April 25, 2023 • 42 mins
On this final episode in our series on the Mediterranean Diet, I am once again joined by Bonnie as we talk about the pros/cons of the Mediterranean WOE.
Enjoy!!
Brian
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
I'm your host, Brian Wells, andI'm a fourth generation
homesteader Since 2008, myfamily and I have been
homesteading here in beautifulupstate New York.
In 2019, I launched theHomestead Journey Podcast to
help people just like you getstarted and find success on
their journey towardsself-sufficiency, self-reliance,
(00:24):
and sustain.
This is the Homestead Journeyand this is season four.
Well, hello everyone andwelcome, welcome, welcome,
welcome to the Homestead JourneyPodcast.
My name is Brian Wells.
I am coming to you from three BFarm and Homestead here in
(00:48):
beautiful, upstate new.
This is season four and this isepisode 153, and thank you so
much.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for takingtime out of your busy schedule
to join us here on the Homesteadjourney.
Whether you're brand new to thepodcast or you're someone who
(01:08):
has been a longtime listener.
Thank you so much.
I know there's a lot of thingsyou could be listening to right
now, and the fact that you'retaking time out of your busy
schedule to listen to me, doesnot go unnoticed or
underappreciated.
I really, really do appreciateit.
On today's episode, we are goingto be wrapping up our series on
(01:32):
the Mediterranean Diet.
I am going to be joined hereshortly by my lovely wife here
in the Homestead Journey PodcastStudios, and so I am excited to
chat with her about what we likeand dislike about the
Mediterranean diet.
But before we do, I did want totake a few moments, as we
(01:53):
usually do here on the podcast,and bring you up to speed with
what we've been doing here onthree B Farm and Homestead.
So, as you might remember fromlast week's episode, we did just
(02:14):
get back last Sunday fromvisiting my brother in Alaska.
And so a big part of this weekwas just getting back into the
swing of things, trying torecover from the time change,
four hours that way, and thenfour hours back.
And so it did take a little bitof time for us to recalibrate
(02:36):
our internal clocks thereforethis week probably wasn't as
productive as it could have beenor should have been, but I think
we are back on East Coast timenow.
This week we did send a coupleof our American Guinea hogs to
their new home.
(02:56):
Some friends of ours fromchurch, bought a couple of those
pigs and they are just enjoyinghaving those pigs on their
homestead.
And in fact this morning theirdaughter was in the Sunday
school class that my wife and Iare teaching, and she just
shared with us how excited sheis to have the little piggies
(03:17):
that they have named thing oneand thing two, they're on their
homestead.
And so that is very, very, Theother thing that I did wanna
share with you is just an updateon the seed starting system.
Things are going so well withthat.
I am so happy right now with howthings are progressing with that
(03:37):
system.
I think, I think we've, we'vegot a winner here, folks.
It, it really is working very,very well.
I'm happy to have.
I don't know if I wanna call itmess, but all of that out of my
office, or should we say out ofthe Homestead Journey Podcast
Studios.
(03:58):
But, uh, to have that downstairsout of the way is certainly not
a bad thing.
I, I'm, I'm glad to have thatdown there.
And again, it's, it's workingout very, very well.
I am that added no supplementalheat to it whatsoever.
It's staying at a nice,consistent, temperature.
The plants are growing well andI'm really needing to get my
(04:23):
next round of plant starts inthere.
I had hoped to get some flowersand things of that nature in
there.
Maybe get some cucumbers andsome squash and maybe some
lettuce.
Started, not that you need tostart that indoors, but maybe to
give it a little bit of ajumpstart, Wasn't able to get
around to it this week.
In part, that's becauseyesterday we spent all day off
(04:46):
the homestead.
My son was in a regional mocktrial competition.
It's only the second time theirschool has ever made it.
To the regional mock trialcompetition.
Last year was the first year,unfortunately, they got knocked
out in the first round, but thisyear I'm very, very proud to say
(05:07):
they made it to the finals forregional.
And unfortunately they lost byone point.
They were one point away fromadvancing the states.
A little bit disappointed inthat, but overall, I was so
proud of him.
I was so proud of their team.
It was definitely a greatlearning experience for him, but
that did mean that we spent theentirety of yesterday off the
(05:29):
homestead when we could havebeen getting some things done
around here.
But I wouldn't change it foranything unfortunately today.
Well, it was one of those rainydays and it just rained and
rained and rained all day long,which kept me indoors.
I probably should have gottensome things started, as I
mentioned in the seed startingsystem.
(05:50):
Didn't get around to it.
Maybe tomorrow we'll see, but,It is what it is.
We'll get started, what we canget started, and the fact is we
can always direct.
So those things, we're reallynot all that far behind.
That's really it for Homesteadhappenings for this week.
Again, the time change, gettingback into the swing of things,
certainly not as busy as wemaybe should have been.
(06:16):
It is what it is.
We're doing the best we can withwhat we've got to work with.
And well, there's always nextweek.
Before we head on over to thisweek's charting the course, I
did want to invite you to signup for our newsletter.
If you head on over to thehomestead
journey.net/newsletter, you cando that for free.
I have some excitingannouncements coming up.
(06:37):
I wanna make sure that you don'tmiss out on those.
And so the easiest way for youto get that information, the
quickest way for you to get thatinformation is via our
newsletter.
So if you haven't already, headon over to the homestead
journey.net/newsletter to getsigned up.
All right folks, let's jump onover to this week's charting the
(06:59):
course.
Brian (07:07):
I am so excited to be joined once again here in the
Homestead Journey PodcastStudios, by none other than my
lovely wife.
Bonnie, thank you.
Hi everyone.
And now it has been a hotminute, babe.
It has.
But I am so glad to have youback as we wrap up this series
on the Mediterranean Diet.
And in fact, today we are goingto end on a bang.
(07:28):
We're going to end on a highnote.
We're going to talk about whatwe like and what we dislike
about the Mediterranean diet.
So let's just jump right intoit.
What is number one on your listof likes?
I like that it's, foods that wealready eat.
Yeah.
This way of eating really iscomprised of a lot of things
that we already.
(07:49):
Eat.
There really wasn't a lot thatwas thrown at us that we didn't
eat.
Now, there were a few things,and we'll talk about those in a
little bit, but by and largethis is really comprised of a
lot of things that we alreadyate.
We are a family that eats a lotof vegetables already.
We.
Enjoy salads and things of thatnature.
(08:10):
And so it wasn't like we weregoing into this and having to
eat things that were unfamiliarto us.
Yeah.
That we weren't introducing intoour diet.
A lot of things that we didn'talready know.
And so that has certainly been abig upside to it.
The second thing that we really,really like about this diet is
what, We like the food.
(08:32):
Um, we like, can you say that alittle bit more?
Enthusiasm.
We like the food.
We like, we love the food.
We love the food.
Yes.
This is a diet, a way of eatingthat is extremely, extremely
tasty.
And, uh, I, I mean, deliciousfood and.
(08:53):
Because of the fact that theMediterranean really as a region
encompasses so many differentcuisines, there really are so
many options that you have tochoose from, that you can go in
so many different culinarydirections that you can almost
sometimes feel a little bitoverwhelmed, but you certainly
(09:13):
do not have to have bland,tasteless food, and in fact,
this diet.
This way of eating reallyfocuses on flavorful mm-hmm.
Flavor packed cuisines.
It really boils down to the factthat these are foods we knew and
these are foods that just tasteso good.
And it's just like when I talkabout people.
(09:36):
Growing a garden, people willsay, what should I grow?
And I always say, well, grow thethings you like to eat, because
if you like to eat them, thenyou're going to eat them, right?
And if you, and if you like whatyou're eating, you like what
you're growing, you're going tohave a tendency to grow more of
it.
So it, it's been the same waywith this.
Now, that's not to say thatwe've liked every recipe that
(09:57):
we've tried.
No one in particular was a dishwith Eggplant and it was just,
it was too mushy.
Um, so I wouldn't make that dishagain.
I just didn't like how mushy itmade the eggplant.
Yeah.
And so sometimes it's a matterof texture, sometimes it's a
matter of flavor, but by andlarge, the foods when they're
(10:19):
this way of eating are justabsolutely delicious.
We love, love, love the food,and I don't, I don't ever feel
like I'm, I'm going hungry.
I, I, no, I feel like I'msatisfied and we just really
have enjoyed that piece of it.
The next thing I really, reallylike about this diet is that it
(10:43):
is easy to understand I foundthe plate diagram to be very,
very helpful.
When you look at your plate andyou think, okay, half of it
should be vegetable, a quarterof it should be lean protein.
A quarter of it should be maybesome whole wheat or some starch
or something along those lines.
A little bit of fruit to theside, drinking some water, but
(11:04):
it just really is.
Easy for me to wrap my headaround it.
