The Mediterranean diet is linked to increased longevity, lowered cancer rates, lowered heart disease and strokes, lowered diabetes risk, lowered Alzheimer’s risk, lowered blood pressure, less inflammation, lowered insulin levels, weight loss and lowered blood sugar.
No wonder the colourful Mediterranean Diet (the Rainbow Diet as we call it) has been voted the Healthiest Diet and, the Best Plant Based diet in the World by 41 Professors and Nutrition experts for seven consecutive years.
The original Rainbow Diet book, written by Chris Woollams back in 2005, has many copies even though it is registered with and protected by the British Library. The five or six American copies that have emerged since 2018 fail to understand the depth of what Chris wrote about in 2005.
Even in the very First Edition over 20 years ago, Chris told you the Rainbow Diet was more than food. It was about NOURISHMENT - and it was a LIFESTYLE.
NOURISHMENT and LIFESTYLE
21 years ago when Chris Woollams first advocated the Rainbow Diet for people with cancer, there were one or two research studies from Harvard Medical School; now there are over a hundred. Chris learned his French south of Toulouse in D'Artagnan country. He has owned a house on the Mediterranean coast for more than 30 years. He could see that people lived longer; he heard about the Blue Zone in Sardinia in 2002; he studied the research on polyphenols. and the lifestyle of the locals population. He told you clearly in that first edition that the diet could 'Correct, not just Protect'.
Go To: The Rainbow Diet and how it can help you beat cancer
Be clear. In 2005, when The Rainbow Diet was written, this book was a revelation. Professor Karol Sikora said it would encourage people to choose diet over chemotherapy! It didn't tell people to avoid fat - it told everybody that the right fat was good for you. It also talked about consuming whole foods; natural foods. This is a real diet, part of a LIFESTYLE which encouraged people to live younger and longer.
Increasing cancer survival
By 2012, the American Cancer Society were telling people about their research on stage 3 cancer patients, all of whom had had chemo and surgery. Those who adhered most closely to the ACS guidelines on Diet and Exercise had 31% less cancer recurrence, and 42% less deaths in the seven years the study ran for. Their guidelines mirror those of the Rainbow Diet.
The real-life Mediterranean Diet
It is important to add two further points.
1. When Chris analysed the foods back in 2005, he realised that they achieved a high level of NOURISHMENT in the body. Extra Virgin Olive oil, saffron, fresh fish, walnuts, aubergines, grapes, mushrooms, tomatoes, onons, garlic, peaches, herbs and so on. But so did other aspects of the LIFESTYLE of the people living on the Mediterranean. - being outdoors, movement, happiness, a sense of community and family, sleeping behind shutters and a lack of pesticides, processed foods, and EMFs.
2. The whole LIFESTYLE provides NOURISHMENT.
The Mediterranean Diet – living illness-free, longer
There is no need to fabricate or hypothesise about the diet - this is a real lifestyle that has served the people of the Northern Mediterranean coast well for over 2000 years.
It is what it is; it’s there for all to see. It’s not ’gluten-free’ or ’lactose-free’.They eat croissants and bread, they eat pasta and whole grain foods; they consume unpasteurised cheese, and traditionally they fished or worked in the fields, experiencing perhaps too much sunshine and then too much red wine.
Over the last decade or so there have been a great number of research studies consistently arguing for the health benefits of the Rainbow Diet. For example:
1. Data on first chronic illness and average age at death in Europe shows that the British live to 75.6 years on average but their first chronic illness comes around the age of 60. However, in Italy, life expectancy is 77.7 and the first chronic illness occurs around the age of 75.
2. A 15-year worldwide study of women over 50 years of age showed that those who adhered most closely to the colourful Mediterranean Diet were 40 per cent more likely to reach 70 years of age than non-adherers, and were free of 11 chronic illnesses at the end of the study.
Key Features of the colourful Mediterranean Diet?
