Eating light - the Italian way

How many of you think of Italian food as being “heavy” ? Have you stopped to think about this perception?

The studies on eating habits have consistently indicated that a Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest ways to eat. Some of the key elements of that diet such as olive oil, whole grains, and tomatoes have been lauded for their effects on maintaining overall good health. It is also widely held that this type of diet helps naturally keep your weight under control. So, why is it that we think of Italian food as heavy, or fattening? I personally believe it is because the Italian-American restaurants have diverged from this traditional Mediterranean style of eating that you find in Italy.

I recently realized that I had a great opportunity to illustrate my point. I personally eat very frequently in the Mediterranean style that is more commonly found in many parts of Italy, with a nice light salad, a small portion of bread, freshly made tomato sauce, and a small portion of pasta. On most occasions, I will have a glass of red wine with my dinner.

I have been using the myfitnesspal ( www.myfitnesspal.com) web site to track my calorie intake and have found that the food portion of the meal hovers around 250 to 350 calories, depending on the ingredients, and the wine portion is generally around 200 to 350 calories, depending upon whether I have one glass with dinner, or I linger and have a second glass along with my post-dinner conversation. Just as a comparison, I went in and did a “what-if” on the web site a “typical” meal at one of the Italian-American restaurants I have been to and it came out to 1,200 calories for just the food.

Using a site like this that it is intuitive, free, and agnostic with a large catalog of foods and their associated calorie counts makes keeping track of your weight relatively easy. It can be eye-opening to see how many calories you actually eat in a day, if you haven’t done this before. If you decide to use a web site to track your calories while eating Italian food, I’d love to have your feedback.

So…enjoy… the good news is that you can eat wonderful Italian food, while still managing your weight!

Buon appetito!
Lina