And also some of that goes backto what you talked about
understanding these foods.
These are foods that we'refamiliar with, we're familiar
with Italian food maybe notquite as familiar with Greek
food and, those in influences,although we've gotten more
familiar with it.
But at least having thosecuisines as a frame of reference
(11:28):
has been very helpful for me towrap my head around it and
understand how this wave eatingshould work.
Now you've not necessarily foundthat plate diagram to be as
helpful though?
No, when I get it to the tableand put it on my plate, I
haven't really been consciousabout, the amounts that are
there.
(11:49):
Not that that I overload myplate, it's just I haven't done
the plate diagram.
Yeah.
It's one of those things where Ithink traditionally the American
plate has been more, half meat,maybe a quarter starch and a
quarter.
Veg And so moving more in thedirection of the half veg,
(12:09):
quarter starch, quarter meat.
I've definitely found the platediagram helpful in that regard.
That's been a little bit more ofa growing edge for you now.
W we've had a little bit ofdebate, at times over whether or
not we had the properproportions on our plate.
And, one of those, situationsinvolved a sweet potato honest
(12:33):
mistake at my part, on my part.
Um, I thought, you know, it wasa vegetable, but it comes to
find out it was a starch.
Now, in all fairness, I probablywas a little, I wouldn't say it
was harsh about it.
No, but you got yourself calledMichelle.
Yeah, no, that is true.
Michelle Obama bride j referredto me as Michelle Obama with
(12:55):
regards to, food portions on, onour plates.
the plate diagram is more ofthis is what we're aiming for.
But if you go by theMediterranean diet pyramid, then
certainly what we had on ourplates would have been, for lack
of a better term, compliant withthe Mediterranean diet because
the base of the Mediterraneandiet is that things are.
(13:16):
Plant-based things should beplant-based.
And certainly a sweet potato isplant-based, so not really
anything wrong with it.
If you go by the Mediterraneandiet pyramid, if you go by the
Mediterranean Diet plate diagramthough, then I would be right.
So I guess we were both right.
(13:39):
No.
Sounds good.
Okay, we'll go with that.
I don't wanna get myself in anymore trouble.
But leaving the diagrams behind.
For a moment.
One of the things that I don'tlike about other diets and in
particular, I'm, I'm gonna callout Weight Watchers, even though
you have found Weight Watchersto be helpful in the past, but I
(13:59):
just find this whole concept ofhaving to come up with points,
assigned point values.
Do you weigh food in WeightWatchers or, yeah.
Yeah.
So measure weigh food andmeasure food and all of that
kind of stuff.
That's just too fiddly for me.
I, I don't like that.
And so not having to do that andjust kind of rely on the plate
(14:19):
diagram has made theMediterranean diet, the
Mediterranean way of eating mucheasier for me to understand and
wrap my head around, and Ireally, really, really like
that.
The next thing I really likeabout the Mediterranean diet is
that it is not an eliminationdiet.
In the past I've kind ofjokingly referred to myself as a
(14:39):
vegetarian, but that doesn'tmean that I don't like
vegetables.
I love vegetables.
I love breads.
I, I just love good food.
And sometimes in the past that'sshown we're not gonna talk about
it.
I remember when I went to thedoctorate doctrine, uh, it's
hopped on the scale, and theylooked at the scale and they
said to you, said to me, Mr.
(15:00):
Wells, you are not obese.
But you don't need to gain anymore weight.
So, uh, I think at that point intime, the fact that I, like food
was showing, I don't know, as Icould survive on a gluten-free
diet.
I don't know, as I could surviveon a keto diet, I don't know, as
I could survive on a carnivorediet Now, You do what you have
(15:23):
to do.
If that's all you have andthat's what you gotta go by, or
you have to do that for healthreasons, then you do.
You do what you have to do.
But man, I would miss my bread.
I would miss my vegetables.
I would miss my carbs.
I would miss the fat.
Like those things, thatelimination stuff that happens
when you go on those types ofdiets would drive me bonkers.
(15:44):
I love the fact that the.
Focus of the Mediterranean dietis more about making good
choices and moderation, notelimination.
And so for me, that's been avery, very positive thing and
been something that has reallyhelped me keep going, another
thing I really, really likeabout this diet is that we can
(16:04):
grow a lot.
Of the food that is consideredcompliant with the Mediterranean
diet.
And in fact, you and I foundthat when we sat down and we
started thinking about what wewere going to grow in the garden
this year, and I was going overlists of vegetables that people
recommend that you plant in agarden for people on the
Mediterranean diet.
(16:25):
And I covered this in a previousepisode, but we found that with
the exception of two things, Ithink it was, we are already
growing everything that peoplerecommend on the diet.
Yeah, there was only, I don'tknow, I think maybe arugula.
No I don't.
It was like, no, I think it was,um, broccoli, Rob.
Yeah, I don't remember.
And one other thing, I don'tremember what the other thing
(16:47):
was.
And broccoli Rob.
Was already on my list of thingsthat I wanted to try.
I don't know as I'm gonna get itin this year, but that's neither
here nor there.
The fact is that we were alreadygrowing the vast majority of
vegetables that can be grown inour area.
Mm-hmm.
We were already growing them,and so I really, really like
(17:07):
that.
Another thing that I really,really like about this diet is
that it is based on an activelifestyle and eating within the
context of community.
Now, eating in the context ofcommunity is something that was
not new for us.
Yeah.
We have always practiced that.
You and I and Brian, Jay, we'vealways sat down and eaten at
(17:28):
least dinner.
Right.
At least dinner.
Yeah, at least dinner.
As a family, if I'm home andyou're home at this, at the same
time, many times we eat lunchtogether.
We're not a huge breakfastfamily, so even on the weekends
we don't really sit down, eatoccasionally.
Yeah.
It's very rare though.
We kind of get up and we wantget up on a Saturday morning, on
a Sunday morning until, if we'regrabbing breakfast, we just kind
(17:49):
of eat it on our own.
But we do eat at least dinner.
Or supper, however you want tocall it, the evening meal, we
shall say we eat that togetherin the context of of community.
So for us, that was not anythingnew, but it was certainly
(18:09):
validation of what we'vepracticed as a family, but the
idea of the Mediterranean dietbeing built on an active
lifestyle.
Has been something that has beena bit of, I don't wanna say an
eye-opener for us.
It's been a growing edge for us,I think, and well, we perhaps
(18:30):
haven't taken as much action inregards to this as we should.
We're at least aware of it.
Mm-hmm.
We're aware of the fact that welive a little bit more of a
sedentary lifestyle than wethought we did.
Yeah.
Or, or even as we used to, Imean, before Covid and when I
(18:52):
was doing the whole WeightWatchers thing several years
ago, you know, I would go to theD gym and I would walk, 10
minutes on the treadmill andthen like I haven't been back to
a gym since but there's noreason why I can't go outside
and walk.
And now that it's getting warmerand, yeah.
And so what both you and I havedone is we have installed
pedometer apps on our phones.
(19:13):
Mm-hmm.
We're just like everybody elsein, in, in the United States.
This is kind of our ball andchain.
We're very rarely without it.
And so that really, I think, hasserved as, as a, at least as for
me, It's been a bit eye-openingto see how much I don't move,
how much I sit.
I, I work a desk job, andcertainly in the wintertime,
(19:35):
I'm, I'm gonna be a little bitmore sedentary.
You know, even with thehomestead, I, I jokingly refer
to the homestead as my gym in,in the winter.
You go out, you feed theanimals, you come in.
You really don't do a whole lot.
At least we don't.
And, and, and this has certainlybeen eye-opening, so there have
been many evenings when I foundmyself walking in circles around
(19:56):
the island in the middle of ourkitchen just to get my step
count up.
But it, it certainly has atleast made us more aware mm-hmm.
Of the need to have a little bitmore of an active lifestyle.
And so now that.
Things are starting to warm up.
We'll be able to get outside.
Certainly we'll be doing moreoutside raking lawns, putting in
(20:20):
gardens, so we're, we'lldefinitely be a lot more active
just because of the season, o oof the year.
But we'll also have theopportunity to take long
romantic walks.
Yes, of course, hand in hand,frolicking, frolicking.
Carry on frolicking in thefields with daisies in your
(20:43):
hair.
As I sing to you, the hills arealive with the sound of music.
I think it'll go to the gym, butcertainly I do like the fact
that it is.
Based on the premise of anactive lifestyle and eating with
the context of community, Ithink those are very, very
(21:05):
positive things and thatcertainly will help us both from
a health perspective.
The last thing though, and Ithink the most important reason
why we like the Mediterraneandiet, and that is what it works.
Yeah, it works.
Now.
You and I have both foundbenefits, I think a little bit
of a different benefit for eachone of us, but it certainly has
(21:28):
worked for both of us.
