Understanding The Mediterranean Diet

Dr. Galati devotes this hour of Your Health First to the Mediterranean diet. He explains the foods it’s rich with, how it's not advertised or defended in grocery stores, the middle eastern influence, and recipes you can make with it.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Initialye Sequeenzy coming to you live from Houston, Texas, home
to the world's largest medical center. In the approach phrase
everything looking alien. This is your health First, the most

(00:22):
beneficial health program on radio with doctor Joe Galotti. During
the next hour, you'll learn about health, wellness and the
provention of disease. Now here's your host, doctor Joe Galotti.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, the Happy Sunday Evening to everybody, Doctor Joe Galotti.
Every Sunday we're here. You all know that between seven
and eight p m. And our goal is to make
you better consumers of healthcare. Think of it as the

(01:10):
more you know about your body, how it works, the
better off you will be. And let's face it, being sick,
being chronically ill is terrible. Nobody there tonight is saying, yeah,
you know, I've got chronic diabetes and I'm losing my

(01:32):
vision and I'm in heart failure. You know that's not
that bad. No, that is pretty terrible. And so our
goal here is to really just arm you with the information.
Something is simple as realizing that a certain symptom, a

(01:53):
certain pain on your side, should not be blown off
for more than a few days. It needs to get
acted upon. So that is what our goal. There's many,
many different ways that this show can impact somebody. And
with all the years that I've been doing at the
feedback not only from those that I see as a patient,

(02:17):
those that communicate through the program. And I'll tell you
about that in a second. People that I just meet
out in public at some sort of event or speaking event,
they come up to me and they'll they'll tell me,
do you remember when you were talking about x or
y Well? I took that information. I told my husband
he did this and that, and because of that little

(02:38):
bit of information, he is doing better. So there's many, many,
many ways that we can impact you, all right, So
to communicate with me Doctor Joegalotti dot com, d R
J O E G A L A t I dot com.
It's pretty much all there. You can send me a message,

(02:59):
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links to our social media is there, and in particular
tonight you want to check out our Facebook page. I'm
going to leave two things about the Mediterranean diet, which

(03:19):
is what we're going to be speaking about tonight, but
it's at doctor Joe Galotti is the Facebook page, but
you go to doctor Joeglotti dot com and sign up there.
All right, So we're going to dedicate this hour on
this Sunday to the Mediterranean diet. And when I see

(03:40):
patients and for those that are new to the program,
I am a hepatologist, a liver disease specialist, and we
take care of people with all various degrees of chronic
livit disease and nowadays fatty liver is a major major
health problem, leading cause of cirrhosis and cancer and the

(04:01):
need for a liver transplant. So this is no light thing.
You should not be sitting there tonight and say, oh
I got fatty lived, nothing to worry about. No, you
are at risk for really bad things to happen. But anyway,
we take care of people with alcohol related liver disease, cerrhrosis,
liver cancer, all sorts of autoimmune diseases. But we because

(04:24):
so much of what we deal with with regard to
liver disease is diet related diet and lifestyle. So everybody
knows what diet is. It's the stuff you put in
your mouth. And lifestyle is more, are you exercising, are
you smoking? Are you consuming alcohol or alcohol to excess,
are you getting enough sleep? What's your state of your

(04:45):
mental health, what are your relationships like, what is your
spiritual function? That is very important. So those are all
the lifestyle things. But we talk about diet nearly every
single visit with every single patient that we have, and
as you could imagine, the discussion of diet ranges from

(05:05):
I have no idea about diet. Now, I'm not talking
about a diet like the Atkins diet or you know,
the carnivore diet. I'm just talking about diet in the
general sense of what you're eating and what you're preparing
and what you're buying at the market. So it ranges
from like I have no idea, I just eat whatever

(05:28):
the hell I could get my mouth on all the
way to being really I would say experts in the
field of nutrition and portion control and how you can
maneuver around the kitchen the supermarket and be very creative
in the kitchen. And so I would say the simplest

