Originally posted by Dr. Davis on 2014-05-18
on the Wheat Belly Blog,
sourced from and currently found at: Infinite Health Blog.
PCM forum Index
of WB Blog articles.
Following the Wheat
Belly lifestyle in Italy: Non c’e problema!
My wife and I just
returned from a week-long trip to Rome, Italy. It was a great opportunity
to follow the Wheat Belly wheat-free lifestyle and see just how
practical it was, particularly in a city where wheat products figure prominently.
I found that, by following a few simple rules, navigating food
was pretty straightforward:
- Avoid foods listed under “Primo piato” — first course, as
these are traditionally pastas.
- Enjoy Italian charcuterie — The creation of meats, including aged raw meats,
is quite advanced here. It includes salamis, prosciutto, bresaola, pancetta,
mortadella and many others. This is a great way to begin a meal alongside
some olives and a glass of red chianti.
- As in North America, always ask whether a meat is breaded —
“impanato.” I neglected to do this once and got a
plate of breaded fried seafood.
- Enjoy the salads — Salads can be a bit different in Rome.
A “seafood salad,” for instance, that my wife ordered
contained a variety of seafoods in a light sauce but no vegetables. Of
course, the wonderful varieties of Italian extra-virgin olive oil and
balsamic vinegars are provided at every table. (I don’t think
you can get Ranch dressing here!)
The tomatoes, salad greens, and fruit
were especially wonderful, tasting much like the fresh-picked ones
from your own garden, not the bland stuff often passed off as
produce in U.S. supermarkets.
Eggs with breakfast were orange when scrambled
or with orange yolks when hard boiled or fried, suggesting that their
chickens are better fed, perhaps truly free-range and thereby richer
in beta carotene and other nutrients.
And you know what? Italians in Rome do
indeed have a weight problem.
While not to the degree experienced here in
North America, you can indeed see plenty of overweight and obese people.
Sadly, the weight affliction appears to be worst
in children, of whom many have reached obvious and sometimes
extreme degrees of excess weight. Yes, the adoption of semidwarf strains
of wheat is a worldwide phenomenon. It hasn’t spared North America,
it hasn’t spared Italy, it has essentially spared nobody.
