The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook The Optimal Keto

Friendly Diet that Burns Fat, Promotes Longevity, and

Prevents Chronic Disease

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 THE NEW

MEDITERRANEAN
DIET COOKBOOK
THE OPTIMAL KETO-FRIENDLY DIET THAT BURNS FAT,
PROMOTES LONGEVITY, AND PREVENTS CHRONIC DISEASE

Martina Slajerova Dr. Nicholas Norwitz

Thomas DeLauer Rohan Kashid
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 • MEDITERRANEAN MEETS KETO

2 • BREAKFASTS
3 • SNACKS
4 • SALADS & SOUPS
5 • LUNCHES
6 • DINNERS
7 • SIDES
8 • DESSERTS
9 • BASICS

FURTHER READING
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
INDEX
 INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS THE NEW MEDITERRANEAN DIET?

Simply put, the New Mediterranean Diet is a forward-looking culinary method that blends
cutting-edge science with delicious food to optimize health, wellness, and longevity. This book
is based on two principles: First, that good food is the foundation of good health; and second,
that science is a tool we can use in the kitchen to maximize nutrition in our meals.

We, the authors of The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, are a team of chefs, scientists, and
health care providers who collectively possess decades of experience— in the kitchen and in
laboratories, hospitals, and other settings that focus on caring for people with chronic
diseases. We hope that this book will guide you to build healthy meals at home and that it will
transform your kitchen into the most important room in your house: a meeting point for
science, nutrition, and great taste.

Welcome to being a chef and a scientist! And, most importantly, bon appétit!
CHAPTER 1
 CHAPTER 1

MEDITERRANEAN MEETS KETO

Science is all about developing models—or ways of understanding the world— that are tested,
tweaked, and retested continuously as new evidence emerges. As a science-based cookbook,
this book follows the same approach. In the spirit of science, let’s start at the very beginning.
What is the starting model upon which The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is founded?

Well, there are actually two foundations to our approach: Mediterranean diets and ketogenic
diets, both of which have advantages. Mediterranean diets are associated with leanness,
longevity, and lower rates of the age-related chronic diseases that plague modern society,
including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. And an increasing body of evidence
suggests that low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diets can also promote healthy body weight and
fight these same chronic diseases.

So why choose just one? You certainly don’t have to! Mediterranean
diets and ketogenic diets are often cast as mutually exclusive, but they are
actually perfectly complementary styles of eating. While Mediterranean
diets are all about food sources, ketogenic diets are all about balancing
macronutrients (that is, keeping a close eye on how much fat, carbs, and
protein you consume).
Think of it this way: Mediterranean diets are about what you eat, while
ketogenic diets are about how much you eat. That means they can work in
tandem (if you’re mathematically inclined, you could call them
perpendicular), and that you can get the best of both worlds by eating a
Mediterranean-ketogenic diet.
The concept of Mediterranean-keto is just the starting point for this
book. Guided by the latest science, it can be further tweaked, optimized,
and developed into something even better—what we call “the New
Mediterranean Diet.”
 HEALTH SCIENCE YOU SHOULD KNOW

Science is never static: its process depends upon change, revision, and
redevelopment. The same is true for the New Mediterranean Diet. That’s
why it’s so important that you don’t just take us at our word in this book but
attempt to learn (and hopefully get excited!) about nutrition science and
your own personal health journey.
To help you with that, recipes in this book come with fun facts! But
before we get to the recipes, in the following four sections we’ll give you a
crash course on some of the science that underpins the recipes:

A nibble of evidence supporting the health claims of Mediterranean and

ketogenic diets.

An explanation of some key vocabulary terms that appear throughout this

book; understanding them will benefit your health and well-being.

A descriptive list of the New Mediterranean staple foods you’ll rely on as

you cook your way through this book, including seven high-fat
superfoods!

A guide to understanding recipe nutrition.

While you could skip any one of these sections— just as you could skip
the soup, salad, or appetizer when you’re having a meal—we recommend
you read on in order to fully appreciate your New Mediterranean
experience.
WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE?
In this book’s subtitle, we state that the New Mediterranean Diet “burns
fats, promotes longevity, and prevents chronic disease.” Here’s some
evidence for those claims:
Burns fat. In a landmark study, forty overweight people were split into
two groups. Although both groups consumed the same number of
calories, one group followed a ketogenic diet, while the other ate a low-
fat diet. After three months, the keto diet group had, on average, lost
more than twice as much weight (24 pounds) as the low-fat group (11
pounds). And that’s not all! Although the keto group ate more than twice
as much fat as the low-fat folks, the fat in their blood decreased by 150
percent more than the low-fat eaters! Why? Because their bodies were
burning fat as energy!

