10095 Mediterranean Diet Losing Ground At Home

It is sad Sally, but perhaps Italians are now all using the "American Diet System".

I also think that many forget that the true Mediterranean diet meant small amounts. People nowadays stuff themselves with food in the name of the "healthy" Mediterranean diet and they do not consider the amount of calories ingested and the lack of exercise. People who used in the past the Mediterranean diet had to work - and this means physical work - to earn their living and put something to eat on their table, did not have cars... It was a totally different lifestyle. A leaner and healthier one.

Yes, what's happening here? Our local PAM at Etrusco stocks a growing number of piatti pronti and the ready prepared frozen food section too is expanding rapidly. I suppose with so many more women now having to work, eating habits were bound to change.

You are right, Violetta. I have also noticed that. I always like to look at what the locals buy in the supermarkets and I noticed a great consumption of ready prepared and frozen food. Which is surprising in a country with large amounts of fresh food available. I also guess that it is due to the fact that many more women have to work. Then, we could say that the true Mediterranean diet is dying fast.

Observations only....
I must say that when I was a child visiting Italy there was always a large amount of contorni on the table, 3 or 4 dishes. Now....niente. We are offered patate fritta as the only veg when eating out. I notice also that there are a growing number of " larger" children here. I seem to remember that sugary foods were always liked by the Italians but not as a substitute for real food. Though, it's still good to see that, (much to the amazement of my visiting English friends), at tables in resturants Italian diners walk away from only half drunk bottles of wine. The English never leave a drop!
Bunch

Walking away from unfinished bottles of wine, gosh yes, it pains me too. Can't bear waste in any form but especially when it's a good bottle of Rosso di Montepulciano!!!! When eating out with hubby it's never an issue (as I'm sure everyone here will understand!). However, when eating out with my Italian girlfriends, I always get up from the table looking longingly at the unfinished bottle thinking, "dare I suggest I take it home?" I never would. But then I think to myself, "well, we have paid for it"...
Vegetables: situation isn't bad at all around here and a couple of local restaurants are quite famous for their verdure but it used to be dire when we lived in France where it was either lettuce or tinned peas!

The French do very good salads and there''s a very good place to eat in Auchan, Frunch, in Avignon. A multitudes of different salads and you can eat as much as you like for a fixed reasonable price. Not so Frunch in Auchan, Pescara. All you get there apparently are pizzas!!!

Well, my experience in France, when we had a house there, is different from Violetta´s, but then, we were in the Pyrénées Atlantiques area. There was plenty of different kinds of vegetables and fruit, mostly locally grown. Country people used to preserve fruits and vegies in jars as there was a glut of products when in season. But going back to the Mediterranean diet, I think that people do not fully understand what it is all about and that the younger generations are too much in a hurry to cook.... The ones who are going to pay the consequences are the children who are increasingly suffering from overweight.
Something I would ban if I were in power would be all those unhealthy snacks and lollies. Let's give them a piece of fruit instead.

There is a high level of diabetes in Italian children.

So far, here in Puglia, vegetables still rule, along with pasta -- every sort of verdure, greens, squash, aubergines, tomatoes, potatoes, etc, etc, along with all the fruit. Sometimes we forget that olive oil and olives were a big source of calories in the Mediterranean diet (not meat, poultry or fish), and it doesn't take too much of either to get up to 500 extra calories or so per day needed for heavy agricultural or construction work. I do see tons of sweets, though, thrown at the kids, perhaps to make up for the parents' deprivation after WW II? We've heard many horror stories from neighbors born in the 1940s about how little food was available until the mid-1950s when agriculture finally made its comeback. Stories always accompanied by an offer of biscottini, cake or gelato!

I actually eat more meat here than I used to in the UK. It often comes in the form of salami/prosciutto, no meal seems complete without meat and, as noted, very few vegetables. The leaflets from the supermarkets are packed with processed foods too.

Even so, when I'm in a hurry I still tend to fry a little onion, tin of chopped tomatoes etc, and make a quick sauce for myself with a plate of pasta.

It may have been bad in Italy in the 40s/50s, but remember in the UK food rationing lasted until 1953. I was too young to remember when Dad was posted to Italy in 1959, but I do vaguely remember we ate very well!

The fact that there's a high level of diabetes in Italian children sadly doesn't surprise me. Could all that Nutella for breakfast have something to do with it? (Honestly, I like a smidgen of Nutella as much as the next person but does it honestly have to come in such whacking great jars?!)

[quote=Gala Placidia;94091]The ones who are going to pay the consequences are the children who are increasingly suffering from overweight.[/quote]
Because we have a four month-old daughter, we do pay more attention to small children than previously and we find the size of some the infants you see in Italy shocking. I'm talking about very small babies: ones still in pushchairs because it will be months before they can walk and too small even to be on solid food.

I know babies are supposed to be a bit pudgy; our daughter is right in the middle of where she should be on the the age-length-weight charts and she's has a chubby face, arms and legs. But the Italian babies that make us do a discreet double-take verge on the grotesque: minature Michelin men with moon-faces and rolls of fat on arms and legs.

I'm sure that genetic disposition will play some role in this, but I can't help thinking of funnels and force-fed [I]foie gras[/I] geese when I see these infants. They certainly aren't getting that fat on breastmilk alone and it's difficult to believe they become obese on standard formula, so I do wonder if they're bottle-fed babies whose mamas put an extra scoop or two of formula powder in each bottle because of a misguided belief that a fat baby is a healthy baby.

I've heard various claims about researchers discovering adverse long-term health problems for people who were fat children. I'm always a bit sceptical about such research findings, but I would be very surprised if (in a country where famines are rare) it was ever found that your mother making you into a very fat baby was found to be a Good Thing.

