Maria Loi - The Original Greek Diet

To the ancient Greeks, who recognized the beauty in yogurt, olive oil, bread, and wine, and spread the original Mediterranean diet to the rest of southern Europeand, eventually, the rest of the world

I TS A WARM FRIDAY NIGHT in New York City, and people pack the sidewalks, winding briefcases and babies down walkways dotted by lindens and pin oaks. Taxis honk, trucks rattle through the side streets, and the clatter from open-air cafes spills out into the streets. Above the noise, brownstones and apartment buildings climb into the sky, while lines of skyscrapers sparkle with a million tiny lights. The city on a summer night is hot, noisy, and nearly maddening.

In one part of the city, though, there is something different, something almost calming and certainly nourishinga sanctuary of sorts, a small Mediterranean oasis in the middle of the worlds biggest and busiest city. This is the kitchen of Greek chef and restaurateur Maria Loi, known as the Martha Stewart of Greece. This is where our story of the Greek Diet culminates, with plate after plate of delicious Mediterranean food that no one would guess was good for your body and waistline. But our story begins in a much different place, in ancient Greece, when historys most successful civilization founded democracy, philosophy, medicine, and, among these other things, the Mediterranean diet.

Most people whove been in a bookstore in the past ten years or recently flipped through a magazine know something of the Mediterranean diet. The unique plant-based nutritional approach has been ranked one of the healthiest diets in the world, proven to help lower cholesterol, thwart heart disease, and reduce the risk of nearly every chronic illness, including cancer, diabetes, and cognitive diseases like Alzheimers. Few people know, though, that the healthiest diet in the world is also the easiest way to lose weighteasiest, that is, when you follow an authentic Mediterranean diet similar to the one created by the ancient Greeks.

Today, many versions of the Mediterranean diet abound, most of them distilled, hybridized, or distorted beyond what anyone, at any point in time, ate in any region of the Mediterranean basin. But fly to many areas of the Mediterranean today, and youll find rates of obesity similar to those in the United States, where at least two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Likewise, much of modern-day Greece, Italy, France, and Spain is now overweight, an unfortunate casualty of American cultural dominance. Many in the Mediterranean have exchanged their traditional way of eating for Americas penchant for fast, processed, and otherwise fattening foods.

The book youve picked up is one of the few, if not only, on shelves today to leverage the real Mediterranean diet, based on the traditional Greek way of eating to help you lose weight. Science suggests the traditional Greek version of the Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest and most slimming nutritional plans in the world. What makes our Greek Diet unique is that traditional Greek chef and ancient-dining expert Maria Loi shows you exactly how to follow the plan with authentic recipes that date back all the way to ancient Athens.

The Greek Diet combines Marias intimate knowledge of the traditional Mediterranean diet with the expertise of longtime health journalist Sarah Toland to deliver a sustainable, easy-to-follow plan that can help anyone lose weight, no matter how much youve struggled in the past. The Greek Diet is one of the first books ever to use a traditional Greek Mediterranean diet to help people lose weight.

What do a world-renowned Greek chef and an American health journalist have in common? A lot, as it turns out, when it comes to how to eat to lose weight and boost health. That was the topic of conversation when we first met in Spring 2013. There, at a table crowded with plates of Marias sumptuous food and surrounded by panoramic photographs of Greece, we discussed how most Americans had no idea that the foods we were eating at that momentcrusty bread with garlicky white beans, eggplant with cheese and nuts, grilled fish with olive-oiled wild greens, white and red winescould be so rich and flavorful, yet so beneficial to your body and waistline. Sure, lots of Americans know that olive oil, red wine, and other staples of a traditional Mediterranean diet are good for overall health, but did they also know these mostly Greek foods could help burn fat better than low-carb shakes, energy bars, or frozen meals? At that point, the Greek Diet was born.

Maria Loi is one of the worlds most celebrated Mediterranean chefs. Her renowned restaurant, Loi, in Manhattan attracted thousands of regular customers, from healthy eaters to burger lovers alike, along with celebrities, politicians, and some of New Yorks biggest power brokers. Marias cooking has appeared on ABCs Good Morning America, the Food Networks Restaurant Divided, and Not My Mamas Meal with Bobby Deen. In 2012 she completed her own cooking series, Cooking at Loi, which aired on PBS stations nationwide. She has cooked at the White House for President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and 250 guests. She currently serves as the ambassador of Greek food and Greek olive oil for the Chefs Club of Greece.

Maria was born in the small village of Thermo near the town of Nafpaktos, an area that was surrounded by mostly farmland at the time. Here, large families like Marias passed culinary traditions down from generation to generation, sharing the secrets of how to make great Greek foodsecrets that had survived since the days of the ancient Greeks. As a young woman, Maria left Thermo to pursue a career as a public affairs specialist and lobbyist. She quickly became a prominent lobbyist and businesswoman, traveling the world for large multinational companies like Texaco, Nokia, Sheraton Hotels, and Net Hold International.

After twenty years in big business, Maria was successful, but she wasnt happy. Her waistline had grown while her circle of friends had shrunk, and she didnt feel fulfilled, not in her own life nor with her nutrition. She retired from lobbying and returned to Nafpaktos, where she began cooking with family and friends. The experience was enlightening (and slimming) as she rediscovered that doing what she did as a little girllearning, farming, and cookingstill made her immensely happy.

In 2002, she opened her first restaurant, Kouzina Maria Loi, in Nafpaktos. At the same time, she undertook an organized effort to learn as much as she could about the food of her ancestors and how her countrys cuisine had originated. She studied and experimented, using her restaurant as a laboratory for new and exciting dishes based on older, healthier examples. In 2003, she was approached by a book committee for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, who asked if she would write the official cookbook of the 2004 Summer Games, based on the ancient Mediterranean diet. She agreed, and today Marias Ancient Dining remains one of the only authoritative sources on ancient Greek cuisine.

In 2011, Maria moved to New York City to open Loi in Manhattan, bringing the secrets of ancient Mediterranean cuisine across the ocean to share with a whole new audience of eager eaters. True to Marias culinary ethics, whatever she makes is homemade from local, seasonal ingredients, and her foods balance of decadently rich and deliciously healthy ingredients has won her an international reputation.

Sarah Toland has worked as a health journalist for fifteen years, most recently as the senior health editor of