-Contributed by Eva Alexander (contact details below)

A) Can people still enjoy weight loss and effective weight management even if Mediterranean diet is high in fat?
It is a known fact that Mediterranean diet is high in fat. However, these are made from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats which important for your body. They are healthy fats compared to the saturated fats found in a typical American diet. It should be pointed also that fat is not the determining factor for weight loss. It is calorie consumption that determines optimum weight loss and management. So you should lower your calorie consumption to get the full healthy benefits of Mediterranean diet.

B) In simple terms, what is the principal difference between the American diet and the Mediterranean diet?
The focus of these two diets is different. The Mediterranean diet favors vegetables, breads, fruits, cereals, nuts, olive oils, and potatoes. On the other hand, the American diet is usually heavy on red meat, poultry, and eggs.

C) Is it true that Mediterranean diet can lower the risk of heart disease?
Based on scientific research, Mediterranean diet has played a significant role in lowering the incidence of cardiovascular disorder in the Mediterranean region. This type of diet enables you to choose a lot of healthy foods. It also promotes a holistic approach for enjoying better health.

D) Is an exercise program included in the Mediterranean diet?
Exercise plays an important role for Mediterranean diet. When this diet was developed, the people of Mediterranean were already a big fan of exercise and physical activities. This is the basis why Mediterranean diet includes regular exercises in its overall program. Essentially, a daily one-hour walk is needed. You should also perform once a week full body exercises.

E) Is Mediterranean diet different from Low Carb diet?
Mediterranean diet is substantially different from Low Carb diet. For one thing, the Mediterranean program has a lower protein component. You will only get 15 percent calories from the protein of Mediterranean diet.

F) People noticed that wine is an important part of Mediterranean diet. What is the recommended daily wine consumption?
It is highly recommended to consume low to moderate amounts of wine daily. Usually, men should get approximately 5 percent calories from wine while women should get 2.5 calories from wine consumption.

G) Final words
There are loads of benefits that you can enjoy from Mediterranean diet. This diet focuses on healthier food options like root crops, fruits, cereals, breads, vegetables, and Omega 3-rich foods. You will be able to prevent heart diseases if you follow the Mediterranean diet.

About the Author - Eva Alexander writes for Mediterranean Diet, her personal hobby blog focused on tips to eat healthy on the Mediterranean way.

As we’ve discussed in previous posts, the key to flat abs and weight loss in general is consuming fewer calories than you expend. This can be done by raising your metabolism through exercise or reducing your calorie intake through dieting. Exercise is by far the smartest option as you won’t run the risk of harming your metabolism, which is your greatest weight loss weapon. But working out is not always convenient and in fact it can be rather intimidating if we’re looking for quick results. Fortunately there is an alternative to the conventional long and hard gym sessions.

Mini workouts provide a great alternative for the lazy or busy person, and they can be just as effective as other training programs with only a fraction of the time invested. That said, they are taxing. We must always keep in mind the fundamental principle of progressive overload. If you want to make your body increasingly energy efficient, stronger, slimmer, and you want those flat abs, it’s very important that you push your body past previous limits on a regular basis. One of the ways of adding intensity, which is the measure of overloading your body, is by condensing the workout as much as possible. A person that can complete a full body workout in 20 minutes is much fitter than the person who needs 40 minutes to complete the same workout.

When aiming for flat abs and weight loss it’s essential we stick to big compound movements which work the largest muscles and require the most energy to perform. Fortunately for all of us, we don’t need a gym for this kind of training. Bodyweight training is a great way to tighten up a workout and focus on the essentials. This will reduce our workouts to three or four exercises only. Each exercise should be performed as quickly as possible to failure, that is, until you are not capable or performing another repetition. And then you should move immediately into the next exercise with no rest in between.

This small condensed circuit is very intense and very effective. In fact, it takes less than 2 minutes even if you can perform over 50 repetitions of each exercise. If you’re in decent shape or you can not perform 15 repetitions of each exercise, another set can be added after a 2 to 3 minute rest, making the entire workout less than 8 minutes. If you cannot perform 10 repetitions per exercise, you ought to use free weights that you can move for 20 to 50 repetitions.

The best exercises for this are pushups, bodyweight squats, v-sits or crunches, and pull-ups if you have a pull-up bar. Pull-ups are not essential for this circuit. One should work the pulling muscles, the lats and biceps at least one day a week, but if its inconvenient, it doesn’t need to be a component of your mini circuit, which should be performed daily, if not twice a day, 5 or 6 days a week. This workout is so short and sweet there’s no reason not to have a try. It’s important to remember though that you need to push each exercise to the limit, and when the circuit is complete, rest. It’s that easy. Do this daily for one to two sets and you’ll see amazing weight loss results and flat abs shortly.

The largest obstacle in the pursuit of flat abs in not the physical act of dragging yourself to the gym, but the psychological determination required to simply show up day after day. Once we make it to the gym it isn’t tough to pull some kind of workout off, even on a bad day. But as soon as we start making excuses and postponing workouts the stage is set for weight loss failure. 

It is absolutely imperative that our flat abs workout plans don’t ignore or diminish the fact that we don’t particularly like working out, and that those feelings are not about to change. The first few weeks we all make it to the gym and give it our all. But after that short time we begin to notice that there are no immediate results, and we get frustrated. When we get frustrated, we start to sabotage our efforts by making excuses or looking at training sessions as a burden to an already tight schedule.

At this point you need to reassess your goals and motivations. You see, good weight losers don’t assume that they’re going to fall in love with training. They make their flat abs workout plans assuming they’re going to get tired of training and that training is uncomfortable. When you assume the worst, you’ll be able to create an intelligent plan for dealing with your own conditioned laziness.

And that plan needs to bear the mark of successful weight losers. Successful weight losers don’t squeeze workouts in, they build their schedules around workouts. Successful weight losers don’t make excuses or postpone sessions, they show up every session, regardless of their condition that day. These two factors are the keys to long term weight loss. If your flat abs workout plans can incorporate these two factors, you’ll be a success.

Let’s look at each one a little more closely. One of the worst habits a person can have is to squeeze in a workout at the end of a long day. You’re tired. You’re frustrated. All you want to do is relax. You are never going to make sustainable gains if you have to fight your natural feelings. You need to alter your schedule to account for these states of being, and put your training first. Train when you are fresh. Train first thing in the morning before you can second guess your sessions or make excuses.

It doesn’t need to be a monster session; it just needs to be consistent. Wake up 20 minutes earlier and go for a 15 minute jog or push yourself through a short and intense bodyweight circuit of push-ups, squats and sit-ups. This will give you a nice metabolic boost, and it will get you in the habit of putting your health first. If you have the time or energy later in the day then hit the gym for a longer session, but hey, if you can’t make it, then no worries, you’ve already completed your essential training. You can approach the day without the guilt or pressure of training at other times.

The second factor is the simple act of showing up for the game. You don’t need to play every time, but you need to show up. If you are legitimately hurt or sick, then don’t train. But don’t sit at home and watch TV during the time you’ve allotted to train. Go to the gym or get your running shorts on and either sit there and watch others train or do something very very light with a part of your body that isn’t injured or stretch for a while. This will condition your mind to keep this time for training and thoughts of backing out won’t become habitual.

Keep these two factors in mind:
1. Train first and train fresh
2. Show up every session, regardless of your condition

If your flat abs workout plans include these two components, you will succeed in the long run. Adding extra sessions later in the day to your short early morning sessions will only speed up your progress, but they needn’t be the stressful and guilty burden that causes so many flat abs strivers to fail. Good training and even better thinking to you!