Diet italian style
It is pretty clear how these characteristics make a typical Mediterranean diet very different from a Continental one (that of central and northern Europe), which revolves more strongly around red meat, potatoes and butter. As a consequence, it embraces the cuisines of places as far as Spain and Israel, Syria and Greece, North Africa and Italy. Italians do eat American favorites like meat sauce and Alfredo sauce, but during a normal week, most pasta dishes are served in a light sauce with basil or a small amount of meat. Fresh, seasonal vegetables -- not pasta -- are the mainstay of Italian food. So forget everything you think you know about Italian cooking. The food of the Mediterranean has been important to its societies since the inception of civilization. Because of this variety, both cultural and geographical, Mediterranean cuisine can be quite different from one area to another: for instance, in Italy we like to use pasta as the basis for our main meals, and as main source of carbohydrates. In the Middle East, on the other hand, chickpeas and barley would be the staple of most dishes. Sleep Loss Tied to Changes in Gut Bacteria. Frezza, MD, chief of general surgery and director of the Bariatric Weight Loss Center at Texas Tech University Health Science Center, and author of Slim the Italian Way. Video: Cancer Takes a Toll on a Small Town. Before beginning, you must consider one thing: a Mediterranean diet is not only Italian, as it is typical of the entire basin of the Mediterranean Sea. This article will give you some information about the basics of healthy Mediterranean cooking, as well as provide a comparison with a typical American diet. WebMD archives content after 2 years to ensure our readers can easily find the most timely content.
The Mediterranean Diet and its Many Healthy Aspects. Colon Cancer on the Rise Among Young Adults. At the core of the alimentation of those civilizations that gave us our own culture (think of the Greeks, the Aegyptians, the Israelites and of course, the Romans) was the. View the results at Google, or enable JavaScript to view them here. At the same time, there is a common substratum made of fresh ingredients, olive oil and particular food associations that join at the root the way people around the Mediterranean cook: there is a heavy reliance on complex carbohydrates, fresh vegetables and fruits, with an accent placed on fish consumption, as opposed to meat and the use of olive oil instead of butter as main form of condiment. In Italian restaurants across the country, Americans enjoy heaping plates of spaghetti and meatballs, pasta smothered in Alfredo sauce, and slabs of buttery, cheese-coated garlic bread. In Italy, even a light meal includes more than one course, but portions are small. To find the most current information, please enter your topic of interest into our search box. Popular Diets of the World: The Italian Way with Food. A plate of pasta is probably half the size Americans normally eat, according to Frezza, who recommends ordering kid-sized portions at Italian restaurants. In Italy, pasta is never intended to be an entire meal, says Susan McKenna Grant, author of Piano Piano Pieno: Authentic Food From a Tuscan Farm. Favorable climate and the presence of the sea itself, which provided both food and an easy way to communicate and trade with other regions, helped and supported the birth and growth of society. This article is from the WebMD Feature Archive. American portions of Italian food are much larger than those in Italy, agrees Eldo E. According to the International Association for the Study of Obesity, just 9% of people in Italy are heavy enough to be considered obese, compared to 32% of Americans. The sauces here are much heavier, too, nearly drowning the pasta instead of simply enhancing its flavor. Asprin: The Wonder Drug in Your Medicine Cabinet.