Al

[quote=AllanMason;94128]... They certainly aren't getting that fat on breastmilk alone and it's difficult to believe they become obese on standard formula, so I do wonder if they're bottle-fed babies whose mamas put an extra scoop or two of formula powder in each bottle because of a misguided belief that a fat baby is a healthy baby.
Al[/quote]

A very good point Allan. They start putting the extra scoop or two of formula powder.... and they keep on going in the belief that this will make the baby healthier. Unfortunately, they do not look at what is being said by the experts and this overfeeding has also been blamed for some cot deaths. Formulas should be strictly used according to instructions and using the measuring spoons given by the manufacturer.
Then, of course, the same trend continues when the baby starts with solid food... all with the obvious consequences.
I'm sure that the Italian Health authorities give the right advice, the problem is to convince individuals to follow it. And the worst part is that it is all done with the best of intentions...

My experience, observed in watching several Italian nieces looking after their young babies, is that everything they do - right or wrong - is, as Gala Placidia suggests 'done with the very best intentions". :yes:

I have seen them quite happily load or dip [IMG]http://www.auntie-annie.co.uk/clipart/baby_pacifier-sm.gif[/IMG] their baby's 'ciuccio' (dummy/pacifier) into honey and give it to the baby. Of course once the ciuccio isn't sweet any more the child begins to whine...so the excercise is repeated time and again at 300/320kcal per 100g!!!

And when the child is being weaned what do they add - in abundance- to the milk for the little'un? Well not Farleys Rusks that's for sure...
I know [I]they[/I] have 69 calories 'per rusk' but don't know the 9 rusk box weight to be able to do the kcal x 100g check ([B]so I could be wrong here...[/B].)

But Plasmon biscuits I did find the details for here:
[URL="http://shop.fratellicamisa.co.uk/product127000123catno70000123.html"][B]>Calories - Plasmon<[/B][/URL]
And their calorie count is, to say the least, [I]very high[/I] considering the number of Plasmon I've seen mixed with milk to make baby's meal!

[quote=Carole B;94135]I have seen them quite happily load or dip their baby's 'ciuccio' (dummy/pacifier) into honey and give it to the baby. Of course once the ciuccio isn't sweet any more the child begins to whine...so the excercise is repeated time and again at 300/320kcal per 100g!!![/quote]
That's a bad idea for more than the obvious reasons. In the UK, USA and Holland, parents are told that babies should never be given honey before their first birthday because of the danger of botulism. Honey is generally free of nasty micro-organisms, but botulism spores can survive quite happily in it for years. Adults and children over a year old can cope with the odd spore, but the immature immune system of infants means a single spore can be lethal.

Anyone [I]really[/I] interested in the topic can read a doom 'n' gloom outline of risks and consequences [URL="http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/botulism.html"]here[/URL]. On the other hand, this [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/aug/25/health.society"]Guardian article[/URL] is by someone who is sceptical of the dangers. I suspect the author is quite possibly a beekeeper (as am I), but probably not a parent.

I'm sure that, as the latter article states, the statistical probability of a child becoming ill or dying due to botulism spores in honey is very low, but it seems to me irresponsible to play those odds when honey is not a vital food for infants.

Al

Isn't it Flunch Sally and the Pizzas are very nice!

As yet I havent eaten a nice salad in Italy apart from when we've made them ourselves at home.Usually the consist of one type of tasteless lettuce with a sharp vinegar dressing although I've noticed the appearance of tinned sweetcorn lately!!Certainly not the mix of lovely fresh salad leaves you can buy in the local markets.
Recently we've been doing a 10 hour day working on our house then walking about 1 mile to our friend's house .Despite all this I can still not manage a proper italian meal at night as served up in our locals.I have to give up 3 courses in! My partner does manage to eat everything and doesnt approve of me throwing in the towel so early.We do usually ask for left overs so we can eat them for elevenmses the neck day and on one trip back to London by train we pretty well lived off the left over potatoe pizza we had on our last night in !!

For people who havent been labouring in the hot sun all days all those calories must really pile on the weight!

I wonder if it is a regional thing? The Abruzzese seem bigger built (particularly the women), than the Umbrians. OK may be a generalisation but it is something we notice when there. Here near Lago Trasimeno, lunch is the main meal and few of our Italian friends eat a great deal in the evening. Most women seem to watch their weight but despite this, diabetes seems common with the elderly ladies. We also wonder what the lung cancer statistics are in comparison to the UK?

I wonder if the Italian Government should follow Gordon's Brown's new initiative announced today to send parents a warning about the dangers of their overweight children/- [url=http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080805/tuk-britain-obesity-children-a7ad41d.html]Govt to alert parents if children are overweight - Yahoo! News UK[/url]

[quote=Sally Donaldson;94385]I wonder if the Italian Government should follow Gordon's Brown's new initiative announced today to send parents a warning about the dangers of their overweight children/- [url=http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080805/tuk-britain-obesity-children-a7ad41d.html]Govt to alert parents if children are overweight - Yahoo! News UK[/url][/quote]

Why bother?

Surely the parents KNOW their children are overweight! As I see it, the question is 'Do they care?' - I don't think they do!

But what are 'YOUR' thoughts on it Sally? It's nice that you post all these various links, but it would be nice sometimes to hear [I]your[/I] thoughts on some of the questions you pose for others... :yes:

Don't have time Carole but thank you for your view.

New report out today saying that "Overall, they found that deaths from all causes fell by 9% in people who did not stray from the traditional Italian diet"

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