(05:49):
thing that I tell my patients and all my staff
talk this way is if you are looking to revamp
your diet, which is really revamping the food you eat,
the easiest thing to do is to follow, learn implement
the Mediterranean diet. Now that is where people sort of

(06:13):
look at me with a blank stare and they say,
Mediterranean diet. Never heard of it, have no idea what
it is. And again others are sort of understanding what
it is, and then others are experts. So for tonight,
what I want to do is really commit to having
everybody understand what the Mediterranean diet is all about. And

(06:37):
in a sense, and it is not that hard to
incorporate and gradually get into the Mediterranean diet. So the
Mediterranean diet is going to be a diet that is
rich in fresh fruits. Now you can get frozen fruit,
but basically we'll just say fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans, or legomes.

(07:05):
If you want to sound a little more fancy to
your friends. The use of olive oil, and I would say,
you want to purchase as best you can high quality
extra virgin olive oil, citrus fish, and lean meat. Minimizing

(07:26):
red meat, pork, You're going to minimize essentially all processed foods.
We're talking deli meat. Yes, even that beloved turkey breast
that you get on your sandwich is an ultra processed food.
So it is the salamis, the pepperonis, the all the

(07:49):
deli meat, baloney, you want to avoid, bacon, sausage, you
want to out for the baked products that are ultra processed,
the sugary products. And what is remaining is fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, fish,

(08:16):
lean poultry. And we're not talking about chicken fingers either.
And really I would say the avoidance or minimalization of
red meat, pork ham, things like that. It's all processed
and really focusing on dietary fiber, making sure you get

(08:39):
enough fiber, and you're going to get enough fiber if
you are following fresh fruits and vegetables. Now, growing up
Italian and Sicilian in New York, we were eating the
Mediterranean diet before it was cool. And that's just the
way it is. And you look at other places around
the world, and I'm going to sort of outline the
map of what the Mediterranean diet where these countries are.

(09:03):
But whether it is Greek or Syrian or Egyptian, Libbyan,
all of these countries in and around the Mediterranean have
a similar a similar type diet. But it it takes commitment. Now,

(09:24):
if you're sitting there tonight and say, you know, I've
heard about the Mediterranean diet. I don't know what the
hell it is. Well, now this is your opportunity. This
is your wake up call to say I'm going to
be committed to this. And it's no different than you
learning a new skill. You're taking up a new hobby
if you wanted to, you know, get into sort of

(09:48):
you know, get into dancing with your partner or as
a group. You have to go to lessons and learn
how to do it, and you practice. Cooking takes practice,
nutrition takes practice. So I would not look at this
as a burden, but I would look at this as
an opportunity to tremendously increase your health. And the data

(10:09):
on the Mediterranean diet with regard to reducing your weight,
reducing hypertension, reducing the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart disease,
heart attack, stroke, fatty liver dementia, bone disease is unquestionable.
So this is not some sort of fluky fad diet.

(10:34):
This is the real deal. Hundreds upon hundreds and hundreds
of years of people around the world eating this diet,
and there's no doubt that it is beneficial. All Right,
we're going to take a quick break, Doctor Joe Golotti
talking about the Mediterranean diet tonight. Don't forget doctor Joeglotti

(10:55):
dot com. When you're there, you could go to our
Facebook page and there'll be a couple of articles to
download on the Mediterranean diet, make you better consumers. You
want to stay tuned for this hour, I'll right back.
Welcome back, everybody, Doctr Joe Galotti. You're tuned in for
the next hour to your health First. Every Sunday between

(11:16):
seven and eight pm, we're here broadcasting from our home
studio seven forty k TRH in Houston, Texas, but across
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Take us anywhere, tell you friends about us, share us,
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(11:39):
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go to the station KTRH and you will see us
and hear us. And again, our replays are available on

(12:03):
our social media platforms by going to our website. Doctor
Joegalotti dot com doctor Joegalotti dot com. And while you're there,
check out our newsletter, sign up for that, pick up
a copy of my book Eating Yourself Sick. It is
all there, but you have to go to the website
doctor Joe Galotti dot com. All right, So earlier I