Now, for me, I went into thisreally more, with the desire to
be supportive of you not tryingto throw my shoulder outta joint
here, patting myself on theback.
I did get kudos from your doctorthough, in, in regards to that.
Did I not?
Yes, yes.
She said, that's awesome thatyou have a husband that will do
that with you and keep doingwhat you're doing.
(21:51):
Yeah, I mean, I just, I hope youtook notes.
I hope you recorded that, uh, sothat you can replay that back,
but no.
For me, I did not go into thiswith any kind of necessarily
health benefit goals, and yetI've lost a lot of weight as a
result of being on this.
And it's not just a matter ofI've lost weight, I've lost
enough weight that people arenoticing it.
(22:12):
You know, somebody at churchcame up to me on Sunday and
said, Man, if you lost weight,you look like you've lost a lot
of weight.
And I, I was happy to say, yeah,I'm under 170 pounds for the
first time and I don't know howlong.
So that certainly has been avery, very positive thing for
me.
Now, you haven't necessarilylost quite as much weight as me
and.
(22:33):
That's kind of getting into, youknow, a, a, a very, um,
dangerous area as, as a man totalk to a lady about her weight.
So we're gonna stay away fromthat.
I mean, you might wanna mentionthat you've lost a few pounds.
Yes, I lost about eight, ninepounds and I have maintained
that, But I haven't taken theextra step in doing the extra
(22:57):
things that I need to do, totake more weight off.
But where you found benefit tothis, and this was really the
reason why we did this in thefirst place, where you found
benefit has been that I'm nolonger pre-diabetic.
My lev I'm in, um, where thelevels where I should be.
(23:19):
Yeah.
We'll, we'll get some moreapplause going on there, but
yeah, you were no longerpre-diabetic.
Yep.
And that's very, very exciting.
This has actually done what wehad hoped it would do.
Now you go in, I think, sixmonths for another checkup.
Right.
Yeah, she said, good job,getting to where you are, but I
wanna make sure you're keepingup with, the, way of eating and
(23:42):
you're behaving yourself andthen we'll, make it a year
appointment and you won't haveto add more checkups.
So, it is very, very exciting.
Now that certainly does providethat carrot on the stick for us
to keep going in this directionbecause we've put in all of this
work, we've put in all of themoney, and we wanna make sure
that we keep reaping the rewardsand the benefits of it.
(24:05):
And so the fact that it hasworked, mm-hmm.
It has at least worked for us,has been a very, very positive
thing.
Now, certainly we're not sayingto everybody that this is going
to work for you.
You know, your mileage may vary.
Everyone's body is different.
All of the disclaimers that Ican put in there from a legal
perspective.
So nobody sues me as giving out,uh, some kind of health advice.
(24:29):
I'm not a registered dietician.
No.
But for us, it has worked.
It has done exactly what we hadhoped it would do.
But even beyond the weight lossand even beyond.
The A1C dropping, you've alsofound another benefit.
What's that?
(24:50):
Inflammation, has gone down.
I'm not in as much joint pain,as I had prior.
and I didn't realize that until,the holidays when we're not.
As good, we're going to otherpeople's houses and we don't
expect them, to cater to us andwe're on vacation.
Um, and so we're not eating likewe would at home.
(25:11):
Um, and I realized like, wow, myjoints are starting to hurt
again.
And so the way we were eatinghad helped with my inflammation.
Yeah, definitely.
And, and I think a, a good pointthat you make there is that this
is not something that we havetried to push off on anybody
else.
You know, we've had people say,what, what can you have?
What can you, no, we're notrolling like that.
(25:33):
Mm-hmm.
For us, this is not a matter of.
Of life and death.
Right.
You, you know, this is somethingthat we're doing because it is
health helpful and helpful tous, but we're not trying to push
us on everybody else and belike, oh, you know, we're
vegetarian.
We're vegetarian.
Like you've got a, and weappreciate that people are
(25:54):
willing to work with us, butwe're never gonna demand that of
anybody.
You know, we go to somebody'shouse.
It's kind of the way you and Iwere both raised.
You go to somebody's house.
And just as a matter of respect,you eat what's put before you.
Mm-hmm.
And you shout up and you likeit.
And that's just how it is.
(26:14):
And, and again, it's totallydifferent.
If you're somebody who islactose intolerant or you are
glued intolerant, then at thatpoint, that's a totally, totally
different thing.
And yes, you, you, you shouldn'tbe eating food that is going to
make you sick, um, or make you,you feel bad.
Um, but that's not the case forus.
(26:36):
Mm-hmm.
You know, it takes quite a bitof, of days of maybe
non-compliance.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, for, for it to catchup.
And even, even still thatinflammation that you're
feeling.
It's uncomfortable, but it's notlike you're an absolute agony or
anything agony or anything likethat.
But the fact is this way ofeating.
(26:56):
Has been beneficial, both from aweight loss perspective,
reducing the A1C for you andreducing inflammation.
Mm-hmm.
It works and success breedssuccess.
And so when you find somethingthat works, you wanna stick with
it, you want to get better atit, you wanna refine it.
And that's certainly what weplan on doing to continue that
(27:17):
success.
However, it's not all roses.
There are a few things, and I, Istruggle with using the term
dislike, but there are a fewthings about this diet that, or
maybe more like cramps, ourstyle, maybe we should have said
pluses and minuses.
I, I don't know, but we're justgonna call'em dislikes.
(27:39):
So number one, what is it?
it's expensive.
Yeah.
It, it, it can, it can be, yeah.
It can be expensive.
Yeah.
Uh, and, and I've mentioned thisbefore, um, you know, as a good
farmer, every once in a whileyou have to take stock in what
you're putting into.
I was gonna say animal, but boy,that would be, oh, oh boy.
(28:01):
I don't know if I wanna gothere.
I've already, we've alreadytouched on that weight thing,
and so I've already liveddangerously.
But yeah, I've sunk a lot ofmoney into you, baby.
You're expensive, but I'm worthit.
You are.
And, and at the end of the day,I wanna keep you around.
I do.
I really do.
I want to keep you around, andso I'll put a little more money
into you if I have to, but Idon't know, you creep it up on
(28:22):
that threshold, right?
I might have to reevaluate.
No, but I, I'll joke in theside, folks.
Folks, it, it can be costly andin part, one of the big
components of the Mediterraneandiet is seafood.
And we like seafood, but wedon't live near the sea.
(28:43):
So, and I think even if you dolive near the sea, um, seafood
is still fairly expensive, but,If you go buy fish at the store
and you're buying a good qualityfish, it's going to cost money.
It's going to be expensive.
And it's not just that, but whenwe did this, we did this kind of
at the wrong time of the year,we did this when we couldn't
(29:06):
grow.
A lot of the things that,hindsight being what it is, we
would have grown.
We might have preserved more of,but we didn't know we were gonna
be making this transition.
And so it was kind of a littlebit late in the game.
And so certainly we've seen anincrease in our grocery bill as
a result of this.
Now, hopefully this year we'llbe able to grow more of the
(29:26):
stuff that we need and we'll seethat grocery bill go down, yeah,
one of the oils of choice, onthis way of eating is olive oil
and olive oil.
It's expensive.
Yeah.
If you buy a high quality oliveoil, it certainly can be
expensive.
And, and that's something whereyou really don't wanna cheap out
because.
As we've learned, as we've, youknow, kind of studied into this,
(29:49):
not all olive oils are createdequally, and there are some that
are not necessarily true oliveoils and some that are not
actually true extra virgin oliveoils.
And we could go way down thatrabbit hole.
We're not going to, butcertainly if you're buying a
high quality olive oil, it'sgoing to be expensive.
But a lot of it goes back tosomething that I've said before.
(30:12):
On this podcast, and that isthat there's a real cost to
raising real food.
And so if you're not raising orgrowing the real food, there's a
real cost to buying real food.
One of the things that we havealmost totally eliminated from
our diet has been the preparedprepackaged, the processed
(30:38):
foods.
Mm-hmm.
And those foods have a tendencyto be the cheap foods.
Things like macaroni and cheese,boxed rices, prepared salads
like the, the pasta, salads,those kinds of things are cheap
foods.
Chips are cheap foods.
(30:59):
But certainly not foods that aregood for you.
Mm-hmm.
And when you start buying betterquality food, better quality
ingredients, there certainly isa a cost to that.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
On the other hand, we also lookat it from the standpoint of
we're investing in our health.
Yeah.
And if we don't pay that costnow, then what we're going to
(31:20):
end up doing is paying that costlater in medical bills.
Mm-hmm.
Insulin, et cetera, et cetera,et cetera.
So if we can avoid that byeating better, certainly we
would want to.
But cost is certainly adownside.
Mm-hmm.
(31:40):
To the Mediterranean diet.
Next thing, it's not convenientthere's a whole lot more thought
that needs to be put into it, awhole lot more, prep work that
goes into it.
