If you’re just using the Mediterranean Diet for weight loss, probably the best strategy is to stick to the Greek side of the diet. Here’s a rough outline of the typical day on the Greek Mediterranean Diet.
Breakfast
The Greeks always breakfast on whatever fruit is in season. In winter or spring there will be an abundance of citrus to choose from. For energy in the morning, the average Greek loves a stiff cup of coffee. This will typically go with some fresh bread with some natural honey, which is a sharp contrast to the sweet roll with gobs of icing you might see an American have. Cheese is another typical Greek breakfast food, usually a goat’s milk cheese like myzythra, graveria, or feta. So far, you’ve started out with only 250 calories for the day.
Morning Snack
Instead of lunch, the Greeks go an hour or two earlier and have a mid-morning snack, and then lunch is actually more of an early dinner. Fruits, particularly melons or apples, are a popular choice here.
Lunch
The Greeks actually call this ‘dinner’, and it’s the main meal of the day. This will be one of a cooked meal of fish and rice, salads, olives, perhaps some lamb kabob, plenty of fresh vegetables, a goulash, stew, or soup, rice pilaf, or perhaps a pita-bread sandwich. Dessert is fruit and cheese. Keep the variety high and the servings light, and you’ll end up with about 600 calories here.
Supper
This is the evening meal, usually at sundown. The trick here is to have either meat and vegetables or starch and vegetables, but never both at the same meal. Supper is slightly less than lunch, almost as small as breakfast. Wine is usually consumed with supper. Broiled lamb, boiled green vegetables, cous cous, tomato and feta cheese, and any seafood works well here. Typically you won’t top over 500 calories here. A tasty, healthy weight loss diet.