(12:26):
was talking about in the New York Times this Sunday
there was a great insert magazine and I would say,
it's pretty comprehensive, and I am going to try to
get parts of it posted up to our Facebook page.
So go to Facebook. It's at doctor Joe Galotti d

(12:47):
R j O E g A l A t I.
Very simple. You'd be surprised. As a kid, the name
Galatti was butchered, adding ends and to t's and l's
Galati ga l A TI. So with regard to the

(13:10):
Mediterranean diet. Now, I was chatting with my wife earlier
this morning when I saw this come in the paper,
and I asked her, I said, you know, what is
it that you think we should talk about with regard
to the Mediterranean diet? And her comment was pretty simple.
Do people really know what the Mediterranean diet is? It

(13:31):
is thrown around somewhat abused, and people just say, oh, yeah,
go on a Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is the
best to prevent cancer, it's the best to reduce heart disease,
it's the best diet to live to a hundred. And
people look at that and they say, yeah, Okay, I'll
get on the Mediterranean diet. But what the hell is it? Now?

(13:53):
I was thinking about this. Now. There is not an
aisle at the grocery store grocery store USA, There is
not an isle with a sign that says Mediterranean diet

(14:14):
to guide you there to say these are foods that
foster the Mediterranean diet way of life. But there are
plenty of isles that are dedicated to quote unquote diet foods. Now,
I sat for a few minutes, went online, and this

(14:34):
is what I came up with regard to the advertising
of different diets and different foods. Now, bear with me
for a second. So there are products, and they may
come in the form of a frozen food, less likely

(14:58):
a fresh fruit or vegetable, but some sort of canned,
processed food, and it will say on it keto, meaning
if you are following a Keto diet, this food is
for you, all right, So you get that commercial queue

(15:22):
to say, yeah, I've heard keto is good. This is
a keto food, let me buy it. Same thing for Atkins.
Atkins has an entire line of food behind the diet
behind it is a billion dollar company that says Atkins

(15:45):
on it. So you say, yeah, that's what I need
to buy. It's very easy for you. There are foods
that are labeled as paleo right eating like cavemen. There
are foods that will say that. Now, of course, if
people are following a low carbohydrate diet, foods will say

(16:06):
low carb. If you're following low fat, there will be
some sort of signature on it to alert you to
say this is a low fat or fat free food.
There is gluten free products and this is all advertising.
So as you are navigating through grocery store USA, you

(16:28):
are being bombarded with these advertising signals by me, I
am gluten free, sugar free, whole thirty. I don't even
know what whole thirty is. To tell you the truth,
I've heard about it. And then there may be foods
that say this food is high in protein, because we

(16:52):
have been dumbed down to say, yeah, high protein food,
even though it's processed, this is high in protein. So
to that end, the poor Mediterranean diet. There is really
nothing out there that is leading to you to a

(17:14):
product that says, hey, over here, this is a Mediterranean
diet food that you want to eat. So if it's
not being advertised or defended in a sense, you're going
to miss out on it. But you are damn sure
you know what Keto is and Atkins and Paleo low carb,

(17:34):
low fat, gluten free, sugar free, hohole thirty high protein.
So I think, to my wife's point, you need to
know what exactly is the Mediterranean diet. And there is
no doubt about it. If you were going to choose

(17:55):
one way of life to say I am going to
get into my health, going to get into the food
disease prevention, the Mediterranean diet hands down. And this is
not just doctor Joe Galotti spouting off. These are experts
since the nineteen fifties that have proposed the health benefits

(18:18):
of the Mediterranean diet and what I would look at.
For all of you that have Netflix, there is a
great show live to one hundred Secrets of the Blue Zones.
If you want to really understand how the impact of
food and nutrition and disease prevention works. You need to

(18:40):
watch this. I would say this is required reading. All right,
we're going to take a break. News, weather, traffic is
coming up right now. I'm doctor Joe Golotti. Don't forget
doctor Joglotti dot com. We are going to dive deep
into the Mediterranean diet when we get back, stay tuned.
Don't forget doctor Joe Galotti dot com. Welcome back, everybody,
Doctor Joe Glotti. Thanks for two in. We're halfway through

