Local doctor discusses ‘Mediterranean Diet’ benefits

By Stephanie Bertholdo Acorn Staff Writer

Dr. Jack Gindi

Dr. Jack Gindi, an Agoura Hills internist whose holistic approach to medicine, which combines the best of traditional Western medicine with such Eastern techniques as acupuncture, has been focusing his attention on nutrition. Proper diet, he said, can control the symptoms of many medical conditions. And the results, he said, are remarkable.

Gindi’s "Modified Mediterranean Diet," which revolves around low glycemic foods, has helped many patients who’ve previously been dependent on cholesterol reducing drugs such as Lipitor, Pravachol, Zocor and others. They can either reduce their dosages, Gindi said, or stop taking them altogether.

The glycolic index (GI) ranks mostly carbohydrates based on how quickly blood sugar is increased. Barley, lentils and high grain pasta have low GI scores, while bagels, baked potatoes, and even cantaloupe, have higher scores. However, Gindi explained that the "glycemic load," which is a measure of both quality and quantity of the carbohydrate, is a more important factor than the GI index.

Asthma sufferers, patients with irritable bowel syndrome and others with different medical conditions have also found relief from debilitating symptoms by embracing the Mediterranean Diet, while diabetics are controlling their disease and staving off the long-term devastating affects, which run the gamut from blindness, vessel and nerve damage, to organ failure and death.

The Modified Mediterranean Diet promotes a balanced diet based on restricting high glycemic foods, including refined sugars and processed starches, while promoting high fiber pastas, "good fats" such as olive, canola and walnut oils, and slow-burning, low glycemic vegetables, including asparagus, broccoli, green beans and others. Gindi explained that these low glycemic foods and many others are "anti-inflammatory," and therefore have a direct effect on certain types of illnesses.

"I’ve been amazed at what a profound effect what you eat has on constitutional and emotional well being," he said.

Various studies back up what Gindi has personally witnessed with his patients when they change their diet and incorporate exercise into their lives. Most studies demonstrate that drugs, such as statins, lowered the risk for heart attacks, stroke and sudden death by about 20 to 30 percent, while the Mediterranean Diet lowered these risks up to 70 percent.

"The Nurses Health Study demonstrated that a high glycemic load diet and its associated link to obesity was a major risk factor for cardiac events, with an overall increase in morbidity and mortality," Gindi said.

"I believe that one of the reasons that low glycemic load diets work is that it’s working on the insulin resistance issue," Gindi said. He added that, rather than actually count carbs by gram, "it’s more important to choose your carbohydrates wisely."

Gindi recommended choosing cereals that have higher fiber contents than sugar contents. Other "good" carbohydrates are whole grain breads, yams and brown rice, but he added that moderate portion sizes for all carbohydrates were equally important.

While fat intake has typically been thought of as the culprit of obesity, Gindi said that "not all fat is bad." He added that 30 to 35 percent of a person’s daily intake of calories can come from fat "as long as it’s healthy."

Calories from olive or canola oil, avocados and fatty, cold water fish like salmon, sardines and shellfish are considered "good fats."

Then there’s the "partially hydrogenated fats," found everywhere in most packaged foods and fast food restaurants.

These fats are truly the villains because while they make the fat hard (think of crème-filled cookies) with a longer shelf life, they become trans fatty acids when digested, clogging arteries and setting the stage for heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and other diseases which lead to death either slowly and painfully—or suddenly.

Even peanut butter, a mainstay of children’s lunch boxes, uses partially hydrogenated fats to keep the oil and creamed peanuts mixed. Natural peanut butter, sans the partially hydrogenated fats, doesn’t look quite as appetizing with the oil separated from the peanuts, but with a quick stir, it looks and tastes just as good as your standard brand. However, if natural peanut butter is spread on bread or crackers, be sure to check the labels because many brands have partially hydrogenated fats as ingredients.