1. The Rainbow Diet is more than food - it is a Lifestyle:
a. OUTDOORS - The first thing people think of if you say it is an outdoor lifestyle is the sunshine vitamin D.. Research shows it is better to go in the sunshine for 4 hours a day than take 5,000IUs of supplement, but some people don’t really have a choice. However, if you are outdoors even on the darkest day, your cells' mitochondria will make melatonin, a huge anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant that restores the health of your cells. Finally, especially if you live near the sea, you get fresh air.
b. EXERCISE. Traditionally, people moved more and sat less - ithis is in line with the latest research. We believe people should at least try to take light to moderate exercise, where they get a little out of breath, almost every day of their lives. But this is not rigorous gym work. This is movement. Do not sit still for more than an hour; get up and move for 5 minutes. Try to walk 10,000 steps a day. But exercise doesn’t just increase blood oxygen; it produces endorphins which neutralize stress hormones. It also increases Nitric oxide in the body which increases longevity.
c. A SENSE OF COMMUNITY. The Lifestyle increases a sense of belonging, community and a sense of self-worth. In Mediterranean Villages, everybody knows each other. Families are large and support each other. Catholicism probably plays its part. As people age they are respected more, and generally people respect others in the community.
d. ENJOYMENT. Knowing your neighbours and others in the village creates a friendlier attitude. People enjoy their lives; they enjoy laughter with those around them. If they have a four hour meal they will invite others to enjoy it with them. They enjoy their food. How can you enjoy a fruit smoothie with your family and friends? Have more meals with family and friends. Eat slowly, talk and laugh.
e. SLEEP PROPERLY: Mediterranean rooms traditionally were dark, and usually shuttered, with no artificial light, EMFs, phones and TVs in them. Have 7 hours minimum sleep in a fully dark room per night.
f. LEARN TO BE CALM. Worry beads, chess or draughts, sipping a small coffee for an hour, reading the paper, wandering round the market. It de-stresses the body, just like prayer or meditation.
2. NOURISH YOURSELF - and your gut bacteria
Understand this - the precursor to all illness is inflammation. The Lifestyle of the Rainbowdiet is anti-inflammatory.
What controls this inflammation or anti-inflammatory process? The NoURISHMENT you give your gut bacteria.
i) Eat more good fat and oil: Particularly ‘unsaturated fat’; Healthy fat from extra virgin olive oil, walnuts and fish oil and oily fish. Saturated fat, trans fats - cause inflammation.
ii) Eat soluble fibre: Consume pulses like red kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas. Carbohydrate should ideally be limited to whole, unrefined carbs such as whole oats, whole brown or black rice and jacket potatoes. Consume vegetables and nuts (walnuts, almonds) and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower). Soluble fibre forms a gel in your gut and increases the numbers of healthy gut bacteria making anti-inflammatory molecules. Sugar and refined carbs, processed and packaged foods have gone from your life - they fuel inflammation in the body.
iii) Switch from meat to fish: There are few cows along the North shore of the Med. What meat there was, scrambled up rocky hills - chicken and goats. Consume more fish - think tuna, mackerel, sardines. Unfortunately people just don’t eat enough fish these days, so think about a fish or krill oil supplement; even some sea kelp. 88% of people are low in iodine. It corrects the metabolism of cells, boosts energy and cellular oxygenation and kills viruses around cells..
iv) Eat more Polyphenols - these are the bioactive compounds that can prevent and correct chronic illnesses. They are not just in colourful fruits and vegetables but are in high levels in herbs: The markets on the coast in the South of France and Italy are full of these health-giving, microbe-killing, vitamin-rich foods. Consume a variety of salad leaves from chicory and watercress to herbs like oregano, basil, coriander (cilantro) black pepper, garlic, turmeric, rosemary, fennel, onions (red onions, spring onions), red and yellow peppers, radishes, beetroot. Eat fruits like tomatoes, apricots and peaches. Always eat more vegetables than fruits. A little dark chocolate is good for your gut bacteria too, as are the polyphenols in red wine. Bifidobacteria make anti-inflammatory molecules from them.
v) Eat raw, unpasteurised cheese: Kefir, probiotic pills, sauerkraut and apple cider vinegar are all beneficial, but nothing comes even close to consuming a little raw unpasteurised goats' cheese. It is banned in America and Australia. But it is great for your health. You will take on board trillions of the families Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. These Lactic Acid bacteria will nourish you, control your hormones and bring you good health.
vi) Drink red wine, real coffee and drink more water. Make water your normal ’soft’ drink, and red wine your only alcohol and avoid diet and normal sodas, fizzy soft drinks and bought fruit juices.
There is far, far more information in our book, ‘The Rainbow Diet’, including a shopping cart, a points system and a full list of the many foods you can eat.