(19:01):
the hour tonight. Uh, don't forget our website. That's the
main portal to get in touch with me Doctor Joegalotti
dot com, d R J O E G A L
A t I dot com and sign up for our newsletter.
Most importantly, you could send me a message. Sign up
for all of our social media. I'm going to be

(19:22):
posting information about the Mediterranean diet on the Facebook page
which is at doctor Joe Galotti. And you know, in
talking about the Mediterranean diet, I was, you know, I've
been thinking about it today and a lot of this
is based on this New York Times magazine insert that

(19:42):
I am going to try to get into your hands.
But when you look at the geographic area of the Mediterranean,
the countries that border the Mediterranean c It is certainly Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco,

(20:11):
the east coast of Spain, Croatia, Syria, Albania, Malta, and
southern France for the most part. Now, somebody may be saying, hey,
you didn't say my country, but you have to look
at this to say, when you look at the diet
of these people, it is very much Mediterranean like, if

(20:36):
not exclusively so. Even with the Middle Eastern influence the Egyptians, Syrian, Moroccans, Lebanese,
their food basically is Mediterranean diet like in a sense,

(21:01):
and these people have very healthful diets. Now, if you
are not from anywhere within a reach of the Mediterranean diet,
you are more South American, Central American, Mexican, Asian. Many
of these diets are going to be different than what

(21:22):
you grew up on. Where there may be more corn,
there may be more pork, not as much fish, more bread,
more carbs. So I think for all of you, if
you are either first generation, second generation, third generation outside
of the Mediterranean areas, you have some learning to do,

(21:48):
all right, This is not going to come native to you.
This is not one of those inborn things. Now for
me growing up in an Italian Sicilian family where even
a lot of our friends were Greek. Okay, if you
were eating Italian food, you were used to the Greek food,

(22:10):
the Greeks were eating Italian food, and vice versa. So
this is very very interesting from a cultural standpoint that
this whole Mediterranean diet approach to food it's going to
be foreign to you. So that makes it all the
more challenging. I don't want to say difficult, just more challenging.

(22:31):
So what is it that makes a diet Mediterranean? All right?
So it is going to be foods that prioritize whole grains,
not process grains and bread, fruits, vegetables we all know

(22:53):
what those are legomes, which is beans predominantly nuts, seed, herbs, spices,
and olive oil. Now, fish is a huge part of
the Mediterranean diet that is going to be high in
Omega three fatty acids, and these are going to be

(23:14):
things like salmon, sardines, tuna, anchovies, and these are the
main sources of protein. Now, other lean animal proteins like
chicken and turkey are eaten at a far lesser extent.

(23:40):
And foods that are high in saturated fats, which are
going to be red meats butter, are rarely eaten. You
just don't see these foods on the diets. Now, eggs
and dairy yogurt, cheese are part of the diet, but
in less of a portion. Okay, a little bit of alcohol,

(24:04):
typically red wine, is going to be what is also
added in here. Now in the handout by the New
York Times, what they do is there are a number
of recipes under whole grain, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc. Which

(24:25):
going to try to get into your hand. But the
main thing is that you have a good working idea
such as whole grains. Now, what do you mean by
whole grains for breakfast? Okay, Now, I'm not a big
fan when I'm on the radio of just giving a

(24:46):
litany of lists, but I think you have to think
this over, so bear with me. So when you're talking
about the whole grains for breakfast, you may have whole
weed toast with peanut butter side a plain yogurt and
some berries and granola, or a bowl of oatmeal topped

(25:07):
with nuts and fruit. Now for lunch, again, a little
bit of whole wheat bread on processed. We're not looking
for wonder bread that white bread. But you may have
on that bread some avocado, hummus, lettuce, tomato, leftover vegetables
that you could have and for dinner again you could

(25:32):
have some bread and rice, quinoa or millet, steamed fish
and a side of vegetables. So the other main thing
that I stress a lot is you have to have
your kitchen prepared. You have to have it stocked with
the foods that fit within this Mediterranean scheme. And so

