Miami Mediterranean Diet

Source: ediets.com, Kim Droze

This summer’s hottest way to shed those extra pounds comes from The Miami Mediterranean Diet, the brainchild of South Florida cardiologist Dr. Michael Ozner.

While other diets come and go, the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet have remained steadfast. Now he’s unveiling his findings in the ground-breaking guide to good health The Miami Mediterranean Diet (Cambridge House).

Long touted as the healthiest diet around, the Mediterranean Diet is based on an eating regimen and lifestyle which emphasizes fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, cold-water fish, olive oil and poultry. The program includes a moderate consumption of dairy products and a limited consumption of red meat. Red wine is also a popular staple of the Mediterranean Diet.

In The Miami Mediterranean Diet, Dr. Ozner shares a 14-day menu plan, along with about 200 gourmet recipes including goat cheese-stuffed tomatoes, shrimp in spicy black bean sauce, pizza margherita, chicken and eggplant, peach marsala compote, roasted red pepper dip and lamb with black olives. It’s the perfect remedy for desperate dieters who’ve gotten wrapped up in the monotony of grilled lean protein and steamed vegetables with little flair or flavor.

"The obesity epidemic in this country stems not from the consumption of healthy carbohydrates," Dr. Ozner says. "It stems from the fact that we have oversized food in terms of portion size and increased consumption of refined sugar and refined  carbs, not to mention significantly increasing the consumption of saturated and trans fat which have also been linked to obesity.

"The healthy diet isn’t a diet that eliminates carbohydrates to lose weight. A healthy diet is a diet that gets rid of refined sugar, trans fat and all the processing that occurs with food.

"That’s what I have introduced in the past 25 years and have had very good long-term success having patients lose weight, keep it off and, most importantly, significantly lowering their risk of having a heart attack.”

“The Miami Mediterranean Diet brings to the table a diet that is not only palatable, but one that can be given to the entire family both young and old. People take comfort in the fact if they follow the principles of 
 
The Miami Mediterranean Diet it will improve long-term health.” Dr. Ozner points out that when following The Miami Mediterranean Diet and lifestyle, people can expect to lose a pound a week, which quickly adds up to around 50 pounds a year. What makes this approach different is that the weight will stay off because there’s not that feeling of deprivation that often drives dieters to return to their old habits.