While my Italian friends are fit and healthy, living off pizza, pasta, prosciutto and formaggio, my American counterparts struggle with health and weight maintenance who have Wholefoods at their disposal.

When I travelled to the US, keeping my digestion well was a struggle. I put this down to 2 things:

1. The collective stress energy. Priorities are different in the US and subsequently people have to take conscious measures to be relaxed and healthy.

2. Quality of food. Mostly you cannot buy what is not typical to the region in Italy. I haven’t looked into the history and origins of these foods, but I would bet on it that what is eaten regionally is most likely native to that area. I was also told of certain products that are called “zero kilometers” (‘scuse the interpretation mistakes). As in the flour, water, eggs or whatever else is in the recipe is from the immediate vicinity. And this is something the Italians I met are staunchly proud of…for possibly generations, not just a fad as it is becoming in Anglo worlds.

The addendum to my last post being that quality of food matters too. Relaxed + quality + enjoyment = wellbeing. Maybe more so than a bowl of broccoli.