(25:56):
what are the things that you should have on hand
so that if you look in your your cabinets and
your refrigerator now you should say, oh man, I am
way off this Mediterranean scale. So do you have steel
cut oats, oatmeal? Do you have whole grains? Do you

(26:17):
have whole grain breads, whole brain, green crackers or hummus, popcorn,
dried grains like brown rice, quinoa, bulgar, barley to add
into these soups and vegetable dishes and things like that.
So that is the way to think about the the

(26:41):
whole grains. Now they give you a bunch of really
really great recipes. Now when it comes time to fruits
and vegetables. What is it that you want on hand? Well,
that's that's, you know, pretty basic. Again, a stock of
fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks, salads, and signed and sides.

(27:06):
Canned goods used for soups and salads like pickles, olives, dice, tomatoes.
It's okay to have frozen fruits and vegetables that are
easy to steam. While we would always prefer fresh fruits
and vegetables or frozen we try to stay away from
the can. But fresh fruits and vegetables that are easy

(27:28):
to steam, you could stir fry them, toss them in
things like peas, corn, broccoli, spinach, bell peppers, blueberry, strawberries
and peaches to have on hand. And then coming around
the bend here, let me see, this is really exhausted.
I have to try to get this. I would go

(27:49):
again on our Facebook page. Now with the idea of lagumes.
The beans. Now, a lot of people are a little
squeamish around beans. They're not too familiar eating them, but
nothing wrong incorporating a scoop of black beans into your
scrambled eggs or top with salsa for lunch. You can

(28:14):
have cherry tomatoes, canned white beans with sliced onion, parsley,
a little bit of parmesan cheese with olive oil, red wine, vinegar,
and some minced garlic. This would be a delight. Now,
what to keep on hand? Hummus, now you gotta watch.
Hummus is on the fattening side. But again a decent
portion gives you the good fats. Canned beans which you

(28:38):
could add to soup, salad, dried lentils and beans that
you could cook up, and frozen peas and at amamie.
So again, what you have on hand is the key, because,
as I've said a bunch of times, if you don't
have these foods a veil, you're going to scarf down

(29:02):
anything that you have. All right, final segment coming up.
We're going to continue talking about the Mediterranean diet. Doctor
Joe galotti dot COM's our website. Stay tuned, we'll bright back.
Welcome back, everybody, Final segment of this week's Your Health First.
We're here every Sunday between seven and a pm. I'm
doctor Joe Galotti. Don't forget. Our website is doctor Joegalotti
dot com. And look when you go there, sona for

(29:27):
our newsletter, Feel free to send me a message any
ideas that you have, topics that you want more information on.
Check that out. Go to our social media pages, especially
the Facebook, where I'm going to be posting several articles
and links regarding the Mediterranean diet that we've been talking

(29:48):
about today. Our YouTube page you can get information about
our webinar from earlier last week and our practice Liver
Specialists of Texas. But it is all there that is
your hub to follow along with the program and past
things that we've done. So in trying to tie up

(30:08):
some loose ends tonight on Mediterranean diet, the biggest problem
that I see with my patients, and I've been in
practice for nearly thirty five years, so I have seen
it all. I have seen the culture change. I've seen
people change, marketing, advertising products that are popular, and habits

(30:34):
that we all have. For those of you that are
listening tonight, you're probably here because you're interested in your
own health and wellness, or the health and wellness of
a loved one, your spouse, your significant other, your children,
your grandchildren, your community at large. So I have you

(30:55):
captured in that regard, But you have to truly believe
me that the origin of disease and our illness and
our unhappiness and our misery. Okay, our misery is related
to these chronic diseases. And you you know for the

(31:20):
billionth time, it is high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease,
lung disease, sleep apnea, livid disease in one form or another,
whether it's related to obesity and Fanny liver, alcohol related
liver disease, or viral hepatitis. It is kidney disease, It
is mental health issues, it is lung disease, bone disease,