Yeah, definitely.
Again, going back to the factthat we, you've cut out almost
all of the prepackaged and theprocessed foods, it definitely
(32:01):
means that you're cooking fromscratch.
And not that we didn't cook alot from scratch before, but we
would use a can of cream ofmushroom soup in the crockpot
with some chicken breast andsome mushrooms, you know, quick
meals like that.
And now we are not doing that.
We're having to chop vegetablesalmost every night, which we
(32:23):
didn't necessarily always do.
Making salads far morefrequently than we used to.
there just is a lot more prep.
Yeah.
That takes place.
And not just a lot more prep,but because you're eating
fresher foods.
You're not eating as manyprepared foods or pre-packaged
(32:45):
foods, then you have to put alot more thought into your menu
planning because you may notnecessarily have those things
that in the past you would'verelied on.
Mm-hmm.
On the shelf.
And so that's been certainly abit of a growing edge for you.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Cuz I was just one, you know,like when I'm busy I, just open
(33:06):
up a can op, open up a box.
Um, there you go.
Here's your supper.
So it's a lot more planning.
Yeah, definitely a lot moreplanning, a lot more prep, A lot
more kitchen time in this way ofeating.
All right.
The next thing that we don'tlike, I hate to say, don't like,
but the next negative thing, Idon't know, whatever.
(33:28):
For me, it's sugar, sugar andsweets.
It's not, um, something that'sspecial to this way of eating.
I should be doing it already,but.
I'm still struggling with thesugar, and how much ice cream I
should be having I think thesweets are your Achilles heel.
(33:50):
Yes.
And.
You're right.
This is not something that wouldbe unique to this way of eating
or to this diet.
Most diets, if somebody islooking to reduce their a1c,
yes, reduce their weight.
Number one thing would be reducethe amount of sugar intake.
(34:11):
Hmm.
Now, the beautiful thing aboutthe Mediterranean diet is that
it's not an elimination diet.
And so again, referring back tothe Mediterranean diet food
pyramid at the very tippy top,our sweets and red meats, it's
just a matter of you eat themevery once in a while.
You eat them in moderation, youeat them in small amounts.
(34:33):
And when you stop and you thinkabout the cuisines of the
Mediterranean region, placeslike Greece and Italy and
France, they're known for someof the best desserts in the
world.
You think about Greece, I'm notsure if there's anything much
better than baklava.
Mm-hmm.
I love baklava.
Although I'm probably, I'm notpronouncing it entirely
(34:53):
correctly, but you know what I'mtalking about.
The Italians have their cans.
The French are well known fortheir pastries, and, and so
that, that's okay.
The fact that the Mediterraneandiet is built around the concept
of community, one of the biggestparts of community is getting
together and celebratingmilestones.
(35:16):
And a big part of that is tocelebrate with things like cakes
and, and pastries and so on andso forth.
So you don't need to eliminatethem, but it's just being more
intentional about it.
It's being more aboutmoderation.
You have a sliver of cake.
You don't eat the whole cake,you have a donut.
You don't in eat the entire boxof donuts.
(35:38):
You don't eat donuts every dayfor breakfast.
You don't sit down and have apint of ice cream every night
before you go to bed.
Not that you ever do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Clarify that.
But, um, you know, every timethat you're driving by the ice
cream shop, you don't have tofeel that pull of the wheel into
the, uh, the ice cream shop.
(36:01):
And we're getting into ice creamshop season up here.
I know, I know.
Everybody is opening up, buteven still, when you do pull
into the ice cream shop, whenyou veer in, one of the things
that I found, I used to alwaysget either a super large sundae
or I would get like the largecone.
Now I get a small mm-hmm.
Yeah.
(36:21):
I get one scoop and it's allgood.
So it's just about moderation.
Can I get an amen?
Sure.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
So there's a couple of otherthings that I don't like about
the Mediterranean diet.
All right?
And one of them is a big one.
And this is what really threw mefor a loop.
(36:41):
And I've talked about this, soI'm not gonna beat this drum too
hard here, but I don't like.
That there are so many thingsthat make up the Mediterranean
diet that I cannot raise andgrow here on my homestead.
We live in beautiful, upstateNew York.
I'm never gonna be able to growolives.
I'm never gonna be able toproduce olive oil.
I'm never gonna be able to growcapers, never gonna grow
(37:03):
artichokes.
Those are just things thatwithout me investing in some
kind of super.
Infrastructure here and somekind of a greenhouse or
whatever.
Citrus.
Mm-hmm.
Another big part of theMediterranean diet is just not
going to happen.
I don't like that.
I don't like that one littlebit, but it's all good.
(37:25):
I'm trying to focus on what Ican do and not get focused on
what I can't do.
Another big one though wasseafood.
Last time I checked, I don't gota.
Pond in the backyard, that stockfull of salmon and cod and
haddock and shrimp and scallopsand all of the good stuff.
Now, the good thing is we werejust up in Alaska, spent a week
(37:49):
with my brother.
He sent me home with a coolerfull of fish.
And as I sat down and I startedthinking about how much it would
cost me to buy, That fish in thestore.
I actually think that we almostpaid for one of our plane
(38:10):
tickets.
Wow.
By the amount of fish that webrought back from Alaska.
Wow.
I, I don't think that's anexaggeration at all, and
especially knowing that it'swild caught that it's not.
Mm-hmm.
Farm salmon, you know, whichthere's a lot of controversy
about that.
But anyhow, the fact of thematter is, If you're gonna be
(38:32):
following the Mediterranean dietand you're going to increase the
amount of seafood, unless you'reliving in a place like Alaska,
you're living on the coast,you're gonna find that you are
gonna be paying for that becauseyou can't produce it.
And I don't like that.
But as our friend Barb remindedme, she said, Brian, you don't
(38:52):
think anything about buyingsugar to put in your jams and
jellies?
She's right.
And definitely the fish and theolive oil are much better for us
than the sugar for the jams andthe jellies.
So as you can see, really thebenefits outweigh the negatives.
Mm-hmm.
(39:12):
Everything has its upsides andits downsides and a lot of it
just really.
It comes down to perspective.
If we get fixated on what wecan't grow, instead of focusing
on what we can raise and grow,produce and process on our
homestead and what we can raise,grow, producing process, far
outweighs what, what we can't.
Mm-hmm.
(39:32):
Focusing on the cost.
When, if you look at it from aflip side, an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound ofcure.
Mm-hmm.
Thinking about, well, it takesmore thought, effort, and energy
to put together a meal now willstop being a lazy bum.
What?
Not you.
Not you, not you.
(39:53):
That's not what I'm saying.
I didn't think so.
No, I wasn't saying that to you.
Oh, okay.
Oh, oh.
Who I'm get myself outtatrouble.
No, but again, it's just amatter of perspective and
thinking about, you know, if weare too busy Yeah.
Then maybe.
Maybe you're too busy.
Too busy.
Yeah.
If, if we're too busy to investin our health, then maybe we're
(40:16):
too busy.
Mm-hmm.
And we just need to keep theright perspective on it.
Mm-hmm.
But folks, for us, theMediterranean diet has been,
it's been a godsend.
It really has been very, veryhelpful to both of us and I, and
I hope that it will continue tobe any.
(40:37):
Parting words of wisdom as wewrap up the series?
Well, if you have the samehealth issues or you would like
to give it, um, thisMediterranean way of eating a
try, I would, I would recommendit, because it works.
Yeah.
I agree.
I definitely would highlyrecommend that people at least
(40:58):
give it a looksie.
And give it the old college.
Try and see how it works foryou.
If you decide to give theMediterranean Diet a try.
Reach out to me, Brian, at thehomestead journey.net.
Let me know.
Let me know how it works out foryou, and if there's anything
that we've said on this episodeor anything in this series that
you disagree with.
(41:19):
Let me know.
I certainly am always wanting tocorrect the record, and so if
you're somebody who is adietician who knows far more
about this stuff than I do,reach out to me.
Let's have a conversation.
Maybe we can get you on the showand maybe you can set the record
straight and get us all headedin the right direction.
Because at the end of the day,that's what it's all about.
(41:40):
It's about the journey, thehomestead journey, and it's also
about that journey towardsbetter health.
For all of us.
All right, babe, we're gonnawrap it up here.
Thanks so much for joining me.
That's it for this series on theMediterranean Diet.
We're going to be shortlyheading into a series on the
(42:05):
Empt Nest.
Yes, it's coming way faster thanwe want it to.
It is coming way faster than wewant it to.
In fact, the other day I lookedat the calendar and I thought,
You know what?
In about three months it's gonnabe just you and me, babe.
Just you and me, babe.
(42:25):
Are you ready for it?
Well, at least you know, likeyou'll have his room to sleep in
if you need to.
I don't have to sleep with thechickens any longer.
