth.com/low-chol...

For a good site to try, here's a Greek lifestyle site that my wife really likes for their recipes: jenny.gr/category/cooking. It's in Greek, but your web browser should be able to translate it to English without issue. They have a good mix (including sweets and also some meat recipes) but it has a huge number of easy to make and delicious vegetarian recipes. Go to the "what to cook today" area to filter for just meal recipes.

I'm super lucky as my wife is an amazing cook, and several of her Greek friends are gourmet level chefs who also cook mostly Mediterranean food. If you want any other suggestions on sites or recipes for specific purposes just let me know.

Don't get me wrong - I still go on the occasional bender and eat a good steak, burger, sausage, etc. Was in Greece for Easter and stuffed myself on spit-roasted lamb. Life must be lived! But honestly the Mediterranean diet is so tasty I rarely feel the need to stray and prefer the healthier foods.