(31:43):
all of the obesity related complications. The cornerstone of all
that is what we eat. And we are eating the
wrong food. And so you have to look at this
and say, I don't want cancer, I don't want heart disease.
I want to live a long, happy life so that

(32:04):
I have the freedom to enjoy life. Enjoy my hobbies,
go fishing, travel, spend time with your grandchildren, spend time
with your friends, become an artist, become the musician you
always wanted to be. You have to be healthy to
do that. And so when we put so much emphasis

(32:26):
on food, we try to give guidelines, but you're going
to have to take that first step and decide what
food am I going to eat? And we are proposing
and not just me, doctor Joe Glotti, it is the
medical community at large. The Mediterranean diet is what you
need to know. And if you look at the foods

(32:46):
within the Mediterranean diet, there's nothing really processed here. It
is fresh greens, it is fresh beans. It is fresh
fruit and vegetables, and the amazing ways that you can
and throw all of these together. It is not a
big fat steak that you're sitting here that is dripping

(33:09):
with gobs of fat. It is not a potato that
is drowning in butter. Okay, it is not a certain
food that is sweetened with a cup of sugar and
cream and fat and all of that. So you have
to make that decision to say I am going to
make a diet and eat a certain way. So in

(33:33):
this New York Times article that I've been talking about,
they talk about one of the recipes here is this
savory fruit salad. And what they talk about it is
ten cups of chopped ripe fruit. They really don't tell
you what kind of fruit, just any fruit. It is
a little bit of honey, it is some orange juice.

(33:54):
It is a bulb of fennol. When was the last
time you bought fennol? It is absolutely delicious, some chopped mint,
some lime juice, and just a touch of salt. Throwing
this sal together, this medley in itself can be a meal,

(34:15):
but you have to break through that mindset of saying,
unless it is a steak and potato and it's slobbered
with barbecue sauce, I don't want to eat it. The
other recipe that they have here is a chickpea salad sandwich. Now,

(34:36):
chickpeas are very, very diverse in what you could do
with them, but in this particular recipe, just as an example,
it is extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of tahini,
lemon juice, grated garlic, a can of chickpeas, celery scallions,

(34:56):
a little bit of parmesan cheese, and a multi green
sandwich bread, lettuce, sprouts, avocado, and a tomato. Again, putting
that together is going to give you a very nutritious diet.
And the list goes on and on here, but for

(35:19):
everybody it comes down to understanding what is the Mediterranean diet.
It's going to be the whole greens, the nuts, the seeds,
the lugomes, the beans, fish. Now for lunch today, I
am happy to say I had a can of sardines. Okay,

(35:40):
I've been turned on the sardines, and I've talked about
it here for at least the last couple of years.
And sardines are high in the Omega three fatty acids,
They're high in the good fats, they're high in protein,
low in carbohydrates, no preservatives. And that with a few
crackers was my lunch. You have to set the exps

(36:00):
that you don't need to have this big, filling lunch
to be satisfied. Lots of fruits and vegetables, and you
have to be willing to experiment a little bit. That's
what I tell my patients, That's what I tell my staff,
anybody here on the radio and other areas where I speak.
You have to be willing to experiment. And I think

(36:23):
leaving tonight, the message is learn about the Mediterranean diet.
How can you slowly incorporate this into your daily living.
How can you encourage we You know, part of the
biggest missions of us as humans is to inspire others.

(36:46):
That is a gift that we give to others to
inspire others. And if you can inspire your children, your grandchildren,
your relatives, the ones you love, your community to try
and eat better, well, well I would say at the
end of the day, you have been successful. That is
what I would say. All right, We're gonna close up

(37:08):
the program for tonight and I'm gonna leave you with
a little bit of Frank Sinatra, and don't forget go
to my website doctor Joegalotti dot com all of the
material we there have for you, our newsletter every weekend
we send that out, send me a message, let us
know what you think. And go to the Facebook page

(37:31):
and look at all the information on the Mediterranean diet
that we leave you until next Sunday night. Be well,
think Mediterranean. That is the key for tonight. Take it easy.
We'll see you then