I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure at 27 years old, and diabetes and heart disease runs in my family though it hasn’t reached me yet. Been trying to make healthy changes and watched a short documentary on a Greek island where people commonly live over 90 years old that got me down the Mediterranean rabbit hole.
Recipe: Sweet onion pita bread, roasted red pepper hummus, lettuce, baby tomatoes, cucumber, turkey deli meat, feta, cilantro, lime juice, and ranch drizzled over.
Next time I plan to make a homemade tzatziki dressing to avoid the store bought ranch. Ate this and was pretty full but probably could have paired it with some quinoa or rice, maybe some grapes or blueberries? Any ideas are welcome!
by PutsPaintOnTheGround
3 Comments
Ditch the high-sodium lunch meat and use grilled steak, chicken or fish instead. Processed lunch meat is not good for you or part of the med diet. But other than that, looks like you are off to a great start! Best of luck!
Switch out the pita bread for a whole grain bread and ditch the deli turkey meat and ranch. It’s all about the baby steps!
What they said. It looks like you used feta crumbles. Just a point of interest, they’re not real feta. Real feta has to contain at least 70% sheep’s milk. Those are made with cow’s milk. If you find block feta in brine, it’s real. Often it comes from Greece and will say that on the package. Trader Joe’s has an Israeli feta (also real) that has the milder flavor of the crumbles. If that’s available to you, it might be a good transitional cheese. Real feta is fairly sharp and salty.
If you like the flavor of ranch, you can make up homemade ranch seasoning and mix it with Greek yogurt. Thin it with a little bit of milk, tablespoon at a time.
You don’t need an additional grain with pita. You could add fruit. It looks like you’ve covered your basics well–grain, protein, and vegetables. Also, as you think about meals, you don’t have to eat only Mediterranean cuisine. You can use any flavor profile you like as long as you’re sticking to the guidelines. In our house we do Greek, Spanish, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, southwestern, Caribbean, Italian, and American.