Alright folks, thanks so muchfor tuning into this episode,
and until next time, keep up thegood work.
I'm your host, Brian Wells, andI'm a fourth generation
homesteader Since 2008, myfamily and I have been
homesteading here in beautifulupstate New York.
In 2019, I launched theHomestead Journey Podcast to
help people just like you getstarted and find success on
their journey towardsself-sufficiency, self-reliance,
(00:24):
and sustain.
This is the Homestead Journeyand this is season four.
Well, hello everyone andwelcome, welcome, welcome,
welcome to the Homestead JourneyPodcast.
My name is Brian Wells.
I am coming to you from three BFarm and Homestead here in
(00:48):
beautiful, upstate new.
This is season four and this isepisode 153, and thank you so
much.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for takingtime out of your busy schedule
to join us here on the Homesteadjourney.
Whether you're brand new to thepodcast or you're someone who
(01:08):
has been a longtime listener.
Thank you so much.
I know there's a lot of thingsyou could be listening to right
now, and the fact that you'retaking time out of your busy
schedule to listen to me, doesnot go unnoticed or
underappreciated.
I really, really do appreciateit.
On today's episode, we are goingto be wrapping up our series on
(01:32):
the Mediterranean Diet.
I am going to be joined hereshortly by my lovely wife here
in the Homestead Journey PodcastStudios, and so I am excited to
chat with her about what we likeand dislike about the
Mediterranean diet.
But before we do, I did want totake a few moments, as we
(01:53):
usually do here on the podcast,and bring you up to speed with
what we've been doing here onthree B Farm and Homestead.
So, as you might remember fromlast week's episode, we did just
(02:14):
get back last Sunday fromvisiting my brother in Alaska.
And so a big part of this weekwas just getting back into the
swing of things, trying torecover from the time change,
four hours that way, and thenfour hours back.
And so it did take a little bitof time for us to recalibrate
(02:36):
our internal clocks thereforethis week probably wasn't as
productive as it could have beenor should have been, but I think
we are back on East Coast timenow.
This week we did send a coupleof our American Guinea hogs to
their new home.
(02:56):
Some friends of ours fromchurch, bought a couple of those
pigs and they are just enjoyinghaving those pigs on their
homestead.
And in fact this morning theirdaughter was in the Sunday
school class that my wife and Iare teaching, and she just
shared with us how excited sheis to have the little piggies
(03:17):
that they have named thing oneand thing two, they're on their
homestead.
And so that is very, very, Theother thing that I did wanna
share with you is just an updateon the seed starting system.
Things are going so well withthat.
I am so happy right now with howthings are progressing with that
(03:37):
system.
I think, I think we've, we'vegot a winner here, folks.
It, it really is working very,very well.
I'm happy to have.
I don't know if I wanna call itmess, but all of that out of my
office, or should we say out ofthe Homestead Journey Podcast
Studios.
(03:58):
But, uh, to have that downstairsout of the way is certainly not
a bad thing.
I, I'm, I'm glad to have thatdown there.
And again, it's, it's workingout very, very well.
I am that added no supplementalheat to it whatsoever.
It's staying at a nice,consistent, temperature.
The plants are growing well andI'm really needing to get my
(04:23):
next round of plant starts inthere.
I had hoped to get some flowersand things of that nature in
there.
Maybe get some cucumbers andsome squash and maybe some
lettuce.
Started, not that you need tostart that indoors, but maybe to
give it a little bit of ajumpstart, Wasn't able to get
around to it this week.
In part, that's becauseyesterday we spent all day off
(04:46):
the homestead.
My son was in a regional mocktrial competition.
It's only the second time theirschool has ever made it.
To the regional mock trialcompetition.
Last year was the first year,unfortunately, they got knocked
out in the first round, but thisyear I'm very, very proud to say
(05:07):
they made it to the finals forregional.
And unfortunately they lost byone point.
They were one point away fromadvancing the states.
A little bit disappointed inthat, but overall, I was so
proud of him.
I was so proud of their team.
It was definitely a greatlearning experience for him, but
that did mean that we spent theentirety of yesterday off the
(05:29):
homestead when we could havebeen getting some things done
around here.
But I wouldn't change it foranything unfortunately today.
Well, it was one of those rainydays and it just rained and
rained and rained all day long,which kept me indoors.
I probably should have gottensome things started, as I
mentioned in the seed startingsystem.
(05:50):
Didn't get around to it.
Maybe tomorrow we'll see, but,It is what it is.
We'll get started, what we canget started, and the fact is we
can always direct.
So those things, we're reallynot all that far behind.
That's really it for Homesteadhappenings for this week.
Again, the time change, gettingback into the swing of things,
certainly not as busy as wemaybe should have been.
(06:16):
It is what it is.
We're doing the best we can withwhat we've got to work with.
And well, there's always nextweek.
Before we head on over to thisweek's charting the course, I
did want to invite you to signup for our newsletter.
If you head on over to thehomestead
journey.net/newsletter, you cando that for free.
I have some excitingannouncements coming up.
(06:37):
I wanna make sure that you don'tmiss out on those.
And so the easiest way for youto get that information, the
quickest way for you to get thatinformation is via our
newsletter.
So if you haven't already, headon over to the homestead
journey.net/newsletter to getsigned up.
All right folks, let's jump onover to this week's charting the
(06:59):
course.
Brian (07:07):
I am so excited to be joined once again here in the
Homestead Journey PodcastStudios, by none other than my
lovely wife.
Bonnie, thank you.
Hi everyone.
And now it has been a hotminute, babe.
It has.
But I am so glad to have youback as we wrap up this series
on the Mediterranean Diet.
And in fact, today we are goingto end on a bang.
(07:28):
We're going to end on a highnote.
We're going to talk about whatwe like and what we dislike
about the Mediterranean diet.
So let's just jump right intoit.
What is number one on your listof likes?
I like that it's, foods that wealready eat.
Yeah.
This way of eating really iscomprised of a lot of things
that we already.
(07:49):
Eat.
There really wasn't a lot thatwas thrown at us that we didn't
eat.
Now, there were a few things,and we'll talk about those in a
little bit, but by and largethis is really comprised of a
lot of things that we alreadyate.
We are a family that eats a lotof vegetables already.
We.
Enjoy salads and things of thatnature.
(08:10):
And so it wasn't like we weregoing into this and having to
eat things that were unfamiliarto us.
Yeah.
That we weren't introducing intoour diet.
A lot of things that we didn'talready know.
And so that has certainly been abig upside to it.
The second thing that we really,really like about this diet is
what, We like the food.
(08:32):
Um, we like, can you say that alittle bit more?
Enthusiasm.
We like the food.
We like, we love the food.
We love the food.
Yes.
This is a diet, a way of eatingthat is extremely, extremely
tasty.
And, uh, I, I mean, deliciousfood and.
(08:53):
Because of the fact that theMediterranean really as a region
encompasses so many differentcuisines, there really are so
many options that you have tochoose from, that you can go in
so many different culinarydirections that you can almost
sometimes feel a little bitoverwhelmed, but you certainly
(09:13):
do not have to have bland,tasteless food, and in fact,
this diet.
This way of eating reallyfocuses on flavorful mm-hmm.
Flavor packed cuisines.
It really boils down to the factthat these are foods we knew and
these are foods that just tasteso good.
And it's just like when I talkabout people.
(09:36):
Growing a garden, people willsay, what should I grow?
And I always say, well, grow thethings you like to eat, because
if you like to eat them, thenyou're going to eat them, right?
And if you, and if you like whatyou're eating, you like what
you're growing, you're going tohave a tendency to grow more of
it.
So it, it's been the same waywith this.
Now, that's not to say thatwe've liked every recipe that
(09:57):
we've tried.
No one in particular was a dishwith Eggplant and it was just,
it was too mushy.
Um, so I wouldn't make that dishagain.
I just didn't like how mushy itmade the eggplant.
Yeah.
And so sometimes it's a matterof texture, sometimes it's a
matter of flavor, but by andlarge, the foods when they're
(10:19):
this way of eating are justabsolutely delicious.
We love, love, love the food,and I don't, I don't ever feel
like I'm, I'm going hungry.
I, I, no, I feel like I'msatisfied and we just really
have enjoyed that piece of it.
The next thing I really, reallylike about this diet is that it
(10:43):
is easy to understand I foundthe plate diagram to be very,
very helpful.
When you look at your plate andyou think, okay, half of it
should be vegetable, a quarterof it should be lean protein.
A quarter of it should be maybesome whole wheat or some starch
or something along those lines.
A little bit of fruit to theside, drinking some water, but
(11:04):
it just really is.
Easy for me to wrap my headaround it.
And also some of that goes backto what you talked about
understanding these foods.
