Mediterranean Diet
In terms of overall nutrition, The Mediterranean Diet is followed,utilizing
common sense eating based on the healthy traditional Mediterranean Diet
Pyramid.
In January 1997, the International Conference on the Mediterranean Diet was
held in Cambridge, Massachusetts to encourage change in U.S. dietary guidance
policies to reflect what has become common knowledge in the scientific
field -- that the Mediterranean diet is healthful. Studies show that Mediterranean
populations who get more than 30% of their daily calories from fat and rely on
olive oil as their principal source of fat are healthier - less obese, lower
rates of cancer, stroke and heart disease -- than Americans on a low fat
diet. The American "low fat" diet is, in fact, generally rich in sugar,
salt, and partially hydrogenated oils -- therefore high in unhealthy, harmful
trans-fatty acids from partially hydrogenated oils.
The conference, a joint undertaking of the Oldways Preservation & Exchange
Trust and The Harvard School of Public Health, grew out of a concern with the
American tendency to eat highly processed techo-food, that gnerally relies on
sugar, fat, and salt for flavor.
Before Patrick started following the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, repeated
fatty acid profiles analyses indicated extremely high (abnormal) levels of
trans-fatty acids. Now, they are normal. We have reason to believe that
fatty acid metabolism is compromised in A-T. For example, unpublished data reveals
that the A-T protein "docks" at the peroxisome in the cell, indicating a high
likelihood of involvement of the A-T protein in fatty acid metabolism.
The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid
In terms of oils, we follow these guidelines about fats and oils:
- Choose fat sources high in monounsaturated fat -- primarily olive oil but also canola and high-oleic safflower.
- Highly limit saturated fats (butter, cheese, etc.)
- Eliminate hydrogenated & partially-hydrogenated oils, usually found in packaged processed foods such as bread, crackers and cookies.
- Eliminate products with cottonseed, soybean and coconut oils