Half Way & Tips From Italy

I am officially half way to my goal of blogging with a pic of the day every day for one year. I have hit the half way mark with 178 days of blogs! Only 6 more months to go to reach my goal! I have to admit that there are days when I dread this commitment and days where I don't have any pics or words to post, but I have always found something.

Today I wanted to share a few things I found interesting that a student who studied abroad in Italy shared about the health habits of Italians:

1) Italians shop for their food daily and buy fresh food from the market. They do this each day because most of their food is fresh and does not have preservatives like our food. Shopping daily also eliminates stocking up on foods and snacks and reduces the amount they are tempted to eat.
2) They drink wine almost daily which has been shown to have a healthy effect when done in moderation...Thus my "pic of the day".
3) They walk almost everywhere they go, on average 8 miles/day! They do not have gyms and workout regimes as such because they integrate physical activity into their daily lives.
4) They eat slowly, eating slow allows time for the brain to receive the signal from the stomach that it is full. In turn, they tend to eat less.
5) They don't use a lot of sauces which pack in hidden calories, instead they use honey or olive oil with most foods as a sauce.
6) They don't have hardly any fast food restaurants, and what food is available is usually always fresh.

My student also said that they do in fact eat heavy meals such as lasagna, but they respect their food and their bodies and eat in moderation and burn it off with their physical activity. All of these healthy habits results in a healthier society overall with an apprx. 7% obesity rate.