These are foods that we'refamiliar with, we're familiar
with Italian food maybe notquite as familiar with Greek
food and, those in influences,although we've gotten more
familiar with it.
But at least having thosecuisines as a frame of reference
(11:28):
has been very helpful for me towrap my head around it and
understand how this wave eatingshould work.
Now you've not necessarily foundthat plate diagram to be as
helpful though?
No, when I get it to the tableand put it on my plate, I
haven't really been consciousabout, the amounts that are
there.
(11:49):
Not that that I overload myplate, it's just I haven't done
the plate diagram.
Yeah.
It's one of those things where Ithink traditionally the American
plate has been more, half meat,maybe a quarter starch and a
quarter.
Veg And so moving more in thedirection of the half veg,
(12:09):
quarter starch, quarter meat.
I've definitely found the platediagram helpful in that regard.
That's been a little bit more ofa growing edge for you now.
W we've had a little bit ofdebate, at times over whether or
not we had the properproportions on our plate.
And, one of those, situationsinvolved a sweet potato honest
(12:33):
mistake at my part, on my part.
Um, I thought, you know, it wasa vegetable, but it comes to
find out it was a starch.
Now, in all fairness, I probablywas a little, I wouldn't say it
was harsh about it.
No, but you got yourself calledMichelle.
Yeah, no, that is true.
Michelle Obama bride j referredto me as Michelle Obama with
(12:55):
regards to, food portions on, onour plates.
the plate diagram is more ofthis is what we're aiming for.
But if you go by theMediterranean diet pyramid, then
certainly what we had on ourplates would have been, for lack
of a better term, compliant withthe Mediterranean diet because
the base of the Mediterraneandiet is that things are.
(13:16):
Plant-based things should beplant-based.
And certainly a sweet potato isplant-based, so not really
anything wrong with it.
If you go by the Mediterraneandiet pyramid, if you go by the
Mediterranean Diet plate diagramthough, then I would be right.
So I guess we were both right.
(13:39):
No.
Sounds good.
Okay, we'll go with that.
I don't wanna get myself in anymore trouble.
But leaving the diagrams behind.
For a moment.
One of the things that I don'tlike about other diets and in
particular, I'm, I'm gonna callout Weight Watchers, even though
you have found Weight Watchersto be helpful in the past, but I
(13:59):
just find this whole concept ofhaving to come up with points,
assigned point values.
Do you weigh food in WeightWatchers or, yeah.
Yeah.
So measure weigh food andmeasure food and all of that
kind of stuff.
That's just too fiddly for me.
I, I don't like that.
And so not having to do that andjust kind of rely on the plate
(14:19):
diagram has made theMediterranean diet, the
Mediterranean way of eating mucheasier for me to understand and
wrap my head around, and Ireally, really, really like
that.
The next thing I really likeabout the Mediterranean diet is
that it is not an eliminationdiet.
In the past I've kind ofjokingly referred to myself as a
(14:39):
vegetarian, but that doesn'tmean that I don't like
vegetables.
I love vegetables.
I love breads.
I, I just love good food.
And sometimes in the past that'sshown we're not gonna talk about
it.
I remember when I went to thedoctorate doctrine, uh, it's
hopped on the scale, and theylooked at the scale and they
said to you, said to me, Mr.
(15:00):
Wells, you are not obese.
But you don't need to gain anymore weight.
So, uh, I think at that point intime, the fact that I, like food
was showing, I don't know, as Icould survive on a gluten-free
diet.
I don't know, as I could surviveon a keto diet, I don't know, as
I could survive on a carnivorediet Now, You do what you have
(15:23):
to do.
If that's all you have andthat's what you gotta go by, or
you have to do that for healthreasons, then you do.
You do what you have to do.
But man, I would miss my bread.
I would miss my vegetables.
I would miss my carbs.
I would miss the fat.
Like those things, thatelimination stuff that happens
when you go on those types ofdiets would drive me bonkers.
(15:44):
I love the fact that the.
Focus of the Mediterranean dietis more about making good
choices and moderation, notelimination.
And so for me, that's been avery, very positive thing and
been something that has reallyhelped me keep going, another
thing I really, really likeabout this diet is that we can
(16:04):
grow a lot.
Of the food that is consideredcompliant with the Mediterranean
diet.
And in fact, you and I foundthat when we sat down and we
started thinking about what wewere going to grow in the garden
this year, and I was going overlists of vegetables that people
recommend that you plant in agarden for people on the
Mediterranean diet.
(16:25):
And I covered this in a previousepisode, but we found that with
the exception of two things, Ithink it was, we are already
growing everything that peoplerecommend on the diet.
Yeah, there was only, I don'tknow, I think maybe arugula.
No I don't.
It was like, no, I think it was,um, broccoli, Rob.
Yeah, I don't remember.
And one other thing, I don'tremember what the other thing
(16:47):
was.
And broccoli Rob.
Was already on my list of thingsthat I wanted to try.
I don't know as I'm gonna get itin this year, but that's neither
here nor there.
The fact is that we were alreadygrowing the vast majority of
vegetables that can be grown inour area.
Mm-hmm.
We were already growing them,and so I really, really like
(17:07):
that.
Another thing that I really,really like about this diet is
that it is based on an activelifestyle and eating within the
context of community.
Now, eating in the context ofcommunity is something that was
not new for us.
Yeah.
We have always practiced that.
You and I and Brian, Jay, we'vealways sat down and eaten at
(17:28):
least dinner.
Right.
At least dinner.
Yeah, at least dinner.
As a family, if I'm home andyou're home at this, at the same
time, many times we eat lunchtogether.
We're not a huge breakfastfamily, so even on the weekends
we don't really sit down, eatoccasionally.
Yeah.
It's very rare though.
We kind of get up and we wantget up on a Saturday morning, on
a Sunday morning until, if we'regrabbing breakfast, we just kind
(17:49):
of eat it on our own.
But we do eat at least dinner.
Or supper, however you want tocall it, the evening meal, we
shall say we eat that togetherin the context of of community.
So for us, that was not anythingnew, but it was certainly
(18:09):
validation of what we'vepracticed as a family, but the
idea of the Mediterranean dietbeing built on an active
lifestyle.
Has been something that has beena bit of, I don't wanna say an
eye-opener for us.
It's been a growing edge for us,I think, and well, we perhaps
(18:30):
haven't taken as much action inregards to this as we should.
We're at least aware of it.
Mm-hmm.
We're aware of the fact that welive a little bit more of a
sedentary lifestyle than wethought we did.
Yeah.
Or, or even as we used to, Imean, before Covid and when I
(18:52):
was doing the whole WeightWatchers thing several years
ago, you know, I would go to theD gym and I would walk, 10
minutes on the treadmill andthen like I haven't been back to
a gym since but there's noreason why I can't go outside
and walk.
And now that it's getting warmerand, yeah.
And so what both you and I havedone is we have installed
pedometer apps on our phones.
(19:13):
Mm-hmm.
We're just like everybody elsein, in, in the United States.
This is kind of our ball andchain.
We're very rarely without it.
And so that really, I think, hasserved as, as a, at least as for
me, It's been a bit eye-openingto see how much I don't move,
how much I sit.
I, I work a desk job, andcertainly in the wintertime,
(19:35):
I'm, I'm gonna be a little bitmore sedentary.
You know, even with thehomestead, I, I jokingly refer
to the homestead as my gym in,in the winter.
You go out, you feed theanimals, you come in.
You really don't do a whole lot.
At least we don't.
And, and, and this has certainlybeen eye-opening, so there have
been many evenings when I foundmyself walking in circles around
(19:56):
the island in the middle of ourkitchen just to get my step
count up.
But it, it certainly has atleast made us more aware mm-hmm.
Of the need to have a little bitmore of an active lifestyle.
And so now that.
Things are starting to warm up.
We'll be able to get outside.
Certainly we'll be doing moreoutside raking lawns, putting in
(20:20):
gardens, so we're, we'lldefinitely be a lot more active
just because of the season, o oof the year.
But we'll also have theopportunity to take long
romantic walks.
Yes, of course, hand in hand,frolicking, frolicking.
Carry on frolicking in thefields with daisies in your
(20:43):
hair.
As I sing to you, the hills arealive with the sound of music.
I think it'll go to the gym, butcertainly I do like the fact
that it is.
Based on the premise of anactive lifestyle and eating with
the context of community, Ithink those are very, very
(21:05):
positive things and thatcertainly will help us both from
a health perspective.
The last thing though, and Ithink the most important reason
why we like the Mediterraneandiet, and that is what it works.
Yeah, it works.
Now.
You and I have both foundbenefits, I think a little bit
of a different benefit for eachone of us, but it certainly has
(21:28):
worked for both of us.
Now, for me, I went into thisreally more, with the desire to
be supportive of you not tryingto throw my shoulder outta joint
here, patting myself on theback.