Promotes longevity. The Mediterranean region is a Blue Zone, an area

of the world in which people tend to live much longer than average. It’s
generally assumed that this longevity is, in part, due to the extra-virgin
olive oil, fish, and vegetable-rich diets enjoyed by Mediterranean people.
While the assumption that a Mediterranean diet will enhance longevity is
mostly based on human epidemiology (association) studies, studies
conducted on mice have produced complementary results to support the
notion that ketogenic diets enhance longevity and health. In a 2017 study
published in the prestigious journal Cell Metabolism, researchers
discovered that putting mice on a ketogenic diet increased their life spans
by 13 percent! Plus, unlike mice fed a standard, carb-rich diet, the
“ketogenic mice” maintained both their physical fitness and cognitive
function into old age. Nobody is yet sure what the results of combining
Mediterranean and keto diets in humans will be, but judging from this
and other research, eating this way will probably increase your chances
of being around to find out!

Fights chronic disease. If current trends continue as projected, a

staggering one-third of Americans will be type II diabetic by 2050. Until
recently, diabetes was considered a progressive and irreversible
condition. However, new science is challenging the status quo. A 2019
study compared the effects of a two-year ketogenic diet to the standard of
care, which involved medications, check-ins with primary care
physicians or endocrinologists, and nutritional recommendations based
on the American Diabetes Association from registered dieticians.
Astonishingly, the ketogenic diet completely reversed type II diabetes in
54 percent of the 262 ketogenic patients who took part in the study.
What’s more, 60 percent of the ketogenic diet patients were able to
discontinue their use of insulin. By comparison, the overall condition of
patients in the standard of care group worsened, and almost all had to
increase their insulin doses.
KEY VOCABULARY TERMS
Science is filled with intimidating jargon, but most of it can be made much
easier to digest (pun intended!) and much more fun to read. Take a look at
this sentence, for example: “Pink-red salmon contain antioxidants and fats
that are particularly good for brain health” rather than—brace yourself
—“Salmon, particularly Oncorhynchus nerka, contain astaxanthin, an
amphipathic antioxidant capable of blood-brain barrier penetration and
electron dislocation resonance, which functions to diminish the oxidation of
O. nerka’s 22:6 (n-3) docosahexaenoic acid fraction, yielding a high-
integrity form of the brain’s main structural lipid substrate.” Are you asleep
yet?
Don’t worry, you won’t come across complicated lingo like that in this
book! That said, there are a few key terms you’ll want to know. Hopefully,
these analogies help! Specifically, you should understand the concepts of
(1) Oxidative Stress, (2) Inflammation, (3) Insulin, (4) Fatty Acids, and (5)
LDL Cholesterol:

Oxidative Stress: The bull in the china shop. Cells turn nutrients into
energy that our bodies can use. As a result of this process, cells produce
toxic by-products called “reactive oxygen species.” Think of them as bulls
in the proverbial china shop, except here the china shop is the tiny cell.
Reactive oxygen species bounce around and damage everything in their
way, even your DNA!
 Oxidative Stress

This harmful bouncing-around process is called “oxidative stress.”

Antioxidants: Molecules—some found in your body and some eaten in

food—that neutralize reactive oxygen species and defend against
oxidative stress.

Polyphenol: A group of antioxidants found in food such as colorful

veggies, dark chocolate, and extra-virgin olive oil.

Inflammation: The overeager soldiers. Your immune system is like an

army, a group of soldiers defending your body from marauding infections.
Although inflammation is part of the normal healing process—say, when
you have a wound or a broken bone—when the inflammation goes on for
too long, it can damage body tissues, such as the brain, and lead to disease.
Our modern diets and lifestyles often unnecessarily activate our immune
systems, damaging cells—we call this “chronic inflammation.” Chronic
inflammation is toxic, and, sadly, so common in modern Western society
that most doctors and scientists just call it “inflammation.”
 Anti-inflammatory: A property of molecules that helps prevent or reduce
inflammation. Most antioxidants are also anti-inflammatory.

Inflammation

Insulin: The inky octopus. Insulin is a hormone with more vital functions
than an octopus has arms. Insulin helps muscles grow, increases cardiac
efficiency, and is important for brain health. However, like an octopus that
squirts you with ink, insulin has a naughty side, too. When agitated by the
consumption of carbs, insulin sticks to fat cells, causing them to grow. Plus,
when it does this, the octopus—that is, insulin—soon shirks its important
duties, like the abovementioned ones. This is insulin resistance, a state in
which the body experiences more of the fat-producing effects of insulin and
fewer of its benefits. But there’s good news: If you don’t poke the insulin
octopus with too many carbs, you won’t get squirted with ink. A great
reason to keep your fingers out of the donut tank!

Insulin Resistance

When agitated by carbs, the insulin octopus suctions onto fat cells and causes them to
grow. If insulin had ink, it would be miracle grow for fat cells. A wide diversity of tails
 Fatty Acids

Fatty Acids: Fish with straight and bendy tails. The different types of fat
we eat contain fatty acids, microscopic tail-like chemical structures.
Differences among fatty-acid tails, including length and bends, determine
the nutritional properties of different fats.

