A baby boomer goes Mediterranean. With her food!

You want to be well, and stay well? Then although BoomerCafé does not endorse any particular diet or health plan, maybe, writing from Irvine California, certified Wellness Coach Lorie Eber’s advice about a weight loss study is for you. That advice, in two words? Go Mediterranean.

What’s the most effective weight loss plan that can be sustained? Is it low fat, low carb or Mediterranean?

The most recent comprehensive study, shows that the Mediterranean diet is the one that continues to show results a year after the initial weight loss.

The Mediterranean Diet Results in Sustainable Weight Loss

Dr. Lorie Eber

Overweight or obese patients, particularly those with metabolic syndrome, are often told to lose weight by changing their lifestyle. The aim of these recommendations is to reduce their cardiovascular risk. However, there is no scientific evidence that this beneficial effect can be maintained in the long-term.

Although low fat and low carbohydrate diets have proven effective in losing weight and improving cardiovascular risk, the benefits tend to diminish after a year.

Following a Mediterranean diet low in calories and engaging daily physical activity are the most effective. This regimen reduces body weight and cardiovascular risk in overweight patients and patients with metabolic syndrome. Most importantly, these benefits were maintained after one year.

Weight Loss Study

A weight loss study was recently conducted by researchers from the Human Nutrition Unit at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain, along with 23 other research groups.

The study is referred to as the Predimed-Plus clinical trial has become the biggest milestone in nutrition investigation. This trial evaluates the effect of an intensive lifestyle intervention aiming at losing weight with an energy-restricted Mediterranean diet, physical activity promotion and behavioral support on the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Specifically, the PREDIMED-Plus study involved:

• First 6,874 participants were recruited in total from 23 centers and hospitals.
• The participants were evaluated for changes in body weight, fat accumulation and different cardiovascular risk factors.
• 626 participants who satisfied the medical risk factors took part in the weight loss trial.
• The evaluations were conducted for one year.
• The results have shown that the lifestyle changes made in the study are effective in maintain clinically significant weight loss.
• After 12 months of intervention, 33.7% of the patients following the hypocaloric Mediterranean diet and daily exercise showed a minimum of 5% weight loss.
• These patients also showed improvements in those parameters related with glucose metabolism and certain inflammatory markers, in contrast with those patients who did not follow the diet.
• Furthermore, for those patients with diabetes or at risk of diabetes, the benefits from these lifestyle changes were particularly high in terms of glucose control.

Weight Loss Researchers’ Analysis

• The researchers note that in this study the greatest weight loss was found after 12 months, which illustrates that weight loss was maintained over time.
• They expect that these lifestyle changes demonstrated in the PREDIMED-Plus lifestyle study will also be effective against cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes in the long term.
• These changes might even decrease mortality from these causes.

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Here’s where you can buy Lorie’s latest book, How to Ditch Your Fat Clothes for Good.