I did get kudos from your doctorthough, in, in regards to that.
Did I not?
Yes, yes.
She said, that's awesome thatyou have a husband that will do
that with you and keep doingwhat you're doing.
(21:51):
Yeah, I mean, I just, I hope youtook notes.
I hope you recorded that, uh, sothat you can replay that back,
but no.
For me, I did not go into thiswith any kind of necessarily
health benefit goals, and yetI've lost a lot of weight as a
result of being on this.
And it's not just a matter ofI've lost weight, I've lost
enough weight that people arenoticing it.
(22:12):
You know, somebody at churchcame up to me on Sunday and
said, Man, if you lost weight,you look like you've lost a lot
of weight.
And I, I was happy to say, yeah,I'm under 170 pounds for the
first time and I don't know howlong.
So that certainly has been avery, very positive thing for
me.
Now, you haven't necessarilylost quite as much weight as me
and.
(22:33):
That's kind of getting into, youknow, a, a, a very, um,
dangerous area as, as a man totalk to a lady about her weight.
So we're gonna stay away fromthat.
I mean, you might wanna mentionthat you've lost a few pounds.
Yes, I lost about eight, ninepounds and I have maintained
that, But I haven't taken theextra step in doing the extra
(22:57):
things that I need to do, totake more weight off.
But where you found benefit tothis, and this was really the
reason why we did this in thefirst place, where you found
benefit has been that I'm nolonger pre-diabetic.
My lev I'm in, um, where thelevels where I should be.
(23:19):
Yeah.
We'll, we'll get some moreapplause going on there, but
yeah, you were no longerpre-diabetic.
Yep.
And that's very, very exciting.
This has actually done what wehad hoped it would do.
Now you go in, I think, sixmonths for another checkup.
Right.
Yeah, she said, good job,getting to where you are, but I
wanna make sure you're keepingup with, the, way of eating and
(23:42):
you're behaving yourself andthen we'll, make it a year
appointment and you won't haveto add more checkups.
So, it is very, very exciting.
Now that certainly does providethat carrot on the stick for us
to keep going in this directionbecause we've put in all of this
work, we've put in all of themoney, and we wanna make sure
that we keep reaping the rewardsand the benefits of it.
(24:05):
And so the fact that it hasworked, mm-hmm.
It has at least worked for us,has been a very, very positive
thing.
Now, certainly we're not sayingto everybody that this is going
to work for you.
You know, your mileage may vary.
Everyone's body is different.
All of the disclaimers that Ican put in there from a legal
perspective.
So nobody sues me as giving out,uh, some kind of health advice.
(24:29):
I'm not a registered dietician.
No.
But for us, it has worked.
It has done exactly what we hadhoped it would do.
But even beyond the weight lossand even beyond.
The A1C dropping, you've alsofound another benefit.
What's that?
(24:50):
Inflammation, has gone down.
I'm not in as much joint pain,as I had prior.
and I didn't realize that until,the holidays when we're not.
As good, we're going to otherpeople's houses and we don't
expect them, to cater to us andwe're on vacation.
Um, and so we're not eating likewe would at home.
(25:11):
Um, and I realized like, wow, myjoints are starting to hurt
again.
And so the way we were eatinghad helped with my inflammation.
Yeah, definitely.
And, and I think a, a good pointthat you make there is that this
is not something that we havetried to push off on anybody
else.
You know, we've had people say,what, what can you have?
What can you, no, we're notrolling like that.
(25:33):
Mm-hmm.
For us, this is not a matter of.
Of life and death.
Right.
You, you know, this is somethingthat we're doing because it is
health helpful and helpful tous, but we're not trying to push
us on everybody else and belike, oh, you know, we're
vegetarian.
We're vegetarian.
Like you've got a, and weappreciate that people are
(25:54):
willing to work with us, butwe're never gonna demand that of
anybody.
You know, we go to somebody'shouse.
It's kind of the way you and Iwere both raised.
You go to somebody's house.
And just as a matter of respect,you eat what's put before you.
Mm-hmm.
And you shout up and you likeit.
And that's just how it is.
(26:14):
And, and again, it's totallydifferent.
If you're somebody who islactose intolerant or you are
glued intolerant, then at thatpoint, that's a totally, totally
different thing.
And yes, you, you, you shouldn'tbe eating food that is going to
make you sick, um, or make you,you feel bad.
Um, but that's not the case forus.
(26:36):
Mm-hmm.
You know, it takes quite a bitof, of days of maybe
non-compliance.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, for, for it to catchup.
And even, even still thatinflammation that you're
feeling.
It's uncomfortable, but it's notlike you're an absolute agony or
anything agony or anything likethat.
But the fact is this way ofeating.
(26:56):
Has been beneficial, both from aweight loss perspective,
reducing the A1C for you andreducing inflammation.
Mm-hmm.
It works and success breedssuccess.
And so when you find somethingthat works, you wanna stick with
it, you want to get better atit, you wanna refine it.
And that's certainly what weplan on doing to continue that
(27:17):
success.
However, it's not all roses.
There are a few things, and I, Istruggle with using the term
dislike, but there are a fewthings about this diet that, or
maybe more like cramps, ourstyle, maybe we should have said
pluses and minuses.
I, I don't know, but we're justgonna call'em dislikes.
(27:39):
So number one, what is it?
it's expensive.
Yeah.
It, it, it can, it can be, yeah.
It can be expensive.
Yeah.
Uh, and, and I've mentioned thisbefore, um, you know, as a good
farmer, every once in a whileyou have to take stock in what
you're putting into.
I was gonna say animal, but boy,that would be, oh, oh boy.
(28:01):
I don't know if I wanna gothere.
I've already, we've alreadytouched on that weight thing,
and so I've already liveddangerously.
But yeah, I've sunk a lot ofmoney into you, baby.
You're expensive, but I'm worthit.
You are.
And, and at the end of the day,I wanna keep you around.
I do.
I really do.
I want to keep you around, andso I'll put a little more money
into you if I have to, but Idon't know, you creep it up on
(28:22):
that threshold, right?
I might have to reevaluate.
No, but I, I'll joke in theside, folks.
Folks, it, it can be costly andin part, one of the big
components of the Mediterraneandiet is seafood.
And we like seafood, but wedon't live near the sea.
(28:43):
So, and I think even if you dolive near the sea, um, seafood
is still fairly expensive, but,If you go buy fish at the store
and you're buying a good qualityfish, it's going to cost money.
It's going to be expensive.
And it's not just that, but whenwe did this, we did this kind of
at the wrong time of the year,we did this when we couldn't
(29:06):
grow.
A lot of the things that,hindsight being what it is, we
would have grown.
We might have preserved more of,but we didn't know we were gonna
be making this transition.
And so it was kind of a littlebit late in the game.
And so certainly we've seen anincrease in our grocery bill as
a result of this.
Now, hopefully this year we'llbe able to grow more of the
(29:26):
stuff that we need and we'll seethat grocery bill go down, yeah,
one of the oils of choice, onthis way of eating is olive oil
and olive oil.
It's expensive.
Yeah.
If you buy a high quality oliveoil, it certainly can be
expensive.
And, and that's something whereyou really don't wanna cheap out
because.
As we've learned, as we've, youknow, kind of studied into this,
(29:49):
not all olive oils are createdequally, and there are some that
are not necessarily true oliveoils and some that are not
actually true extra virgin oliveoils.
And we could go way down thatrabbit hole.
We're not going to, butcertainly if you're buying a
high quality olive oil, it'sgoing to be expensive.
But a lot of it goes back tosomething that I've said before.
(30:12):
On this podcast, and that isthat there's a real cost to
raising real food.
And so if you're not raising orgrowing the real food, there's a
real cost to buying real food.
One of the things that we havealmost totally eliminated from
our diet has been the preparedprepackaged, the processed
(30:38):
foods.
Mm-hmm.
And those foods have a tendencyto be the cheap foods.
Things like macaroni and cheese,boxed rices, prepared salads
like the, the pasta, salads,those kinds of things are cheap
foods.
Chips are cheap foods.
(30:59):
But certainly not foods that aregood for you.
Mm-hmm.
And when you start buying betterquality food, better quality
ingredients, there certainly isa a cost to that.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
On the other hand, we also lookat it from the standpoint of
we're investing in our health.
Yeah.
And if we don't pay that costnow, then what we're going to
(31:20):
end up doing is paying that costlater in medical bills.
Mm-hmm.
Insulin, et cetera, et cetera,et cetera.
So if we can avoid that byeating better, certainly we
would want to.
But cost is certainly adownside.
Mm-hmm.
(31:40):
To the Mediterranean diet.
Next thing, it's not convenientthere's a whole lot more thought
that needs to be put into it, awhole lot more, prep work that
goes into it.
Yeah, definitely.
