The Mediterranean diet is one of the best eating styles for women in menopause (and pretty much everyone, really). With an emphasis on heart- and overall body-healthy fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, the Mediterranean diet is not only good for you, it may also help tame menopause symptoms.
In this conversation, Gennev Menopause Coach Stasi Kasianchuk talks with Chef Sheila Gomez of the Malibu Beach Inn about the nutritional value but also the gorgeous flavors, colors, smells, and textures of the foods that make up the Mediterranean plate.
You can watch a video of their conversation on YouTube.
The benefits of the Mediterranean diet
Gennev Menopause Coach Stasi Kasianchuk:
The Mediterranean diet is one of the most beneficial and healthful eating styles, especially for women in menopause. But many of us don’t really know why or how to cook and eat Mediterranean style. So I asked Chef Sheila Gomez, an expert in Mediterranean cuisine, to take me through the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, both to our palates and to our physical health.
Well, let’s just jump right in. So thank you, Sheila, so much, for taking the time to do this podcast with us. I will introduce myself. So I am Stasi Kasianchuk and I am a registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, and a menopause coach at Gennev. So to give you a little bit of background, Gennev is a women’s health company that focuses on supporting women during peri and menopause, and food and lifestyle play a really big role in this. So as a dietitian and exercise physiologist, I focus on helping women to find strategies that can best help them.
And today we’re going to talk with you about the Mediterranean diet. You are a chef, so I’d love for you to introduce yourself, tell the audience a little bit about yourself, where you work and what you do, and then we’ll get into that even more as we go through the podcast.
Sous Chef Sheila Gomez:
Right. Hi, I’m Sheila Gomez. I am a Sous Chef at the Carbon Beach Club at the Malibu Beach Inn in Malibu, California. And as a sous chef, I’m basically the support staff of the executive chef. So I’m doing a little bit of everything. I’m ensuring food quality, training some kitchen staff, ordering the food. And basically my goal is just to put out the best food possible and give the diner a great dining experience.
Stasi:
Awesome. That sounds like a very important role. And a role that I’m sure keeps you pretty busy.
Sheila:
It sure does. Yeah.
Stasi:
Well, thinking about the Mediterranean diet and I took a look at some of the foods that you provide at the Carbon Beach Club. They look amazing. So if I’m ever in Malibu, I’ll definitely stop by. That looks delicious and definitely with a Mediterranean influence and focus there. From a health perspective, so as a dietitian, I recommend the Mediterranean diets looking at really fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables, whole foods, fish, especially wild-caught fish that can be provided for the clients that have access to that. Lots of healthy fats. So your olive oil, avocado, olives, this can really help women to manage symptoms around menopause, including inflammation, joint pain, it’s good for brain health. A lot of women experience brain fog during menopause and providing foods from the Mediterranean diet can help their, can help their brain health.
So those are some of the reasons that we recommend it. I would love to hear more on your perspective of your approach to preparing these foods, and what that experience has been for you. Maybe as you’ve worked over your time at the Carbon Beach Club or any other experience before that?
Sheila:
I think the Mediterranean diet allows us to, when it comes to food, it really allows the ingredients to shine. So that’s a great perspective when you look at the Mediterranean diet. So as a chef it’s almost easier because you don’t have to do so much to change the food. If you have quality, seasonal ingredients, the flavors are out of this world and you really don’t have to complicate it too much. So as a chef you almost have to like hold yourself back from changing it too much and you want to show it for what it really is.
Stasi:
That’s great to hear. I and I think that that’s okay. No problem. That’s one thing too, I think a lot of women that I work with, especially if they haven’t been used to preparing foods and now they’re focused more on their nutrition, they get the concern that eating healthy is going to taste bad or it’s not going to have flavor. It’s not going to have something that they’re going to look forward to eating. But based on what you said, the Mediterranean style of cooking really already has flavors and the preparation is really just emphasizing those flavors.
Sheila:
Exactly. When you grab like, you know, seasonal like squash, it tastes amazing. You really don’t have to do much. Sea salt and olive oil go a long way, which is a good key part of the Mediterranean diet: olive oil. There’s so much flavor in good olive oil and I think a lot of people shouldn’t shy away from the simplicity of the Mediterranean diet.
It’s not as boring as one would think, you know?
Stasi:
Yeah. Yeah. And I like that you mentioned not shying away from olive oil sometimes because weight management is also a concern during menopause. Women think any type of oil and they automatically think fat, high calories. I can’t have that. Same thing with nuts. I hear that a lot. Oh, I can’t have nuts because they’re high in fat or they’re high in calories.
Catch the podcast, or read the rest of the transcript on our website.
