The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Beginners: Meal Plans, Expert Guidance, and 100 Recipes to Get You Started

Looked thru a lot of Mediterranean cookbooks before finally finding one that ties to reasonable vegetables (not just the exotic) & found this one to be a great place to start. It is not filled with lamb and other unusual things - has a focus on vegetables and olive oil (but it does include main dish meat meals). I love that it has a few of my favorite combos included - though not a photo for every dish, there are helpful descriptions & notes. The portions are realistic - I don't need to cook enough to feed the whole block with every meal. Prep times are included. One exception to everyday vegetables is that it includes eggplant often - which needs a little extra prep to make it non-bitter if cooked a while after picking (just google that part).

I had a few consecutive blood tests where some numbers were trending in the wrong direction. I was also feeling terrible overall for quite some time. I decided I needed to change my diet/eating habits and see what happens. For the past 5 weeks I've been eating exclusively from this book and companion website (minus 2 days while out but being mindful of what I was eating). Within the first 2 weeks I felt so much better. I was less foggy-headed and had more energy. I also never realized how bloated I was. An added bonus is that I've lost 11.5 pounds in those 5 weeks (without exercise).The recipes are easy and use a lot of the same ingredients which makes shopping and not wasting food a breeze. That may seem repetitive, the recipes do taste different! While there were some veggies I liked, I was never a fruit eater. Now, I'm eatting mostly veggies and don't think twice about grabbing a mandarin for a snack. In this diet you will be eating a lot of olive oil, feta, tomatoes, and cucumbers. If you dislike any of those things I suggest you still give the book a try. if you intensely dislike any of them, then you might want to find not only a different book but a different eating style. For most of my adult life I was a low-fat everything person. Its been odd for me to be using so much olive oil and full fat foods but the author, Elena Paravantes, is a registered dietitian so I've trusted her expertise and have followed along with her ingredients. It will be interesting to see the results of my next blood test which will be in about 4 months from now.If you're someone who likes a variety in your breakfast dishes, note there aren't many in the book but from what I've read, breakfast isn't much of a big deal in the mediterranean and these recipes are great. I'm enjoying the Greek Yogurt Breakfast Bowl as I write this review.The main course is lunch time and there are plenty of recipes to choose from including pasta, meat, poultry, and vegetarian. Dinner is lighter fare like salads. My favorite is the Dakos which has grated tomatoes as the main ingredient. I was never really a tomato lover but this recipe has changed my mind!Desserts are included but I've only made a couple as I don't feel the need to have any (and I was a BIG dessert person). When I do make one, its usually the Greek Yogurt Ricotta Mousse. I've tried experimenting with the flavors and if you like the original, next time try swapping out the lemon for orange.Recipes vary in portion size with many being for 1, 2, or 3, which I find helpful when planning my weekly meals. While I'm a person who likes to have a picture for every recipe in a cookbook, there aren't pictures for every one in this book and I've found that hasn't been a problem for me and the recipes include instructions on how to lay out the plate.The introduction of the cookbook is not long-winded but clear and concise on the basis of the eating style and how to achieve it. The only issue I personally have with the book is the index. There's not much crossed-referencing so unless you know the exact name of the dish you're looking for you won't find it. Example: if I want to make the Greek Yogurt Ricotta Mousse and I can only remember the name had the word yogurt in it, the index not only doesn't have it listed under yogurt, there isn't a "Y" section at all.I'm really hoping to keep on this mediterranean diet journey and make it my normal way of life. Everyday will be a challenge to not fall back into old habits but so far, this cookbook has keep me not only on track but looking forward to staying on it.

I bought this at the same time as two other Mediterranean cookbooks — The Mediterranean Dish and The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook — and I think this is certainly the best for newbies out of the three. It has a much smaller range of recipes than the latter so it’s less overwhelming, and requires you to buy less specialty spices than the former.It has a great intro explaining the tenets of the Mediterranean diet, as well as lots of full-page, colorful photographs throughout. Overall it appears very well thought out aside from one thing, which is a big thing for dieters: the nutrition info provided is often wrong. One example is a recipe for “Neapolitan Pasta and Zucchini”, a dish made of pasta, vegetables, olive oil, and a small amount of cheese is labeled as having 72g of protein in all. I definitely suggest doing your own calculations for nutrition values, especially if you’re tracking macros.Overall it’s an attractive book with delicious recipes!

If you are curious about the benefits of the world's most popular diet/lifestyle program, don't fail to consider Elena Paravantes, RDN, "The Mediterranean Diet, Cookbook for Beginners," to be your guide into a new way of preparing and consuming healthy food. Most of us are familiar with some variation or another of the Mediterranean Diet, which is actually an eating lifestyle which can lead to weight loss. Depending on where along the Mediterranean Sea a city or province lies, there’s bound to be an accompanying Mediterranean “Diet” for that locale. Which to choose? I chose one that is Greek oriented based on centuries of Greek and Cretan eating because it seemed the one with the most history and best statistical health results, and because I have always gravitated towards Greek cuisine. I've been following the cookbook for around five weeks now, and due to Elena's thorough introduction, where she succinctly explains the Mediterranean lifestyle, what to eat and how often to eat it, what to shop for, how to use and store what you buy, cooking techniques and shortcuts, and creating meals. Best of all, from studying her book I'm confidant in making a healthy Mediterranean meal with whatever I have on hand in the refrigerator and pantry. I've never felt better and I am losing weight while enjoying delicious food. What could be better?

This is a great book for me to get started. The recipes are easy to follow and many of the same ingredients are used for numerous dishes. I especially like the introduction pages explaining the components of a Mediterranean Diet.