Again, going back to the factthat we, you've cut out almost
all of the prepackaged and theprocessed foods, it definitely
(32:01):
means that you're cooking fromscratch.
And not that we didn't cook alot from scratch before, but we
would use a can of cream ofmushroom soup in the crockpot
with some chicken breast andsome mushrooms, you know, quick
meals like that.
And now we are not doing that.
We're having to chop vegetablesalmost every night, which we
(32:23):
didn't necessarily always do.
Making salads far morefrequently than we used to.
there just is a lot more prep.
Yeah.
That takes place.
And not just a lot more prep,but because you're eating
fresher foods.
You're not eating as manyprepared foods or pre-packaged
(32:45):
foods, then you have to put alot more thought into your menu
planning because you may notnecessarily have those things
that in the past you would'verelied on.
Mm-hmm.
On the shelf.
And so that's been certainly abit of a growing edge for you.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Cuz I was just one, you know,like when I'm busy I, just open
(33:06):
up a can op, open up a box.
Um, there you go.
Here's your supper.
So it's a lot more planning.
Yeah, definitely a lot moreplanning, a lot more prep, A lot
more kitchen time in this way ofeating.
All right.
The next thing that we don'tlike, I hate to say, don't like,
but the next negative thing, Idon't know, whatever.
(33:28):
For me, it's sugar, sugar andsweets.
It's not, um, something that'sspecial to this way of eating.
I should be doing it already,but.
I'm still struggling with thesugar, and how much ice cream I
should be having I think thesweets are your Achilles heel.
(33:50):
Yes.
And.
You're right.
This is not something that wouldbe unique to this way of eating
or to this diet.
Most diets, if somebody islooking to reduce their a1c,
yes, reduce their weight.
Number one thing would be reducethe amount of sugar intake.
(34:11):
Hmm.
Now, the beautiful thing aboutthe Mediterranean diet is that
it's not an elimination diet.
And so again, referring back tothe Mediterranean diet food
pyramid at the very tippy top,our sweets and red meats, it's
just a matter of you eat themevery once in a while.
You eat them in moderation, youeat them in small amounts.
(34:33):
And when you stop and you thinkabout the cuisines of the
Mediterranean region, placeslike Greece and Italy and
France, they're known for someof the best desserts in the
world.
You think about Greece, I'm notsure if there's anything much
better than baklava.
Mm-hmm.
I love baklava.
Although I'm probably, I'm notpronouncing it entirely
(34:53):
correctly, but you know what I'mtalking about.
The Italians have their cans.
The French are well known fortheir pastries, and, and so
that, that's okay.
The fact that the Mediterraneandiet is built around the concept
of community, one of the biggestparts of community is getting
together and celebratingmilestones.
(35:16):
And a big part of that is tocelebrate with things like cakes
and, and pastries and so on andso forth.
So you don't need to eliminatethem, but it's just being more
intentional about it.
It's being more aboutmoderation.
You have a sliver of cake.
You don't eat the whole cake,you have a donut.
You don't in eat the entire boxof donuts.
(35:38):
You don't eat donuts every dayfor breakfast.
You don't sit down and have apint of ice cream every night
before you go to bed.
Not that you ever do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Clarify that.
But, um, you know, every timethat you're driving by the ice
cream shop, you don't have tofeel that pull of the wheel into
the, uh, the ice cream shop.
(36:01):
And we're getting into ice creamshop season up here.
I know, I know.
Everybody is opening up, buteven still, when you do pull
into the ice cream shop, whenyou veer in, one of the things
that I found, I used to alwaysget either a super large sundae
or I would get like the largecone.
Now I get a small mm-hmm.
Yeah.
(36:21):
I get one scoop and it's allgood.
So it's just about moderation.
Can I get an amen?
Sure.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
So there's a couple of otherthings that I don't like about
the Mediterranean diet.
All right?
And one of them is a big one.
And this is what really threw mefor a loop.
(36:41):
And I've talked about this, soI'm not gonna beat this drum too
hard here, but I don't like.
That there are so many thingsthat make up the Mediterranean
diet that I cannot raise andgrow here on my homestead.
We live in beautiful, upstateNew York.
I'm never gonna be able to growolives.
I'm never gonna be able toproduce olive oil.
I'm never gonna be able to growcapers, never gonna grow
(37:03):
artichokes.
Those are just things thatwithout me investing in some
kind of super.
Infrastructure here and somekind of a greenhouse or
whatever.
Citrus.
Mm-hmm.
Another big part of theMediterranean diet is just not
going to happen.
I don't like that.
I don't like that one littlebit, but it's all good.
(37:25):
I'm trying to focus on what Ican do and not get focused on
what I can't do.
Another big one though wasseafood.
Last time I checked, I don't gota.
Pond in the backyard, that stockfull of salmon and cod and
haddock and shrimp and scallopsand all of the good stuff.
Now, the good thing is we werejust up in Alaska, spent a week
(37:49):
with my brother.
He sent me home with a coolerfull of fish.
And as I sat down and I startedthinking about how much it would
cost me to buy, That fish in thestore.
I actually think that we almostpaid for one of our plane
(38:10):
tickets.
Wow.
By the amount of fish that webrought back from Alaska.
Wow.
I, I don't think that's anexaggeration at all, and
especially knowing that it'swild caught that it's not.
Mm-hmm.
Farm salmon, you know, whichthere's a lot of controversy
about that.
But anyhow, the fact of thematter is, If you're gonna be
(38:32):
following the Mediterranean dietand you're going to increase the
amount of seafood, unless you'reliving in a place like Alaska,
you're living on the coast,you're gonna find that you are
gonna be paying for that becauseyou can't produce it.
And I don't like that.
But as our friend Barb remindedme, she said, Brian, you don't
(38:52):
think anything about buyingsugar to put in your jams and
jellies?
She's right.
And definitely the fish and theolive oil are much better for us
than the sugar for the jams andthe jellies.
So as you can see, really thebenefits outweigh the negatives.
Mm-hmm.
(39:12):
Everything has its upsides andits downsides and a lot of it
just really.
It comes down to perspective.
If we get fixated on what wecan't grow, instead of focusing
on what we can raise and grow,produce and process on our
homestead and what we can raise,grow, producing process, far
outweighs what, what we can't.
Mm-hmm.
(39:32):
Focusing on the cost.
When, if you look at it from aflip side, an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound ofcure.
Mm-hmm.
Thinking about, well, it takesmore thought, effort, and energy
to put together a meal now willstop being a lazy bum.
What?
Not you.
Not you, not you.
(39:53):
That's not what I'm saying.
I didn't think so.
No, I wasn't saying that to you.
Oh, okay.
Oh, oh.
Who I'm get myself outtatrouble.
No, but again, it's just amatter of perspective and
thinking about, you know, if weare too busy Yeah.
Then maybe.
Maybe you're too busy.
Too busy.
Yeah.
If, if we're too busy to investin our health, then maybe we're
(40:16):
too busy.
Mm-hmm.
And we just need to keep theright perspective on it.
Mm-hmm.
But folks, for us, theMediterranean diet has been,
it's been a godsend.
It really has been very, veryhelpful to both of us and I, and
I hope that it will continue tobe any.
(40:37):
Parting words of wisdom as wewrap up the series?
Well, if you have the samehealth issues or you would like
to give it, um, thisMediterranean way of eating a
try, I would, I would recommendit, because it works.
Yeah.
I agree.
I definitely would highlyrecommend that people at least
(40:58):
give it a looksie.
And give it the old college.
Try and see how it works foryou.
If you decide to give theMediterranean Diet a try.
Reach out to me, Brian, at thehomestead journey.net.
Let me know.
Let me know how it works out foryou, and if there's anything
that we've said on this episodeor anything in this series that
you disagree with.
(41:19):
Let me know.
I certainly am always wanting tocorrect the record, and so if
you're somebody who is adietician who knows far more
about this stuff than I do,reach out to me.
Let's have a conversation.
Maybe we can get you on the showand maybe you can set the record
straight and get us all headedin the right direction.
Because at the end of the day,that's what it's all about.
(41:40):
It's about the journey, thehomestead journey, and it's also
about that journey towardsbetter health.
For all of us.
All right, babe, we're gonnawrap it up here.
Thanks so much for joining me.
That's it for this series on theMediterranean Diet.
We're going to be shortlyheading into a series on the
(42:05):
Empt Nest.
Yes, it's coming way faster thanwe want it to.
It is coming way faster than wewant it to.
In fact, the other day I lookedat the calendar and I thought,
You know what?
In about three months it's gonnabe just you and me, babe.
Just you and me, babe.
(42:25):
Are you ready for it?
Well, at least you know, likeyou'll have his room to sleep in
if you need to.
I don't have to sleep with thechickens any longer.
Alright folks, thanks so muchfor tuning into this episode,
and until next time, keep up thegood work.
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