Saturated & Unsaturated: Saturated fats have straight tails with no

bends. Unsaturated fats have bendy tails. Saturated fats are more stable,
which can actually be a good thing because it means they are more
resistant to damage by oxidative stress. On the other hand, many
unsaturated fats are also beneficial, such as “MUFA” and omega-3s.

Monounsaturated (MUFA) & Polyunsaturated (PUFA) Fats: These are

types of unsaturated fats. MUFAs have one tail bend. They are quite
stable like saturated fats, but also have beneficial signaling properties that
can help improve metabolic health. Mediterranean diets are rich in
sources of MUFAs—think extra-virgin olive oil, avocados, and
macadamia nuts.
 Omega-3 & Omega-6 Fats: There are different types of PUFAs,
including omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Omega-3 fats are found mostly in
seafood and are anti-inflammatory. Too many omega-6 fats, particularly
those from processed foods, can promote inflammation.

Omega-6/3 Ratio: Most of us consume too many omega-6-rich foods

and too few omega-3 foods. This leads to a high omega-6/3 ratio and
ultimately promotes oxidative stress and chronic inflammation.

Lipoproteins, Cholesterol, Triglycerides: The boats in your

bloodstream. Low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) is like a boat that transports
two types of cargo through the bloodstream. LDL transports cholesterol (an
essential building block for cell membranes and hormones) and
triglycerides (fat fuel) from the liver to organs around the body that need
building blocks and fuel.
LDL levels can increase for two reasons. First, if you’re eating a
ketogenic or low-carb diet and burning fat as fuel, your liver may send out
more LDL “boats” to supply fat fuel to your muscles. The empty LDL boats
return to the liver to dock, restock, and go back to work. The second reason
is more sinister: When you overeat carbs, it’s as if you’re filling your
bloodstream with sugar glaciers. The LDL boats bump into these sugar
glaciers and get damaged in a process called “glycation.” Glycation, in turn,
makes those LDL boats further vulnerable to oxidative stress. Once they’ve
been damaged by the sugar glaciers, the LDL boats can’t return to the liver
and end up accumulating in your bloodstream. Eventually, they sink down
to your artery walls and develop into atherosclerotic plaques, a titanic
health catastrophe.
Therefore, the perception that LDL is “bad” is not entirely true. Having
more LDL in your bloodstream may be necessary when you’re burning lots
of fat fuel. However, LDL is bad when it gets damaged by carbs and
oxidation, because then it may contribute to heart disease.
Finally, there’s “high-density lipoprotein” (HDL). Often called “good”
cholesterol, HDL is like a rescue submarine that salvages cargo from
sinking LDL, cleaning up your bloodstream, and protecting against heart
disease.
 The Boats in Your Bloodstream: Cholesterol & Triglycerides

On a low-carb diet, your liver may send out more LDL boats to supply your muscles with
energy because you’re burning fat for fuel.
NEW MEDITERRANEAN STAPLE FOODS
SEVEN HIGH-FAT SUPERFOODS
Now that you’ve learned why eating at the intersection of Mediterranean
and ketogenic diets is great for your health and you’ve gotten a few key
scientific vocabulary terms under your belt, it’s time to meet our
superfoods!
 Salmon & Other Fatty Fish
DEEP DIVE

Salmon is rich in protein and micronutrients, and it’s also a particularly rich
source of the omega-3 fat, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA is arguably
the most beneficial form of the three omega-3 fatty acids (ALA, EPA, and
DHA) because of the role it plays in brain health. DHA makes up a large
fraction of the brain, and routine DHA consumption promotes brain
development in fetuses and protects against cognitive decline. DHA truly
benefits the brain from womb to tomb!
Salmon is also rich in astaxanthin, one of the world’s best disease-
fighting antioxidants. It is powerful, with six hundred times the antioxidant
capacity of blueberries and six thousand times (yes, you read that right!) the
antioxidant capacity of vitamin C. It can also neutralize up to twenty
different toxic “free radicals” simultaneously (remember the bull in the
cellular china shop on here)?
Most important, astaxanthin is both water- and fat-soluble, meaning it
can reach every part of the body, from your blood to the inside of cells to
your brain! This last property is particularly beneficial because the brain
super-fat, DHA, is vulnerable to being destroyed by oxidation.
 Therefore, salmon not only provides a dose of the most important brain
fat, but also supplies an ideal way to defend it from harm! Impressive,
right?
Because astaxanthin from salmon can reach every part of the body, its
health benefits are far-reaching. Evidence suggests that astaxanthin can help
prevent cancers, inflammatory diseases, metabolic syndrome, type II
diabetes, heart disease, gastrointestinal diseases, liver diseases,
neurodegenerative diseases, eye diseases, skin diseases, and maybe even
wrinkles too.